Lend-Lease

Though President Roosevelt was firmly convinced that an Axis victory would be disastrous, isolationism in Congress and the electorate compelled him to proceed with caution. In December 1940 Churchill told him of the damage done by German submarines, and warned that the time was approaching when Britain would not be able to pay for munitions. The Lend-Lease bill, introduced into Congress in January 1941, empowered the president to transfer any defense material to any nation whose defense he believed vital to United States’ interests. Although isolationists fought hard, the bill became law in March, and proved a key turning-point in US foreign policy.

Although the Thompson sub-machine gun was not an ideal military weapon (above), its American symbolism, arising from prewar gangster films, made it another propaganda coup. The British soon replaced it by the cheaper and lighter Sten, though it remained in limited service.

Living with “The Blitz”

As the nightly German attacks over London continued, the city’s Underground railway stations were used as air raid shelters (above). The authorities disapproved of the practice at first, but then did what they could to make them more comfortable, and life underground soon developed its own culture. These Londoners are sleeping on the escalators in one London tube station.

In a mimicry of death, shop dummies lie on the pavement (above) after a London department store was hit.

At the height of the Blitz, most of the 1,500,000 people serving in the various fire, civil defence, shelter and casualty organizations were part-time volunteers. Here a rescue party (below) — with the double R designation on its steel helmets — removes a Blitz victim from rubble.

The Blitz

The Blitz — an abbreviation of Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) — was the name given to German attacks on British cities in 1940-41. London was bombed by accident on the night of August 24, and the RAF responded by bombing Berlin the following night. In early September, Goering unwisely shifted the Luftwaffe's main effort from airfields to cities, and “Black Saturday,” September 7, saw the first major raid on London. When the Blitz ended in May 1941, over 43,000 civilians had been killed and great tracts of ancient cities and industrial centres devastated — but popular resolve had not been broken.

The Blitz did not just hit London and major provincial cities like Bristol and Liverpool. Here Churchill inspects bomb damage (above) in little Ramsgate.

On November 13, German bombers struck Coventry in the midlands, destroying not only twelve armaments factories but also part of the city centre and the 14th-Century cathedral (below).

The Luftwaffe Grounded

Spectators at the wreckage of a Dornier Do 17, shot down in England on August 12, 1940. Between July 10 and October 31, the Luftwaffe lost some 1,294 aircraft to the RAF's approximately 788 aircraft.

Heinkels Over London

One of the war's classic photographs (above): A Heinkel He 111 over Wapping, England on “Black Saturday,” September 7, 1940 — the first day of the offensive against London. 300 tons of bombs were dropped and about 2,000 civilians killed or seriously injured.

Lieutenant Karl-Heinz Thurz at the controls of a Heinkel He 111 bomber (below).

Hurricanes in Britain

British R.A.F. pilots relied on hard-working ground crews. Here the wing-mounted machine guns of a Hurricane Mk 1 (above) are re-armed: great care is taken to avoid jam-inducing kinks in the belted ammunition.

Two Hurricanes from 501 Squadron (below) scramble from Hawkinge, August 16, 1940. Although the Hurricane was slower than the more modern Spitfire, it nevertheless played a distinguished part in the battle.

Barrage Balloons in Britain

In 1938, the British Balloon Command was established to protect cities and key targets such as industrial areas, ports and harbours. Balloons were intended to defend against dive bombers flying at heights up to 5,000 feet, forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft fire — anti-aircraft guns could not traverse fast enough to attack aircraft flying at low altitude and high speed. By the middle of 1940 there were 1,400 balloons, a third of them over the London area.

While dive-bombers were devastatingly effective against undefended targets, such as Guernica and Rotterdam, they were very vulnerable to attack by fighter aircraft, and their use by Germany against Britain with its effective Royal Air Force was rapidly discontinued. Balloons proved to be of little use against the German high-level bombers with which the dive-bombers were replaced, but continued to be manufactured nonetheless, until there were almost 3,000 in 1944. They proved to be mildly effective against the V-1 flying bomb, which usually flew at 2,000 feet or lower but had wire-cutters on its wings to counter balloons. Two hundred and thirty-one V-1s are officially claimed to have been destroyed by balloons.

Many bombers were equipped with devices to cut barrage balloon cables. Britain used large numbers of balloons, so Germany developed the most capable cable-cutters. Their systems consisted of small C-shaped devices attached to the leading edge of the wing. When a cable entered the device after sliding down the wing, it triggered a small explosive charge that drove a blade through the cable. British bombers were also equipped with cable-cutters although the Germans used few barrage balloons.

The British added two refinements to their balloons, "Double Parachute Link" (DPL) and "Double Parachute/Ripping" (DP/R). The former was triggered by the shock of an enemy bomber snagging the cable, causing that section of cable to be explosively released complete with parachutes at either end; the combined weight and drag bringing down the aircraft. The latter was intended to render the balloon safe if it broke free accidentally. The heavy mooring cable would separate at the balloon and fall to the ground under a parachute; at the same time a panel would be ripped away from the balloon causing it to deflate and fall independently to the ground.

Watching the Skies Over Britain

The Operations Room at RAF Bentley Priory, Fighter Command's headquarters is seen above. Symbols representing squadrons are moved across the map, while senior officers in the gallery above control the battle.

Civilian volunteers of the Royal Observer Corps (below) reported the numbers, direction and type on incoming enemy aircraft. Here an observer plots the height of a German formation.