A priest stands in the roofless shell of St. George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, on the corner of St. George’s Road and Lambeth Road in Southwark, South East London. The Cathedral was severely damaged by an incendiary bomb attack in 1942.
Winston Churchill inspecting damage done by the Blitz. Like the Royal Family, Churchill remained in London during the Blitz and toured and inspected areas damaged by bombings, serving as an active symbol of strength,integrity and perseverance during this hard time.
On September 11th, 1940, he delivered the following moving speech through a radio broadcast:
“These cruel, wanton, indiscriminate bombings of London are, of course, a part of Hitler’s invasion plans. He hopes, by killing large numbers of civilians, and women and children, that he will terrorise and cow the people of this mighty imperial city… Little does he know the spirit of the British nation, or the tough fibre of the Londoners, whose forbears played a leading part in the establishment of Parliamentary institutions and who have been bred to value freedom far above their lives.
“This wicked man, the repository and embodiment of many forms of soul-destroying hatred, this monstrous product of former wrongs and shame, has now resolved to try to break our famous island race by a process of indiscriminate slaughter and destruction.
“What he has done is to kindle a fire in British hearts, here and all over the world, which will glow long after all traces of the conflagration he has caused in London have been removed. He has lighted a fire which will burn with a steady and consuming flame until the last vestiges of Nazi tyranny have been burnt out of Europe, and until the Old World—and the New—can join hands to rebuild the temples of man’s freedom and man’s honour, upon foundations which will not soon or easily be overthrown.
“This is a time for everyone to stand together, and hold firm, as they are doing… All the world that is still free marvels at the composure and fortitude with which the citizens of London are facing and surmounting the great ordeal to which they are subjected, the end of which or the severity of which cannot yet be foreseen.
“Our fighting Forces … know that they have behind them a people who will not flinch or weary of the struggle—hard and protracted though it will be; but that we shall rather draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival, and of a victory won not only for ourselves but for all; a victory not only for our own time, but for the long and better days that are to come.”
(Source.)
On the night of October 14th 1940, a bomb penetrated the road and exploded in Balham Underground station, killing 68 people. A No. 88 bus travelling in black-out conditions then fell into the crater.
Interesting note - this is, in fact, the Balham Station bombing referenced in the novel Atonement.
(Source.)
A boy reading a book titled The History of London amidst the ruins of a London bookshop after an air raid, 8 October, 1940.
A man injured during the London blitz being helped by passers-by, ca. 1940.
Private Paul Oglesby, 30th Infantry, standing in reverence before an altar of a damaged Catholic church near Acerno, Italy, 1943.
Rare color photograph of bombed London, WWII. A couple more in this article.
