The Major Cities of Britain that Were Bombed by the Germans
There are quite a few reasons as to why the major cities of Britain
such as London, Coventry, Plymouth and even Manchesterand Glasgow were
bombed by the Germans in 1940 to 1941.
Although for Britain the Second World War began on the 3rd September
1939 it did not really begin until 1940. Thus from 1939 to 1940 became
a period known as the "Phoney War".
The bombing of the major cities was known as the Blitz, the German
word for lightening, and one of the reasons why Hitler decided to bomb
Britain was because he had given up his attempt to invade Britain in
September 1940. Before Hitler had decided to bomb the major cities of
Britain he had attacked the RAF by using the Luftwaffe. Three German
planes were shot down for every one British plane, but by the end of
August things were beginning to change. The Luftwaffe were taking
control of the skies and were about to defeat the RAF when Hitler
began to become impatient. He called off the attacks on fighter
command and instead he ordered the bombing of the major British
cities. If he had continued to bomb the RAF the Luftwaffe would have
won the Battle of Britain and the Blitz would have probably never
occurred.
Another reason why Hitler turned to bombing the major cities of
Britain was because he hoped that he would be able to force the
British government to surrender. By the late 1930's everyone in Europe
believed and expected the war to be disastrous because of the mass
bombing they had seen around the world. They believed that bombing
from the Germans would be devastating because of the success of the
German Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War where they almost
destroyed the Spanish city of Guernica as well as the Japanese bombing
Shanghai. Also Hitler believed he could use similar tactics against
Britain.
Another major reason for the Blitz was more to do with the people of
Why the Major Cities of Britain were Bombed by the Germans in 1940 and 1941
In the Belgian town of Dunkirk, British Naval forces rescued the bulk of the army along with some French and Belgian units. Due to the French surrendering, Germans attacked North Africa to support the failed Italian efforts. Under the leadership of General Erwin Rommel, German forces pushed eastward to take Egypt until the British at the Battle of El Alamain halted their advance. U-Boats, which were kind of like submarines, were the Germans' main defense against Britain for naval battle. Adolf Hitler, the German leader planned all these offensives in his goal to rule the world.
Ways the British Government Attempted to Hide the Effects of the Blitz from the People of Britain
From looking at Sources F, M and E and my own knowledge I can clearly
”Battle of Britain, in World War II, a series of air battles between Great Britain and Germany, fought over Britain from Aug. to Oct., 1940. As a prelude to a planned invasion of England, the German Luftwaffe attacked British coastal defenses, radar stations, and shipping. On Aug. 24 the attack was shifted inland to Royal Air Force installations and aircraft factories in an effort to gain control of the air over S England. Failing to destroy the RAF, the Germans began (Sept. 7) The night bombing, or blitz, of London. Heavy night bombings of English cities continued into October, when the attack was shifted back to coastal installations. The Germans gradually gave up hope of invading England, and the battle tapered off by the end of October. Though heavily outnumbered, the RAF put up a gallant defense; radar, used for the first time in battle by Britain, played an important role. The Germans lost some 2,300 aircraft; the RAF 900. The Battle of Britain was the first major failure of the Germans in World War II, and it thwarted Hitler's plan to force Britain to accept peace or face invasion” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).
"World War 2 was a war fought in two distinct phases. The first was the last war of a new generation. The second was emphatically the first of a new era" .
The Battle of Britain started on July 10, 1940 after German air forces flew over Britain, dropping bombs and clashing with opposing British air forces. It is described as one of the main turning points in the war, due to the fact that it caused the Germans to come to a realization that
...n Longmate, 158). This despair did not reach the Luftwaffe and Hitler because they would not have publicized such feelings in their attempt to keep up the British war spirit. One of the witnesses to the bombing of Coventry even realized the situation “deducing that ‘morale was obviously failing’” (Longmate, 38). Furthermore, the Royal Air Force report in Air Raid: The Bombing of Coventry, 1940 exposed that the working classes were believed to be revolt, another indication of poor morale.
Dropping the atomic bombs was not a new calamity at the climax of World War Two. The United States had already “fire bombed” the cities of Tokyo and Dresden. During the Tokyo firebombing, an estimated 200,000 civilians were killed instantaneously. The Dresden fire bombing also produced a total of 25,000 civilian deaths.
Hiroshima was a significant military city during the war. It confined two army headquarters and was Japan’s communication center (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 1). Hiroshima was also a huge industrial city and had not been bombed before so it would let Japan see the wrath of the United States (Koeller 1). The planning and actual event of the bombing went great. On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning the bomb was dropped.
The Bombing of Darwin: 1942- WWII Introduction: The bombing of Darwin, the largest attack on Australian soil mounted by a foreign country, occurred on the 19 February, 1942 during the Second World War. Japan invaded Australia because they wanted to invade Timor and were wary that Australia might send aid to Timor through Darwin. 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin, led by the same person who led the Attack on Pearl Harbour, just 10 weeks prior to the event, Mitsuo Fuchida. They succeeded.
In the spring of 1940 Europe was enveloped in war. The German military machine had already conquered Poland, Denmark, and Norway. However, not content with northern and eastern expansion, Adolf Hitler wanted to control the western countries in Europe. Hitler had long been obsessed with attacking and controlling France. After their defeat in World War I, the German people, government, and military were humiliated by the enormous post war sanctions leveraged against them from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to defeat and humiliate the French people in the same way that his country had to experience. For him, revenge was necessary. The German plan was to swing into France using a new tactic know as Blitzkrieg or “Lightning War”. Blitzkrieg used speed and surprise along with highly concentrated tank corps, supported by mechanized infantry and airplanes.
During the early stages of the war, most of Germany’s victories were because of the success of blitzkrieg, or lightening war. Blitzkrieg tactics emphasised mobility and the concentrated use of armour and air power to overwhelm an enemy. Blitzkrieg was especially successful in flat, open countryside and was supremely suited for the Polish campaign in 1939. It was with blitzkrieg, as well as Germany’s superior tactics, effective use of armour, airpower and modern equipment, plus with the support of the USSR that the Germans used to overwhelm Poland in only 5 weeks. Two days after the German troops entered Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Hitler did not want this because it was a distraction from his main aim, to attack the USSR.
...t, Hitler believed that the British government would reconsider its policy of appeasement. He thus decided to invade Poland on September 1st 1939, on 3rd, British declared war against Hitler (Scaife 121). Hitler’s invasion of Poland was from the hope that the policy of appeasement would be used to solve the matter, but it failed.
Germany was so focused on winning the war, this meant that civilian lives were just another effect of war. Hitler knew that a weapon of mass destruction was needed if they were going to win the war, so they had their scientists work on developing the atomic bomb. This had a domino effect in the United States, Great Britain, USSR, and Japan; all started atomic bomb programs. It wasn’t until July 16, 1945, that the United States had the first successful atomic bomb test.