DEAR Blog
Disaster Experiential Activity and Reflection
Project by Noah Hass-Cohen, Psy.D., Alliant International University School of Professional Psychology
Contributors: Jeremy Arzt, M.A.; Joanna Clyde Findley, M.A.; Anya Kavanaugh, B.F.A;
Alliant International University, Couples and Family Therapy, Crisis and Trauma course students
1940-1941: BOMBING OF ENGLAND (LONDON)
Background
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“The Blitz” was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War.
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The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed.
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More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged.
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Residents sought shelter wherever they could find it - many fleeing to the underground stations that sheltered as many as 177,000 people during the night.
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Londoners and the world were introduced to a new weapon of terror and destruction in the arsenal of twentieth century warfare.
Firefighters in London after an air raid, 1941, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blitzaftermath.jpg
Life Threatening Toll: Death and Injury
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More than 40,000 civilians were killed, half of them in London.
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46,000 injured (figures for wounded possibly as high as 139,000).
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In the worst single incident, 450 were killed when a bomb destroyed a school being used as an air raid shelter.
Psychological Impact
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Prolonged fear/panic, but also public preparation for the duration of the bombings.
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Commentators have suggested that the bombings were intended to “crush the civilian psyche” into demanding their government surrender and make peace with Germany at any cost.