After the Nazis took over France, the British were left to fight on their own. The Blitz occurred on September 7, 1940, when the Germans bombed London for the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. This was part of the German "blitzkrieg" strategy, where the Germans would concentrate on fighting the British and try to overpower them very quickly.
The main reason for attacking Britain was that the Nazis wanted to neutralize them so that they could concentrate on taking over Eastern Europe, such as the Soviet Union, without the interference of Great Britain. With Great Britain being an island, it was very hard for the Nazis to launch a ground invasion. Germany attempted to wear down Great Britain by attacking English vessels but Britain's air power was much superior to that of the Germans. This was apparent through the Battle of Britain in which the Royal Air Force was able to defend Great Britain from large scale attacks by the German air force.
Since the British has a much stronger air force, the Nazis began to change their strategy. They wanted to use fear as a way to defeat the British morale and cause extreme chaos. By the end of the first day, the Germans had dropped 337 tons of bombs on London. This caused severe damage and killed 448 civilians. However, the British military units were alerted right after these attacks and defense units were put up. While the British may have been surprised by this attack, their morale was still up and they were determined to fight back.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-blitz-begins
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/15-powerful-photos-of-the-blitz
It's very surprising how the Blitz didn't end up knocking Britain out of the war considering how unprepared they were. Germany had large public bombing shelters but Britain had nothing of the sort except private Anderson structures. The major reason more people weren't killed was that the London subway system was reluctantly opened for people to shelter from bombs. Despite being unprepared and struggling to fight against the Germans in the dark, the Brits held on and stayed in the war.
ReplyDeletesource: https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz
This was a good article to read about. The bombings in Great Britain were a tell tale sign that this was world war II. It is even featured in many movies and it is portrayed as something the British couldn't defend at all. But After reading this article, I am realizing it could have been a lot worse if it weren't for the Royal Air Force.
ReplyDeleteI really like your post and how it's description of this event in WW2 was very clear and informational to read. Blitzkrieg tactics as you mentioned in the post has always interested me so when I looked up more information on them I found it to be summarized as a focus on concentrated mobile warfare to quickly strike the enemy, similar to as you summarized it. I found it had it's roots in 19th century Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz among other things. Part of the reason that Germany adopted this doctrine of war was because of their loss in WW1 and how they got bogged down in the trenches. With this form of war, the lines would be moving to quickly for trenches. All of this goes to show the lasting influence of the events and people before Nazi Germany on Nazi Germany and how beyond just desire for revenge that Germans felt following the war, there existed other influences on Nazi Germany.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg
I really like your blog, it was really informative and explained why the Germans were unable to take over Britain. I like how you described the brutality of the Germans when dropping the bombs on London as well as the fact that they were unable to defeat the British naval forces and air power. To add on to your explanation of the Blitz, it was a period of time - about eight months - where German bombs and raids occurred which killed thousands of citizens. However, when May came around, Hitler began focusing on an invasion in Russia.
ReplyDeletesource: https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz