Posted on 10/31/2019 3:43:34 PM PDT by navysealdad
For many, photographs from the World War II have only been seen in grainy black and white. But now, new colour images have emerged that show the full horror of the destruction inflicted by Nazi bombings across London. The powerful images were released to mark the 70th anniversary of the launch of Winston Churchill's 'V for Victory' campaign on July 19, 1941.
(Excerpt) Read more at drdavehouseoffun.com ...
Color makes it seem much more real, as though it just happened this week. . .
If you visit London you will probably visit St. Paul’s Cathedral. Look around the beautiful old building and realize that every new building, built since WWII, represents an old building that was bombed out. St. Paul’s is surrounded by them.
Excellent photos, thanks - and a good reminder that war is not to be entered into lightly - too bad the Axis powers didn’t learn that lesson.
Amazing how the Brits were so resilient during the Battle of Britain.
I remember reading about how John Lennon's mom sought refuge in the Tubes.
Amazing.
All of the pics of those bomb blasted houses makes me think of the excellent British show about the engineers who had to defuse the dud German bombs- “Danger UXB”.
Thank you
Much of that resilience came from Winston Churchill’s radio talks.
We know some Brit survivors from WWII as friends.
Besides the bombing, much of London was without heat or electricity to make the survivors miserable.
Food was rationed as well as everyday clothing undies, socks and simple undershirts.
Often they didn’t hear from their service men in Africa and other areas. Ships were seldom in a home port.
After the war was over, food and common everyday stuff was scarce and often not available over a year.
One of our friends left at the age 18 to get warm and to eat on a regular basis. She went to Canada and it was cold and not much better except for the food. She met a Yank airman and married him and has never returned to the old sod.
In the years after WW II, the British embraced socialism and, mired in a weak economy, often displayed a resentful and surly attitude toward Americans. It seemed a cosmic injustice to many Brits that they won the war but America seemed to reap the greatest benefit, going from strength to strength and becoming the world’s most powerful nation.
My wife takes care of an elderly woman born in England. At the early part of the war she and her siblings were sent out to the countryside to get away from the bombing. The family that took them in got government funds to care for them - but then fed them only a bowl of porridge each day and pocketed the rest!
The kids were returned home, and they spent many nights in the tubes, but at some point the family decided they would just leave it to fate and stayed at home.
When they first had a close-up of the guy unscrewing the detonator and then zoomed out for a long shot, you knew the bomb was going to explode.
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