We Remember the Blitz

'I went to the public baths and after I undressed I could hear someone whistling. I looked round to see if I could see anybody about, but I couldn't, so I got into the bath and lay back to relax. As soon as I did, of course, I looked up and saw a man putting in the glass windows that had been blown out the night before.' Joan Adams, Lichfield On the night of 7 September, for nine hours, bombs rained down on the defenseless and unprepared civilian population of London. By morning, 1,800 people were seriously injured or killed, and the bombing continued relentlessly for the next two months. Later, on 14 November, more than 400 bombs were dropped on Coventry. The raids then spread to Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Southhampton and Sheffield. Over 1,000 people died in a two-night bombing of Manchester two days before Christmas. In 1941 destruction was wrought in Swansea, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Bristol, Merseyside, Plymouth, Clydeside, Belfast, Tyneside and Hull. Thousands of people were killed and injured. Thousands of buildings and homes destroyed. Strain, anxiety and discomfort, fear and hardship was the everyday lot of the ordinary people of Britain during these terrifying nine months. But the morning after a night's bombing, milk was delivered, newspapers were printed and the trains still ran. Life went on, with stocisim and humour. We Remember the Blitz celebrates the British spirit, its numerous moving, horrifying but often funny memories clearly demonstrating that the battle for Britain was won by 'the many'.