London lucky to survive The Blitz.

Mint Sauce · 09-12-2012 09:51PM #1

Discovered this interactive website over the weekend. Now I know the Germans may not have had the Lazer or Satellite guided bombs that armies have today, but this guide shows the huge extent of their bombing raids, and alot on residential areas as well as the industrial areas of London, showing the raids were pretty indiscriminate.

Might not appeal to everyone, but posters originally from London or England, or anyone with an interest in the subject might consider it worth a look.

News of Website

Website

keith16 · 09-12-2012 09:53PM

I wonder what a similar map of Dresden would look like.

SEPT 23 1989 · 09-12-2012 09:57PM

keith16 wrote: »

I wonder what a similar map of Dresden would look like.

they started it:D

deandean · 09-12-2012 09:57PM

It doesn't look indiscriminate at all to me, it looks well planned and executed.

There must have been thousands of those red balls all over London during the blitz.

Lapin · 09-12-2012 10:05PM

Cool Website.

It really shows how insiscriminate and shíte the Luftwaffe were.

My old neck of the woods took a fair hammering but there were no bombs dropped at nearby RAF Hendon. A genuine strategic target.

Pottler · 09-12-2012 10:05PM

I thought this was going to be about Rugby.

Stained Class · 09-12-2012 10:12PM

Interesting. I see a bomb landed just yards from my old house in the Blitz.

Never knew that before now.

SEPT 23 1989 · 09-12-2012 10:25PM

Must have been a waking nightmare every night when the sirens started going off

dd972 · 09-12-2012 10:34PM

impressive website, shudder to think what it would look like if the Nazis ambitions were west orientated instead of their lebensraum project

09-12-2012 10:37PM

I used to hear those sirens quite often in the early 1970s, in the rural town I lived near, they were used to call the retained firemen to duty.

They used the "all clear" sound (one long blast)

The sirens are still in use today on the North Norfolk coast for flood warnings using the air raid warning sound!

branie · 09-12-2012 10:40PM

In my Leaving Cert history days, I did a project on the Battle of Britain, which was part of the Blitz

MagicMarker · 09-12-2012 10:40PM

keith16 wrote: »

I wonder what a similar map of Dresden would look like.

And so it goes...

SafeSurfer · 09-12-2012 10:43PM

If the Luftwaffe had been allowed to continue concentrating on RAF targets like airfields and radar installations instead of bombing London in retaliation for an RAF raid on Berlin, the Battle of Britain could have turned out very differently.

Mint Sauce · 09-12-2012 10:48PM

Stained Class wrote: »

Interesting. I see a bomb landed just yards from my old house in the Blitz.

Never knew that before now.

Seen two that landed within the vancity that my estate was built on. Was built during the 70's/80's so not sure what the Germans were hitting/aiming for during the Blitz.

Also looked at residential areas that I knew, some where family are currently living, alot that built during Edwardian and Victorian times, ie, before WW2.

Pottler · 09-12-2012 10:54PM

Moving the map around using the navigation arrows is about as easy as trying to hit somthing with an unguided bomb.

Going by the map, a bomb fell about 50m from my old house in Finchley, not surprised really, there was a bomb shelter(concrete) in the back garden that had been converted into a coal cellar and the attic was full of gas masks and black-out lamps and even a babys version of a full body gas protector. There were also several ARP helmets, so maybe the wartime owner was an Air raid warden. I left them there, figured they were sort of a part of the houses history.

On another note, should have kept that house, severly posh part of London..damn. Never look back!

09-12-2012 10:54PM

keith16 wrote: »

I wonder what a similar map of Dresden would look like.

It's phenomenal how many people don't know about the bombing of Dresden. I mean, I didn't previous to reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It's insane that nobody fully knows the extent of the casualties - numbers seem to be between 130,000 and 300,000, more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined - there were too many refugees escaping the war.

http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-10589.html this is an interactive map of aerial photos from after the bombing. It really does look like the moon.

bnt · 09-12-2012 10:57PM

What a strange thread title. London as a city was in no danger of destruction. A city is more than a collection of buildings.

09-12-2012 10:58PM

irish-stew wrote: »

Seen two that landed within the vancity that my estate was built on. Was built during the 70's/80's so not sure what the Germans were hitting/aiming for during the Blitz.

Also looked at residential areas that I knew, some where family are currently living, alot that built during Edwardian and Victorian times, ie, before WW2.

Accuracy was give or take half a mile in those days, with the blackout, there were few visual clues for the night bombers to use. So they usually carpet bombed the area in the hope that at least one would hit the target.

dr.bollocko · 09-12-2012 11:00PM

SafeSurfer wrote: »

If the Luftwaffe had been allowed to continue concentrating on RAF targets like airfields and radar installations instead of bombing London in retaliation for an RAF raid on Berlin, the Battle of Britain could have turned out very differently.

That seems like an oddly specific statement to me. Can you tell me where you read that because it raises a POV I have not heard before.

The battle of britain involved a number of large scale strikes on RAF targets and sea targets.

The bombed and shutdown radar stations a few times but they could be rebuilt quickly and the Germans didn't realise the strategic impact of them.

Likewise they never had a full intelligence of where the most strategic targets were to bomb. The aim of the Blitz and the sustained campaign of bombings was to demolish British morale and force them to surrender but London was a huge industrial target for the Germans. As was Liverpool.

Also the Germans lacked truly effective bombers for this type of campaign and were honed around a style of war which involved a rapidly advancing ground force. As Britain is an island a large scale ground force offensive was not going to happen unless the luftwaffe paved the way.

The city was destroyed but Londoners weren't lucky. They just would not quit.

Mint Sauce · 09-12-2012 11:02PM

bnt wrote: »

What a strange thread title. London as a city was in no danger of destruction. A city is more than a collection of buildings.

Strange title, how so? Just take a look at the number of bombs dropped and their spread across both the City of London and Greater London.

The bombs hit every type of infrastructure, commercial, industrial, and residential, involving the military, civilian, public, and private buildings alike.

Rascasse · 09-12-2012 11:10PM

Deleted User wrote: »

It's phenomenal how many people don't know about the bombing of Dresden. I mean, I didn't previous to reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It's insane that nobody fully knows the extent of the casualties - numbers seem to be between 130,000 and 300,000, more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined - there were too many refugees escaping the war.

http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-10589.html this is an interactive map of aerial photos from after the bombing. It really does look like the moon.

I assume (or hope) that this is an attempt at a comedy post.

Piliger · 09-12-2012 11:12PM

Deleted User wrote: »

It's phenomenal how many people don't know about the bombing of Dresden. I mean, I didn't previous to reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It's insane that nobody fully knows the extent of the casualties - numbers seem to be between 130,000 and 300,000, more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined - there were too many refugees escaping the war.

http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-10589.html this is an interactive map of aerial photos from after the bombing. It really does look like the moon.

That's what you get when you gas millions of people and start two wars.

Pilotdude5 · 09-12-2012 11:16PM

Lufthansa Captain to First-Officer, forgetting that the frequency was open: "We used to come up the Thames, and turn over here for the docks…."

Voice on frequency: "ACHTUNG SPITFEUR"

Pottler · 09-12-2012 11:17PM

Rascasse wrote: »

I assume (or hope) that this is an attempt at a comedy post.

As in? My old lads family lived about 80km from Dresden at that time and said the night sky lit up like the end of the world. Apparently the fire-storms just raced through the city and killed thousands upon thousands. Comedy how exactly?

summerskin · 09-12-2012 11:17PM

boneyarsebogman wrote: »

It's phenomenal how many people don't know about the bombing of Dresden. I mean, I didn't previous to reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It's insane that nobody fully knows the extent of the casualties - numbers seem to be between 130,000 and 300,000, more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined - there were too many refugees escaping the war.

http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-10589.html this is an interactive map of aerial photos from after the bombing. It really does look like the moon.

The Dresden council put the figure at 25k, the figures you quoted have been debunked as false time and time again.

Mr Benevolent · 09-12-2012 11:19PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Must have been a waking nightmare every night when the sirens started going off

Sorry, I thought you said **** nightmare. Danger **** all round!

keith16 · 09-12-2012 11:21PM

Piliger wrote: »

That's what you get when you gas millions of people and start two wars.

The firebombing of a city of no strategic interest and full of internal refugees is very much a war crime regardless of what precipitated it.

Pottler · 09-12-2012 11:22PM

Confab wrote: »

Sorry, I thought you said **** nightmare.

Probably was fairly hard to remain focussed with all that wailing going on outside..:D

petersburg2002 · 09-12-2012 11:24PM

keith16 wrote: »

I wonder what a similar map of Dresden would look like.

Or Berlin. Bombed to fcuk.

"They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind"

Rascasse · 09-12-2012 11:28PM

Pottler wrote: »

As in? My old lads family lived about 80km from Dresden at that time and said the night sky lit up like the end of the world. Apparently the fire-storms just raced through the city and killed thousands upon thousands. Comedy how exactly?

Well, firstly he cites a novel as a source, then claims that the number of "casualties" in Dresden were greater than the number of those in Hiroshima & Nagasaki combined which is just laughable.

Where To · 09-12-2012 11:32PM

Watford escaped relatively unscathed. The Luftwaffe must have seen Watford Services and thought they'd already obliterated it.

London lucky to survive The Blitz.

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