LIGHT OUT!â
Itâs 1940, and youâve landed in the middle of the Blitz. The Blitz is the name people are giving to a period during World War II when, night after night, German planes dropped bombs on cities all over Britain.
The Blackout
The siren is still blaring and you hear the whistling noise of a bomb dropping to the ground. There is a flash of light and the deafening sound of the explosion. A woman grabs your hand, and pulls you through a door and down some steps. There is light down here and you can see where you are. Youâre in a London subway station packed with people sheltering from a nighttime bombing raid on the city.
The lady who grabbed you is called Sylvia. Her husband is away fighting. She apologizes for shouting at you, but warns you that you can get in a lot of trouble for showing a light during a blackout. During a blackout, everyone has to cover up his windows with thick black curtains. The street lamps are shaded so they let out only a tiny bit of light, and even car headlights are positioned to point downward and shine through black slits. The government hopes the darkness will make it impossible for the pilots of German bombers to target Britainâs cities from the air.
Going Underground
The station is dirty with mice scrambling around. It smells because the toilets are closed and people are having to use buckets, instead. But it is the safest place to be. Sylvia explains that at the beginning of the war, the government banned people from sheltering down here. So, she would just buy a ticket to travel on the subway, and only come up when the all-clear sirens sounded to tell people the bombers had gone. Now more than 200,000 people take cover in stations all over London. There are public shelters, but not enough for everyone, and Sylvia doesnât have a yard in which to build a homemade shelter called an Anderson shelter.
Aboveground, you can still hear the bombs exploding and every so often, the bench you are sitting on shakes. Sylvia is worried about what she will find when the air raid ends. Last week, one family on her street returned from the shelter to find a heap of rubble where their house used to be.
Bombs In The Blitz
Sylvia tells you the German planes overhead are dropping two kinds of bombs:
1. Fire bombs, known as incendiary bombs. The Germans drop these first, in clusters. The bombs are small, but full of chemicals, and burst into flames wherever they land. They cause lots of damage and create light for the pilots to see where to drop the rest of their bombs.
2. High-explosive bombsâpacked with explosives. Most of these explode on impact, destroying the buildings around them. Others have timers on them and explode hours later, without any warning. Army bomb disposal experts try to disarm them, but itâs dangerous work and many are killed.
Sylvia tells you that last week, on November 14, 1940, German bombers dropped around 500 tons of bombs on the city of Coventry near Birmingham, England. This killed 568 people and injured over 1,000. More than 60,000 buildings were destroyed.
Beating The Blitz Blues
⢠Bring earplugs. If you thought your dadâs snoring was bad, an air raid is much worse. The wail of the sirens, the thump of exploding bombs, and the crashing as buildings collapse is terrifying. To keep everyoneâs spirits up and drown out the sound of the bombs, why not try singing?
⢠Bring something to do. During a raid, you can be in the shelter for a long time. Sylvia is knitting, but you could try a board game, or a pack of cards.
⢠Donât go out after sunset unless you have to. The blackout has caused chaos on the roads. People canât see where they are going. They bump into lampposts, fall off bridges, and cars have crashed into canals.
⢠Bring a snack. Sadly, food is in short supply. The government controls how much food people can haveâthis is called rationing.
⢠Get evacuatedâlots of
Itâs 1940, and youâve landed in the middle of the Blitz. The Blitz is the name people are giving to a period during World War II when, night after night, German planes dropped bombs on cities all over Britain.
The Blackout
The siren is still blaring and you hear the whistling noise of a bomb dropping to the ground. There is a flash of light and the deafening sound of the explosion. A woman grabs your hand, and pulls you through a door and down some steps. There is light down here and you can see where you are. Youâre in a London subway station packed with people sheltering from a nighttime bombing raid on the city.
The lady who grabbed you is called Sylvia. Her husband is away fighting. She apologizes for shouting at you, but warns you that you can get in a lot of trouble for showing a light during a blackout. During a blackout, everyone has to cover up his windows with thick black curtains. The street lamps are shaded so they let out only a tiny bit of light, and even car headlights are positioned to point downward and shine through black slits. The government hopes the darkness will make it impossible for the pilots of German bombers to target Britainâs cities from the air.
Going Underground
The station is dirty with mice scrambling around. It smells because the toilets are closed and people are having to use buckets, instead. But it is the safest place to be. Sylvia explains that at the beginning of the war, the government banned people from sheltering down here. So, she would just buy a ticket to travel on the subway, and only come up when the all-clear sirens sounded to tell people the bombers had gone. Now more than 200,000 people take cover in stations all over London. There are public shelters, but not enough for everyone, and Sylvia doesnât have a yard in which to build a homemade shelter called an Anderson shelter.
Aboveground, you can still hear the bombs exploding and every so often, the bench you are sitting on shakes. Sylvia is worried about what she will find when the air raid ends. Last week, one family on her street returned from the shelter to find a heap of rubble where their house used to be.
Bombs In The Blitz
Sylvia tells you the German planes overhead are dropping two kinds of bombs:
1. Fire bombs, known as incendiary bombs. The Germans drop these first, in clusters. The bombs are small, but full of chemicals, and burst into flames wherever they land. They cause lots of damage and create light for the pilots to see where to drop the rest of their bombs.
2. High-explosive bombsâpacked with explosives. Most of these explode on impact, destroying the buildings around them. Others have timers on them and explode hours later, without any warning. Army bomb disposal experts try to disarm them, but itâs dangerous work and many are killed.
Sylvia tells you that last week, on November 14, 1940, German bombers dropped around 500 tons of bombs on the city of Coventry near Birmingham, England. This killed 568 people and injured over 1,000. More than 60,000 buildings were destroyed.
Beating The Blitz Blues
⢠Bring earplugs. If you thought your dadâs snoring was bad, an air raid is much worse. The wail of the sirens, the thump of exploding bombs, and the crashing as buildings collapse is terrifying. To keep everyoneâs spirits up and drown out the sound of the bombs, why not try singing?
⢠Bring something to do. During a raid, you can be in the shelter for a long time. Sylvia is knitting, but you could try a board game, or a pack of cards.
⢠Donât go out after sunset unless you have to. The blackout has caused chaos on the roads. People canât see where they are going. They bump into lampposts, fall off bridges, and cars have crashed into canals.
⢠Bring a snack. Sadly, food is in short supply. The government controls how much food people can haveâthis is called rationing.
⢠Get evacuatedâlots of
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