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The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom for eight months from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941 during the Second World War. [4]The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940 (a battle for daylight air superiority between the Luftwaffe and the Royal ...
It was to have taken place during the Battle of Britain, nine months after the start of the Second World War. Following the Battle of France and that country's capitulation, Adolf Hitler , the German Führer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces , hoped the British government would accept his offer to end the state of war between the two.
The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England, lit. 'air battle for England') was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe.
A British soldier on a beach in Southern England, 7 October 1940. Detail from a pillbox embrasure. British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War entailed a large-scale division of military and civilian mobilisation in response to the threat of invasion (Operation Sea Lion) by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941.
It was the capital not just for the United Kingdom, but for the entire British Empire. London was central to the British war effort. It was the favourite target of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in 1940, and in 1944-45 the target of the V-1 cruise missile, the V-2 rocket, and the unsuccessful V-3 "London gun".
German Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over Wapping and the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London at the start of the Luftwaffe's evening raids of 7 September 1940. The Blitz was underway. [155] Göring – at Kesselring's urging and with Hitler's support – turned to a massive assault on the British capital. [35]
The attacks were mainly aimed at and around the Greater London area. In Britain, it was known as the Baby Blitz due to the much smaller scale of operations compared to the Blitz, the campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940–1941. [2] The operation began in January and ended in May 1944.
The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 1-85410-721-6. Collier, Richard (1980). Eagle Day: The Battle of Britain, 6 August – 15 September 1940. J.M Dent and Sons. ISBN 0-460-04370-6. Cooper, Mathew (1981). The German Air Force 1933–1945: An Anatomy of Failure. New York: Jane's Publishing.