The first air-raids of the Second World War had already taken place by the end of August The Blitz got much worse by 7th September when 950 German aircraft attacked London. This was the start of 57 nights of non- stop bombings.

Even though daylight attacks continued, Germans lost many more aircraft and crew than Britain did. Despite Germany losing many aircraft and crew, they still managed to conduct large numbers of raids against places such as London, Coventry, Southampton, Bristol, Plymouth and Liverpool.

On 29th December, much of London was destroyed by a huge raid. Bad weather postponed any further attacks until March. From March until May there were very heavy bombings which ended with a detrimental attack on London.

By the end of the Blitz, about 30, 000 civilians had been killed and a further 50, 000 were injured. Most German aircraft were taken to the east to invade Russia. Due to this, the Blitz ended on 16th May.

People reacted differently to the effects of the Blitz. Children and adults had differing views about the events of the second world war. This is an extract from Denis Gardner who was almost 14 when the Blitz started. During an air raid earlier, a stick of bombs had hit this area and houses were blown down. Dust was everywhere. Gas mains in the streets were on fire. Fire engines were everywhere and hoses across the streets. Air raid wardens tried to rescue those in the bombed-out houses, ambulances had sirens at full blast, police and air raid wardens kept people away from certain areas which were liable to collapse or had an unexploded bomb under them, and dust filled the air. The scenes of destruction, fires and mayhem were both frightening and exciting. That night they came back and bombed the East End of London, the dock area. From Peckham we could see the huge red glow in the sky as the dockland areas with all their stockpiles of sugar, wines, rum, timber and other perishable goods burnt. Peckham is only a few seconds flying time from the East End of London, so any pilot who was a split second off his target or was picked up by the searchlights (and lots were), just dropped their bombs to lighten the aircraft, in order to escape. The fires in dockland burnt for days. From this day on London was bombed for 74 consecutive nights, (and sometimes during the day as well,) except for a couple of nights when the weather was too bad for air raids. This meant going down our shelter each night and staying there, except for trips to the toilet during the quiet periods. We also had a couple who lived next door who used to come into our shelter, so there were six of us trying to sleep in this small area, and then next morning go to work, if it was still there.

This is another real-life story from Shirley Hughes, now 74, who was evacuated during the war. She was 11 at the time and had to become like a mother to her 8 month old sister, Pat. "When we were evacuated, I was 11 years old. I had to be a mother to my sister as my mum was not around anymore. It was frightening and we didn't know what to expect. We were sent to Western Favell, Northamptonshire, where two doctors looked after us. They had three girls and they were very unkind to us. They were jealous of us and particularly my sister who got a lot of attention as she was so young. Can you imagine not seeing your family for six years, not take your favourite toys, and staying with a strange family? I was so happy to go home, but when we got back to London the war carried on. I remember we had to wash very quickly in a tin-tub in front of the fire. When the air-raid warning went off it was like a nightmare running to the air raid shelter - absolutely terrifying.” This is an extract from a story from Margaret Hofman My war started when I was about three months old. My Dad had been called up into the army and my mother had been living in a small apartment in East London. The German planes had already been flying over London and dropping bombs, mainly at night. After one raid, my mother took me in the pram, to post a letter to my Dad to tell him that we were all right. While she was away,an undetected land mine exploded and the apartment was just brick dust so she returned to her father's house in the dock area of London. This was an unfortunate move because the next thing the Germans bombed was the dock, they bombed it by day and night until even the water burned with the contents of the warehouses tumbling into the water.

“ The bombs usually came in sticks of about five or six. And you’d hear one, and that’d go off. And you’d hear the next one land-that’d be a bit nearer. And the next one would be over the top, the other side of you. And you’d think ‘Thank God for that.’ ” That story was from Renée Bore, who was just 10 years old during the Blitz on London.

Herr Engelbrecht was 12 years old when the war started and 16 when he started fighting. He was one of the many people who had a first-hand experience of a bomb. On 3rd September 1943, a bomb hit 30 meters away from where Herr Engelbrecht was standing. A piece of shrapnel severely injured his leg and sadly, killed his friend.

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