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.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Witnessing the London Blitz
"The London Blitz, 1940," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001).
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.
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.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.
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
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.
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.
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