Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres.
Two German bombers fly over south-east London on the first day of the Blitz, 7 September 1940.
Damage to St Paul's Cathedral. A bomb hit the north transept, crashed through the floor and exploded into the crypt.
Buildings in Manchester burn after an air raid on the night of 23 December 1940.
A woman sleeps on a bed made on top of a row of barrels in the cellar of a wine merchant's in East London in 1940.
A bus lies in a crater in Balham, south London, after a bombing raid.
Bomb damage in the centre of Coventry after the devastating German air raid on the night of 14 November 1940.
Civilians take shelter in Elephant and Castle Underground Station in south London during an air raid in November 1940.
One badly damaged house still stands amidst the piles of timber and rubble following an air raid on Queen's Road, Aston, Birmingham, on 11 December 1940.
Local boys play a game of cards in an air raid shelter in south-east London in November 1940.
Troops of 9th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment, clear bomb damage in Hull sustained during the Blitz.
Mannequins litter the pavement outside the John Lewis department store on London’s Oxford Street after an air raid in September 1940.
Volunteers prepare to distribute tea to people taking shelter in North London.
The ruins of Coventry Cathedral two days after the air raid on the city in November 1940.
A man sleeping in a stone sarcophagus in an East London church in November 1940.
A young boy places a Union flag into the remains of his home, which was destroyed in an air raid on London in 1940.
