Children and the London Blitz

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/children_and_world_war_two.htm

                                                                
Overview: This site discusses what the children had went through during the London Blitz.

Many people were effected during the London Blitz of World War II, but the ones who were most effected would be the children. Before evacuation, the children had to learn how to use gas masks, handle living on rations, and live with strangers among many other possible difficult incidents that may happen.

            The government attempted to plan many different evacuations; of course this would depend on the social status of the families. If a family was wealthy, they were able to plan their own evacuation with their children, assuring they would not be split up. Middle class, or children who attended private schools, were sent to be sheltered in large homes; this would depend on where you would live. Other children, who were not able to afford much, were sent to be sheltered in rail stations. The children who were sent to rail stations, had a significant chance in being split up from the rest of their siblings; about 1.9 million children were split from their families.

            The government also had a plan called, “Operation Pied Piper”. The government situated over 1,500 points for children to meet. Once the children were at their meeting points, they were given postcards which informed their parents where they would be staying. The operation had a plan set to evacuate 3.5 million children in a short period of time. Of the large amount of children, 1.9 million children were evacuated; some were able to continue living with their parents since evacuation was not necessary in their area. While the children were sheltered, they were crammed in churches, pubs and any other space that had enough space to help gather students so they can continue their education.

            When some families believed the bomb threats were not significant enough to separate themselves, they sent for their children to come back; some of the children that went back home shown social problem. The children who were sent back home had fathers who were fighting in the war, and mothers who were working at factories. Since they were not able to be taken care of by their parents, they were sent to city shelters; many of the city shelters were bombed during the war causing many deaths.

Argument: This argues that children suffered a great deal during the London Blitz because of the bombings of the Germans, it states that many children died, infact a ration was for every ten people, one child was killed.

Source: The souce does seem reliable, I have used this site for other sources. I believe it is reliable even though it does not show a publisher since the url shows it is from the uk, this makes me believe it is from someone or a group who feel strongly about the London Blitz.

How the Blitz effected Civilians

London Blitz and Civilians

Overview: This article talks about how London was effected by the Blitz. It wasn't a surprise when the site stated that London suffered the most during the Blitz, considering other sites stated the same thing. This site gave information that will be very useful in my paper. It stated that 1,200,000 people were left homeless during the Blitz, which was 60% of the total people who were left homeless because of the Blitz. This site also gave me important and historical places that were damaged during the Blitz: St. Paul's Cathedral, The City Library in London, The British Museum, Houses of Parliament, and St. Jame's Palace.

Food rationing was already limited to the people of London. They were only limited to 6oz of meat, 1 egg, 4oz of butter, and 2oz of tea per week. Many people do not realize how little that is nowadays since everyone is used to getting what the need to be satisfied just in one day. There were two things that were not rationed though, beer and tobacco. Beer and tobacco were not rationed because they considered it to be a "necessary for morale". This low rationing of food continued after the war.

There were two main benefits to the Blitz. One benefit was for women. The women gained a great deal of respect after the war since they helped keep the country runnying by running the factories while the men were at war. The other benefit was for the economy. During the war, almost all factories were used to help with the war effort, which would be an increase to help make all the supplies needed. Not only did it increase during the war, but the economy continued increasing after the war. The factories were then used to help make goods for the economy which helped boos the rate of production causing the production rate to hit record high.

Argument: There really was not much of an argument, but one can say this site helps show London was not left in the dust after the war. The war only increased the economy for them and the respect for women, which many can say would be a great move towards modern days, showing women can handle work also.

Source: The source seems to be from some sort of organization because the url is .org.

Blitz Memory

London Blitz Memory


Overview: This is a memory written in the BBC archives by a woman who participated in the help to fight against the Germans. She was working in the Control Room. She would answer the telephones and send messages to the mobilizing officers. The only people working directly in the Control Room were women. She explains how they were all trained and prepared for when the raid occurred by practicing and doing drills. She talks about what she went through during the London Blitz. She talks about how at one point the women were divided into two groups so they could have two different shifts; in that way one shift can get some rest while the other works. She talks about how she was the first to get some rest although it was hard, and she simply fell asleep due to exhaustion. She says how her old fears before this seemed to be nothing compared to how she felt during the London Blitz. She also talks about how her parents stayed in a shelter in a local park. After her family had moved, her house ended up becoming a place where they were unable to live due to all the damage. The damage, she explains, was beyond repair after the raids.

Arguement: I do not see a specific arguement here, but this is coming from a woman's point of view on what they went through during the London Blitz while the men were fighting in the war. This would be good to help explain how people contributed from the London side. This does show that London was prepared for the fight against Germany though, especially when she states the women in the Control Room were prepared due to drills and practicing for he real deal when the air raids come.

Source: This is an archive from the BBC. This shows she (the author) has been through a lot and knows how it was during the London Blitz since she did live through it. She seems to be more of a follower since she did not start to calm down until she saw others in her group was calm. I do believe this is a reliable source because it was in the BBC archive.

Defense of London Weak

London Blitz: Weak London Defense

                                                                   
Overview: This looks to be a form of documentary found on Youtube in what sounds to be in German, but has an English translation in text on the under the video. It explains how the Port of London was the main target by the Germans. Using a total of 497 bombers and 515 fighters the first day, the Germans killed 436 civilians in London and injured about 1,666 civilians. This documentary also talks about how weak the London defense was against Germany air raids. London only had 92 fighter planes to start off to defend themselves until about a week later they were able to double their fighters. Their anti-aircraft guns were not much use due to only a few of them having fire-control, and the searchlights were only able to reach 12,000 feet which was not high enough to spot a lot of the aircrafts. The defense rooms used by government people of London were called Cabinet War Rooms, they were underground bunkers which were not safe if directly hit by air bombs. Most of the bombers on the German side were ofcourse Germans, but some were Italian that flew aircraft from Belgium. This documentary also notes that the Germans had less than a one percent combat loss.

Arguement: This documentary clearly shows a favor of the German side by expressing how many deaths there were in London, and did not mention anything about the deaths from the German side. It also says how the defense of London was not strong enough, and how the Germans only had a small lost; those few things prove the author is on the side of the Germans.

Source: The source was found on Youtube and looks to be a documentary. As stated in the Arguement, the source clearly favors the Germans.

London Blitz Air Fight in a Quick Look

Interviews of London Airforce soldiers

                                                                   
Overview: This link is a video from Instant Recall that I found on Youtube. This video shows an interview of three different soldiers from the London Airforce during the London Blitz. Not only do they have the views of the soldiers but they interview someone who was ten years old then, he is now a film director. The soldiers talk about how when going into the sky against the Germans, they expected to die and did not believe there was a high chance of them living. The soldiers also explain how their formation was. There would be twelve planes up at a time to fight against the Germans. They also went on saying how they saw the Germans bombing London as they were flying and fighting the fighter planes from the German side. The interviewee that was the boy, explained how he would lay down in his backyard and watch the planes fight above him. He said how he couldn't hear it, but it was neat seeing the Germans getting shot down and coming down in their parachutes. He said how he would be surprised that they didn't have two heads when coming down because they believed they were "monsters".
Interviewees: Patrick Hancock, Alec Ingle, Patrick Barthropp, and John Boorman (film director).

Arguement: The author takes the side of London. This is clear to see as he only interviewed people who fought for London. He also states in the beginning how London still fought even though they were out numbered. This shows that he had great pride and was on the side of London.

Source: The source is a video from Instant Recall, it is a form of documentary. Since it is from a documentary, it leads me to believe it is reliable.

Witnessing the London Blitz

"The London Blitz, 1940," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001).

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/blitz.htm

                                                                      

Overview: This is an article written by Ernie Pyle who was a journalist and eyewitness during the London Blitz of 1940. In his article, he explains how it felt and looked like when he was witnessing the bombing. This would help people understand what it was like when they were being attacked by the Germans.

In this article, Pyle says how it was dark when he heard the guns being fired. He states how he heard the Germans flying over when they were attacking London. He said he could feel the building shake when the guns were being fired, how he could hear when the bombs hit the buildings. Although he was not in London during the bombing, he was close enough to see it out the balcony of the building he was staying. He states how the horizon would light up due to the fire from the bombs being dropped by the Germans.

Throughout the rest of the article he is able to describe how he heard the fire burning buildings, and how it all looked when the smoke blew away; he saw how damaged all the buildings were. This article would be a give a reader a great idea on how it looked and felt like to witness the bombing of London in 1940-1941.

Argument: This article shows although he thinks what he sees is eye-catching, he still believs it is a disaster for the citizens of London; in otherwards, it sounds like he leans towards the side of the British.

Source: Since it is an eye-witness, it helps me believe it is reliable. This shows me the author finds witnessing rare disasters up close an interesting thing to watch, he does show some sympathy by explaining the destruction he sees.

The Blitz

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/blitz_and_world_war_two.htm

Overview: This article explains how the Germans campaigned to bomb the cities of Britain. One main city that was targeted was London. The campaign name for the bombings was called The Blitz. The point of bombing London, was to put fear into the people that they would die and knock out their population. Using the fear of the people, the Germans would hope the government in London would then surrender. This was also called the Battle of Britain, which the Germans ended up losing. This battle lasted from September 1940-May 1941. This battle was Hitler’s way of trying to destroy the morale of Britain.

Since London was getting attacked harshly, the government closed down underground railroads, since if bombed, it could harm their citizens. Although the government banned the stations to be opened, the people of London still used the stations as their place of safety. They would go down there and hide from the bombs that were dropped every night by the Germans. This was a successful safe place until a bomb went through and killed some of the London civilians.

The London government decided to use the media to make it seem their civilian life was still normal despite the attacks they were receiving from the Germans. They produced a film that showed the bombing could not change their way of life. Although many people in London stayed hidden to protect themselves from the war, people from the poorer part of London grew used to the bombings and were used to the bombing at night.

By the end of the Battle of Britain, over 40,000 people were killed, and even more were homeless due to the bombings. The main defense system that was used by the British, were warning systems, searchlights, and anti-aircraft guns. By May 1941 the Blitz was over.

Argument: This shows the disasters London went through during the London Blitz, this favors London's side. A great way to tell is when it says they used the media to show the Germans that they were not going to be effected morally by the attacks.

Source: I believe this source is reliable since the url states it's from the uk, although it does not state an author, you can tell the author uses these articles to defend London.