The Bombing of the Major Cities of Britain in 1940-1
After the fall of France in June 1940 Hitler turned his attention to
Britain and with only one intention in his mind “invasion”. To do this
Hitler needed control over British skies. The bombings began with the
airfields and the ports and the radar stations. The Luftwaffe was
ordered to crush the RAF so as to allow the German ships to cross the
channel and invade. Then on the 7 of September 1940, as the RAF were
on their knees, the Germans decided to begin bombing on all major
cities in Britain. So why did the Germans make this critical and
eventually costly decision?
The first bombing of London was supposedly an accident when two German
aircraft dropped bombs on the city. It is thought this because earlier
Hitler had said that bombing of civilian targets were not allowed.
Even though Hitler has said this Churchill decided to react so the RAF
sneaked past the German defences and bombed Berlin as revenge for the
Germans bombing London. Hitler grew angry and decided to begin
attacking cities in Britain not only for Revenge but for other
important reasons as well.
One of these reasons was to cripple the British economy and stop any
sort of industry. Ports were attacked stopping vital supplies from
entering the country, which people needed most, to survive and fight a
war. Factories were bombed so the production of munitions and living
supplies was greatly reduced. The railway was also destroyed affecting
trade and transport. This made the movement of supplies across Britain
a lot harder.
Another reason was to break the morale of the British people. By
destroying their homes, ruining their lives and separating their
families. Night after night, tonnes and tonnes of bombes were being
dropped on cities all over Britain with little or no resistance, the
Germans wanted there to be total chaos and every sense of normality o
peoples lives taken away. People’s morale was affected but never
broken due to civilians being there for each other, be it in the tube