Blitz Diary: Life Under Fire in World War II

Historian Carol Harris has collected a remarkable series of accounts from the war's darkest days, with heartwarming stories of survival, perseverance, solidarity, and bravery, the preservation of which becomes increasingly important as the Blitz fades from living memory. As World War II loomed, everyone expected it would bring a new kind of conflict to Britain. Raids by airships in World War I and the attack on Guernica in the Spanish Civil War had given a terrifying taste of what was to come, so when war was declared in September 1939, massive air raids against civilians were anticipated. London was a major target throughout the war, but it was not only the capital that suffered: on November 8, 1940, 30,000 incendiary bombs rained down on Coventry, laying waste to the city, including, famously, its cathedral. Port cities such as Plymouth, Bristol, and Liverpool also suffered especially badly. Highlighting the effects of the Blitz outside of London, this anthology of excerpts from letters, memoirs, and diaries tells the story of the bombing as a chronological narrative, until the very end of the war.