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On this day, German aircraft blanket incendiary bombs over London, setting both banks of the Thames ablaze and killing almost 3,600 British civilians.
The German targeting of the English capital had begun back in August, payback for British attacks on Berlin. In September, a horrendous firestorm broke out in London’s poorest districts as German aircraft dropped 337 tons of bombs on docks, tenements, and teeming streets. The “London Blitz” killed thousands of civilians.
December 29 saw the widespread destruction not just of civilians, but of great portions of London’s cultural relics. Historic buildings were severely damaged or destroyed as relentless bombing set 15,000 separate fires. Among the architectural treasures that proved casualties of the German assault were the Guildhall (the administrative center of the city, dating back to 1673 but also containing a 15th-century vault) and eight Christopher Wren churches. St. Paul’s Cathedral also caught fire but was saved from being burned to the ground by brave, tenacious firefighters. Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Chamber of the House of Commons were also hit but suffered less extensive damage.
Fighting the blazes was made all the more difficult by an unfortunate low tide, which made drawing water a problem.
The German targeting of the English capital had begun back in August, payback for British attacks on Berlin. In September, a horrendous firestorm broke out in London’s poorest districts as German aircraft dropped 337 tons of bombs on docks, tenements, and teeming streets. The “London Blitz” killed thousands of civilians.
December 29 saw the widespread destruction not just of civilians, but of great portions of London’s cultural relics. Historic buildings were severely damaged or destroyed as relentless bombing set 15,000 separate fires. Among the architectural treasures that proved casualties of the German assault were the Guildhall (the administrative center of the city, dating back to 1673 but also containing a 15th-century vault) and eight Christopher Wren churches. St. Paul’s Cathedral also caught fire but was saved from being burned to the ground by brave, tenacious firefighters. Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Chamber of the House of Commons were also hit but suffered less extensive damage.
Fighting the blazes was made all the more difficult by an unfortunate low tide, which made drawing water a problem.
Germans raid London - Dec 29, 1940 - HISTORY.com
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WWII World War Two
WWII World War Two
Posted 7 y ago
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Thanks TSgt Joe C. for letting us know that on December 29, 1940 German aircraft blanket incendiary bombs over London, setting both banks of the Thames ablaze and killing almost 3,600 British civilians.
My dad was a schoolboy in London and he remembered a weekend fire bombing at this school. Several boys went with a teacher onto the roof and extinguished the flames.
Incendiary bombs were not as effective as phosphorous and napalm are now.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown CW5 (Join to see) SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT MSG Andrew White SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSgt (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Joshua Caldwell
My dad was a schoolboy in London and he remembered a weekend fire bombing at this school. Several boys went with a teacher onto the roof and extinguished the flames.
Incendiary bombs were not as effective as phosphorous and napalm are now.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown CW5 (Join to see) SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT MSG Andrew White SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSgt (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Joshua Caldwell
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The tenacious bombing of London by the Nazis degraded to civilian attacks that would cause firestorms that would kill many civilians by asphyxiation. Hitler targeted Britain after the French armistice June 22, 1940; however, despite Goering's promise to win mastery over the British skies, the German's never came close to whipping the British Royal Air Force over their home skies. By October, 1940, Hitler put away Operation Sea Lion-the operational German plan to invade Great Britain-and embraced Operation Barbarossa- the German operational plan to defeat Stalin's U.S.S.R. Hitler continued to hit Britain by air throughout the war with pin prick attacks and than with rudimentary intermittent range cruise missiles-the buzz bomb V-1's & V-2's-in 1944 until Germany lost control of the Low countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
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