What Living In London Was Like During The Blitz | Cities At War: London | Timeline

[Music] first of September 1939 this is a national program from London the first new rules copyright reserved these are today's main events Germany had invaded Poland and has bombed many times Parliament's was summoned for six o'clock this evening orders competing the mobilization of the navy army and air force was signed by the king as a meeting this afternoon of the Privy Council the British Cabinet met from half-past eleven this morning until half past 1 and both houses of parliament were summoned for six o'clock this evening President Roosevelt has appealed to the European powers that if they should be involved in hostilities they should refrain from bombing civilians and unfortified does the nightmare was about to become real war with Germany seemed unavoidable but surprisingly London was the best prepared city in Europe surprisingly because most people had refused to think much about war nor had they made any preparations for the inevitable air raids it would bring throughout the thirties men like Churchill had warned the public of the danger of Germany but most people had ridiculed civil defense and supported appeasement yet quietly the government had laid its plans for the defense of the civilian population in fact it grossly overestimated the number of casualties 600,000 dead were expected in the first wave of attacks now it was ready with millions of cardboard coffins and gas masks for the entire population and on that very first day a huge evacuation scheme went into action the evacuation of British children is going on smoothly and divisions in the Ministry of Health is that great progress has been made with the first part of a government arrangement it was clear to children event from them as well it still matters crow and children fell and that because by within mantra letterhead sells out this place we have to go I'll a Berlin and then know you know you know where I was going to or who they were going with only felt ever so sorry for the children and the children seek them sinking realized actually what was happening to me and we had to try to cheer them up the best way we could with their mothers and fathers and when take a magazine crying I was the only one in that carriage that wasn't crying because I as the train started off it began to dawn or lead all these kids they were being taken away from what are then was reality and going into the unknown and I think by the time we passed phasing Stoke right a couple of terms of the fact that this was a great adventure because suddenly there were no buildings there all fields with cows and things that were completely alien to me in three days 600,000 were evacuated London was Chinese on the morning of Sunday September the 3rd it waited for the last seconds of Britain's ultimatum to Germany to take away at 11:15 Prime mr. Chamberlain spoke to the nation I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street this morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland a state of war would exist between us I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and that consequently this country is at war with Germany within seconds the sirens sounded suddenly no one really knew what to do Wardens ran down the streets giving conflicting orders cars were abandoned people dived for shelters even gas rattles were sounded for a few brief moments confusion reigned they were coming much more quickly than anyone expected [Music] [Music] it was a false alarm officially a homo was misunderstanding someone seen had decided to test all the signs of hadn't got around to warning everybody else that it was going to happen it was in some ways an apt beginning that night of pubs were packed they've survived one air-raid warning perhaps they were all to be like that one preparations continued but the Bombers never came the newsreels gave helpful tips about getting around in the blackout throughout the hours of darkness no light must be visible outside which meant everyone had to curtain their windows so the not the slightest [ __ ] of light got through and there were air raid wardens on hand to see that the rules were obeyed the theory was that enemy bombers wouldn't be able to find their way to London in the dark but many motorists couldn't find their way either there were 40 pedestrians killed on London's streets every day by 1940 the fire service had become popularly known as the darts team air raid wardens were thought officious and unnecessary and people got angry with the government for frightening them all for nothing in fact The Warden Service itself was getting rather fed up of the whole thing they were wishing they could have the bomb so that people could realize that we weren't just taking them on you see this I see money if you've got everything on board you oughta have - I think so well I would guys - soul upon the from from from with the brass band playing in Italy on table I'm fighting firemen not to it not all and we know there's more in the yard why watch the matter one could you come on comedian Rob Wilson was funny because people didn't think in far wrong what address is Chris Austin good shastri Grimm's now wait a minute I know it as well as can be an account just placing oh come on just down there oh no no don't tell me let me think of it myself Grimm's you're always that annoying I can walk straight to it and I cannot think of it connects to my district next a whitelist oh I know it is well it's still pretty mature what what's the number lady what number is it and he 78 turned out nice again sadly here is a short news bulletin the German army invaded Holland and Belgium early this morning by land and by landing from parachutes the necessary measures for giving assistance were put into effect at work on May the 10th 1940 Hitler suddenly attacked Holland and Belgium without warning and crashed through their feeble defenses in the light of this morning's events in Holland and Belgium householders are recommended to overhaul their domestic preparation against the possibility of air attack in their own district it is emphasized that tube stations in London are not available as area desert the situation rapidly deteriorated into disaster the French and British armies were driven back after only three weeks fighting the British were improvising a hurried escape across the channel from Dunkirk while France was on the verge of total collapse in London with the German army only a few miles away across the channel Churchill now Prime Minister broadcast to the nation should the invader come to Britain there will be no blasted lying down of the people in submission before him as we have seen a loss in other countries we shall defend every village every town and every city the vast mass of London itself 4th Street by street could easily devour an entire hostile army and we would rather see London laid in ruins and ashes then that it should be tamely and object their enslaved invasion was expected at any moment fire Watchers looked up for parachutists knocked down for fires parks and open spaces were littered with trenches and obstacles to prevent the landing of enemy planes and gliders and high above the Battle of Britain raid [Music] you [Music] but London was still untouched then came Saturday September the 7th 1945 a talk in the afternoon [Music] [Music] in retaliation for Inari a trade on Berlin 320 German bombers pounded the dockland area the terraced houses went down like packs of cards [Music] the raid had lasted two hours the people were dazed and confused the authorities seemed powerless and now people started to run they collected together what belongings they could and got out entire families escaped westwards and carts prams bicycles piled with pans bedding valuables that evening the fires of dockland were still blazing a beacon for a new wave of enemy bombers from 8:00 in the morning to the fore the next morning 250 bombers passed overhead in many places the civil defense couldn't cope in the darkness terror was added to chaos in the narrow streets by the river morning showed the full extent of the devastation 1000 Londoners had been killed old tracks of the East End had been reduced to rubble no enemy planes had been shot down there was anger and despair rumours spread that West Ham was ready to surrender the authorities had prepared for the wrong things there were millions of coffins but no homes for the homeless there were thousands of empty hospital beds for serious casualties but no adequate provision for the walking wounded it had been forecast that one bombed house would mean for dead people a neat government statistic and they had organized accordingly on the morning of September the 8th 1940 there were a thousand dead but there were many more thousands of homeless shocked but alive and with nowhere to go schools were opened as rest centres they were neither suitable nor prepared but they were the only place of big enough very soon 25,000 people were living in them can I have your name there was this we have a speaker is it your wife one second to your house Young has been bombed our chick she under would thank you working to earn an Academy sisters last night lady my hamster phone and all the things ago and I didn't know what to do that morning and in the day that followed people improvised and helped each other now the official Department struggled with problems often quite beyond them ta began to turn to anger the East End started to think about how to get something done as long as Wells who had a realization however think this the worst was yet to come we made the noise we asked the local authorities he wanted it inside it in our today Churchill came down it was not an extensive visit but he came down and visited the scene of devastation and his comment was that you could not understand the threat of the people to march on Whitehall there seemed to be less disorder amongst the people in the world amongst the authorities Churchill could defy Hitler but not London the government set up a committee to assess morale Tom Hopkinson editor of picture post was a member the committee said for about six months but at the end of that time my own opinion given was that the law was perfectly okay there was nothing to worry about all new people were not going to crack or give up or say it's Chuck in their hand and say I'm not working his aircraft factory anymore because it will it's too dangerous or we're not going to win the war or something I said they have the only of useful move our committee I can think of would be one that kept watch on some of the ministers in the government not one that reported to ministers in the government a hundred miles away on the other side of the channel Goering hoped to win the war at one stroke London would collapse under the weight of his bombing he would avenge the few feeble but provocative attacks Churchill had ordered the RAF to make on Berlin but in bombing London the Luftwaffe turned away from attacking the vital RAF fighter fields in southern England those attacks had almost crippled Fighter Command but now it was reprieved and was soon shooting the Luftwaffe out of the sky in ever-increasing numbers one German pilot flew off course to bomb Buckingham Palace the daring raid didn't kill the king but succeeded in uniting the city in a way a government could never have done in London in Iceland and he would be in London town it's a whisper falling down because a house in London in London in London and very in the pharisee are the focus of the King might not the music's all of the drums and all the compass and all the world they're facing the music here we all are and here we all save a king is still in London in London in London I miss home and it surrounds the king on daylight raids were becoming too expensive so the Germans now came at night every night the routine was always the same inevitable drone inevitable bombs and nothing to fight back with the fighter planes were no good at night but Churchill ordered up all the available anti-aircraft guns for the defense of London on September the 12th they opened fire [Music] Churchill knew that this roaring cannonade as he calls it could do little harm to the enemy the gunner shot down only four planes and the shrapnel from the shells probably killed more people on the ground than in the air but it didn't matter people at last believed they were fighting back the Blitz was settling into a ritual BBC home service up in the morning earth this time the physical exercises for ladies regularity meant familiarity chin up grin and bear it good morning everyone would you get your chair and stand with your left side towards the backwards and your left hand on now swing your right leg across in front of your left run so it comes as high as you can get it both knees straight the eerie silence of deserted streets closed by an unexploded bomb but the day didn't stop the normal life of the Capitol simply flowed round it by afternoon people were queuing up for the shelters again they trekked across London for a place in a deep tube in the West End it became a routine and that was important it meant people were learning to cope coming to terms with the extraordinary idea that every night someone was trying to blow them to kingdom come yet more than half of the people of London were still sleeping at home and the official air-raid shelters complete with proper bunks were almost empty people even felt comfortable down there a common danger and a shared routine broke down barriers the Blitz for many people became one of the best times of their lives I think that'll be alright now what's wrong anyway I'll be back in a few minutes if you want now how are we going to get you out there [Music] London was an exciting place to be theaters and dance halls were open you could have a good time people worked hard and played hard who knew how long it would last you're a long time dead prostitutes stood under the business-as-usual signs and people poured in at night to share the exhilaration of being in a city under fire [Music] [Music] [Music] many felt they were fighting not only against the common danger but for an idealist pray O God we commit ourselves into thy keeping this night we pray thee to bless all those who are keeping us safe or closed safe all the defenders to life have settled into a pattern tonight would be a test of nerve and skill and would bring body shattering times very much like last night while the Battle of fire and bombs raged outside the Battle of fear and courage went on inside people sheltered where they felt safest at the beginning that was mainly in the basements of warehouses and the railway arches or in makeshift sheds of their own it was the familiarity and good company that made them feel safe and it was there that they died from September onwards there were two two real sources of shelter for the populace that weren't being used there were the basements of many big businesses and very big tall buildings were the safest because when they were bombed they didn't come crashing down they had a steel framework so when they were bombed a bit would be knocked off the top but the basement was very safe so he wanted the basements of businesses opened up and of course we wanted the tubes to be used for shelters and on that we finally carried today we got the government was obliged to open the tube shelters the tube stations became a home from home for tens of thousands but the best place to be was in a big private shelter like those under the Dorchester or the Savoy where each guest had his own marked mattress and his meals served in bed the majority of course couldn't go there the breakdown of class barriers didn't extend that far although people from the East End marched on the Savoy to demand admission in the tube the trains not only working up they became mobile canteens and throughout the night welfare officers and the WVS brought tea and comfort to those who needed a blitz was the last occasion when the middle classes were able to offer charity to the working classes and be readily accepted and they did it with a collagen enthusiasm which probably did as much to save London as the courage of the cockneys themselves I remember one particular shelter well we had a great little trouble night after night it was a sort of shelter where if one child hit another child out came a knife you know the sort of thing and eventually we solved it by finding someone who was head of a gang in that area we knew everyone was frightful of this game so we got the wife who was a big big sturdy woman and she was made gentleman we had no trouble at all and I'm the platform when is comfy and savvy and shelf bloody underground is now the platform you're upbeat and I want to move it so we put what Randy chap you know they were so crowded London people don't walk around a bit police all they went to those days and you would get the gold out of the shelter perhaps as we very often did five o'clock in the art room had all the ventilators open everything quiets it should be and we went down at one o'clock in morning and revenge later we'll be staffed up as rags and you would have to pull them all out again because they liked a good [ __ ] and it certainly got eaten some of them dirty paper somewhere you chopped it where the clean table where now if you uncited occasion are they wearing probably and that's just one of those acts of God I am absolutely convinced because if ever there where conditions through which and evident it could started while there yet it never did [Music] London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights each night under two hundred bombers dropped more than two hundred tons of bombs fourteen thousand tons of high explosive hit the city some people and you gave a lift to a couple in a car who's lost their home and they've taken up relations in the trampling and then it was driving the car for them was it your own house and the woman said no the man said yes but the woman mad committed no dear would have been Monday for the installment installment they paid the belly were perfect if you have arriving away yes it would have been Monday and we walk through the tunnel from Liverpool Street to the bank station and when I was up there I thought that only mate there's nothing like that buddies well it's hard to describe and it's just like tailors damage put up against the wall some with no clothes on summits after clothes on and we had to Teddy and rolled the toilets they were like plywood sheets with these tender 2012 we had to tear them down to use them as stretchers the part of the home you think and remember the nineteenth circus for the wall and being heartbreaking for depth at I mean long lines of unemployed it got similar to the default it wasn't a plan game they have to coverage of liens it well it was like one big family during the Blitz if you've got bombed out first next door took cooing terribly from November onwards the Bombers did not come every night that was a relief in any case neither Hitler nor his Luftwaffe could stop children and shop because making the best of Christmas if the shops couldn't sell model airplanes for kids then they never would but there shouldn't have been any children in London to enjoy a blitz Christmas they should have been evacuated away from the danger but that wasn't the authority's fault they'd been sent but they drifted back families wanted to be together despite the danger there was a quarter of a million children in London for Christmas 1940 loss of sleep was a major problem many people who did a full-time job in the day in a voluntary one at night went through much of the war on three or four hours sleep a night mothers paid for a good night's rest there was no shortage of private firms ready and willing to cash in on the fears and exhaustion of their countrymen for a few shillings you could buy your piece in Epping Forest and join the already resident campers who spent the whole war there or even spend a weekend in Torquay it was preferable to paying a wideboys sixpence to keep you a place in the shelter's he wore a frog Oh pudding holy - a new phrase entered the language bombers room the first time in centuries the Londoners as conscious of the weather as the countryman aimed with star it was utter oh man take apart and as we kissed and said without liking a sorry on the 29th of December 1940 the city burned down in the second Great Fire of London bombs shattered the water mains and the fire hoses ran dry but the fire should never have happened at all the raid was a comparatively small one but it would the Sunday after Christmas fire Watchers were taking time off and many premises were locked customs officers even prevented firemen from entering one blazing warehouse because they didn't have the necessary authorization surrounded by fire the most vulnerable building of all still stood st. Paul's it was a symbol of defiance it had been hit by dozens of fire bombs but had been saved by its own efficient fire team the model was obvious and it was rubbed in by Herbert Morrison the Home Secretary some of you lately in more pitiful won and failed your country it must never happen again fire watching was made compulsory the government had believed that the British would resist the idea of compulsion but no one complained instead they just dodged it three courts of those registered claimed exemption in contrast the bus drivers and conductors continued to operate their services whatever the conditions the familiar red buses became as much a symbol of London survival and resistance as st. Paul's by 1941 the authorities and people had learned to live with the Blitz bombing didn't disorganize life nor air-raid stop production at first everything had come to a halt when the sirens sounded and a disruption had often been more costly than the damaged caused by the raid later with spotters on the roof factories carried on until the last minute hello gunfire the southeast right and the idea of business as usual until the last possible moment didn't justify to factories involved in war production but the shops and ordinary people as well science has founded but we are carrying on those who'd wish to do so may take shelter in the basement alarm bells will be rung at our roof spotters reported danger friends when all floors must be clear at once ok our people proved their adaptability in a remarkable way far from running mad in the streets was forecast they seemed to be taking the bombardment in their stride there was no increase in mental disorder indeed the suicide rate actually fell when the literal Dom life was very easy because we had any two things from thinking about where do I get something to eat where do I sleep and that doesn't our lives miserable by the spring of 1941 with fighter radar and improved ground control the RAF seemed to be winning the night battle but on May the 10th the German bombers came in strength were these big e rad that was her mother's fire control there be reading tonight London's fire chiefs summoned 1,000 extra fire pumps into the city from all over the country in the fighter control room the radar plots were showing hundreds of bombers converging on London the controller scrambled his night fighters into the dark to meet them over the city the first flares and fire bombs started to fall we control 36 LP scented bottles falling between 145 degrees and 180 degrees claps recorded the remark it was the classic pattern first mark the target and start the blaze with in san ruiz then spread the flames and hamper the firefighting with high explosives right don't sleep [Music] individual homes have a low priority for the firefighters but it was hard for ordinary people to understand this strategy in Brixton angry citizens blocked the path of engines racing past their burning homes to other fires [Music] the whole city north and south of the river seemed one continuous roaring fire by midnight two thousand fires were out of control [Music] so only success expense available right get on a brigade control call still being received further health declawed comes available 66 [Music] [Music] any women taking your conservatism Gamecock thank you at 2:00 in the morning the water pressure dropped over 600 names had been smashed [Music] [Music] there was nothing to be done [Music] [Music] 1436 dead mm seriously injured 20 million pounds worth of damage 8,000 streets one third of London impassable 5,500 houses demolished twelve thousand people homeless 700 acres completely consumed by fire Sunday morning and the city filled with sightseers while Sun queued for death certificates others looted the damaged shops and pubs 150 thousand families were without water gas or electricity Taff the main telephone system was destroyed to uh nights like that and London would be finished [Music] the House of Commons was completely gutted and in the night firemen complained that they will refused entry because they didn't enjoy parliamentary privilege and the fire chief had been shot up by the Home Guard in the mouth Churchill wept when he saw the rooms luckily for London Hitler was about to attack Russia and his bombers were called away to the east for a while London could rest and regain her strength [Music] you [Music] Maira hats gave midday concerts in the National Gallery brave wartime London screwed itself down the long hard haul which was to take Britain from avoiding defeat to achieving victory it was the era of war work and music while you work tanks for Russia planes for Berlin ammunition for the second front it was the period of austerity warship week followed by waste paper month smaller rations longer queues the time when it seemed the war would last forever [Music] Oh [Music] this night [Music] they're gone Oh [Music] by 1942 the Americans were in the war and London seemed like an international barrassed it was a girls paradise resentful Englishmen summed up the trouble with Americans they were overpaid overfed oversexed and over here [Music] and when you're still the minute I'm so old darling Oh Johnny please tell me dear what makes these are you're not handsome but when I look at you I want you Oh Johnny Oh Johnny eunuch a number one under the command of General Eisenhower allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing a tide armies this morning on the northern coast of from June the 6th 1944 d-day we were back in Europe now it must only be a matter of weeks until the end but then only one week later on June the 13th [Music] [Music] [Music] London was back in the front line facing the grimmest ordeal of all it was the first of the German secret weapons [Music] [Music] with these relatively cheap pilotless aerial torpedoes Hitler planned to knock out London and win the war they were more devastating than anything the city had previously suffered and each carried a ton of high-explosive after almost five years of war the enthusiasm and I morale of the earlier blitz was missing the v1 this new inhuman terror was something that many exhausted Londoners had no longer the resources to meet [Music] in five weeks one and a half million were evacuated more than twice the number who went in the great evacuation of 1939 the defenders were bewildered the civilians could do nothing but watch and wait [Music] [Music] in mid-july the government ordered the removal of all the city's anti-aircraft guns to a narrow belt of the south coast the Gunners could now pick up their targets as they came in without worrying about their unexploded shells falling on civilians and fighters could tackle anything that got past the barrage [Applause] [Music] [Music] the fighters have also mastered techniques for shooting them down although doodlebugs couldn't fire back attacking them could be hazardous soon 80% were being destroyed on September the 7th the government was able to announce to a relieved City the Battle of London is over the day after that announcement London was rocked by a huge mysterious explosion it was Hitler's most destructive weapon the v2 rocket there was no defense against it and no warning that it was coming plans were laid to abandon London either leave the Stratford about 1225 to finish it cutting term willow got to a pub called The Telegraph that's called a gift lane just pass over stared Church there was a really big crash you declare the dust couldn't see much where those rapidly with the Balcones you could see them but here them a certain amount of direction where they're going to go with the rocket that was there in the Charles it was the forerunner of today's intercontinental ballistic missile if Hitler had been able to bring them into use earlier they might have brought in victory but the advancing Allied armies over ran the launching sites and the last rocket fell on London on the 27th of March 1945 only five weeks before the end of the war bombs and rockets and fire had killed almost 30,000 Londoners and injured more than 130,000 hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight Tuesday the 8th of May but in the interest of saving lives the ceasefire began yesterday to be founded along all the fronts the German war is therefore at an end [Music] [Applause] [Applause] it always been together but if it become kind of specific the terrible and [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 507,802

Rating: 4.8464475 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, Documentary Movies - Topic, stories, Documentaries, Full Documentary, Full length Documentaries, BBC documentary, real, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, TV Shows - Topic, documentary history, History, World War Two, 2017 documentary, winston churchill

Id: ZEPtuye4AgY

Length: 51min 21sec (3081 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 09 2017