Story of Blitz's Most Iconic Photo

Today is the ­anniversary of one of the greatest photographs of World War II being taken — and of a defining ­moment in British history. 

On the night of December 29, 1940, ­Daily Mail chief photographer ­Herbert Mason was ­firewatching on the roof of the ­newspaper's offices ­between Fleet Street and the Thames. 

The Luftwaffe's blitz on London was at its height: after a brief pause decreed by Hitler on Christmas Day, Goering's bombers had resumed their almost nightly pounding of the capital. 

A brief attack on December 27 inflicted 600 casualties, more than 50 of them in a single public ­shelter in Southwark which received a direct hit.

 

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