‘Read all about it...read all about it...War declared’—‘Evacuate children immediately.’ Newsboys shouted, loudspeakers blared, children disappeared from the streets. It was September 3 1939. One year later, thousands of German bombs dropped on Birmingham during the terrifying days of the Blitz. The city in flames, the sky glowing red, is deeply etched into memory.
The raids of November 1940 were described as; ‘Hell on earth’, by the Swindon Mercury in 1996 ... ‘In utter devastation, buildings at the centre of Birmingham were smoking shells of their former status.’
Churchill said, ‘We will NEVER surrender, we will fight ON THE STREETS’. We did. This was the people's war … read the surprising way that wartime Britain raised the money to pay for escalating costs. And was Lord Haw Haw, a peer, a spiv or a spy giving away blitz secrets?
Blitzed City recounts memories of life in a 1940’s British wartime home. Join the family during air-raids in a cold snowy shelter. Follow their struggle with shortages, rationing and hours of queuing. Walk with the family through the ‘Night of a thousand fires’ as it escapes to safety. Celebrate a wartime Christmas and visit a wartime school.
Hard times and dark days gave way to better times, the new Welfare State and to the ‘Fabulous Fifties’ when war children became the first ‘Teenagers’ and Elizabeth was crowned Queen.
