On this night, December 29-30, 1940, the Luftwaffe unleashed one of the more deadly raids on the city of London during “The Blitz”, firebombing the capital and destroying a large segment of the city.
The Blitz was the name Londoners gave to the German bombing of England that took place between 7 September 1940 – 10 May 1941 and was short for the German word “Blitzkrieg” or Lightning War which the Nazis under Hitler had termed.
During the Blitz and the bombing of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, nearly 40,000 civilians were killed. London was bombed every night for 57 straight nighttime raids. Over a million homes were destroyed in London and much of the historic part of the city was burned to the ground.
