Holborn, October 25 1940
As we constantly fret about air pollution, road safety and stifling property prices, it’s easy to forget that London has survived far scarier times.
A year into the Second World War, the German Luftwaffe launched an unprecedented aerial assault on the UK’s major cities, dropping more than 100 tons of explosives on the country over the course of 37 weeks. London was attacked 71 times, damaging more than a million homes and killing around 20,000 Londoners.
The photos that have survived the three quarters of a century since are at once upsetting and uplifting. Though they show familiar places reduced to dusty tatters, the stiff, unemotional reactions of the Londoners they depict say a lot about our character. If we can deal with this, we can deal with anything.
Pictures are supplied courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, where you can find hundreds more artefacts relating to the Blitz. You can also learn more about the Blitz on the museum's website.
