Battle of Britain: London in Londoners’ Commemorations

The article is devoted to the Blitz commemorations of the citizens of London. Such WWII memoirs are extremely precious since they give the reader a first-person view of the witness’s actions, feelings, experiences. Reminiscences make us deeply involved in different events of the Blitz, showing both the unbelievable ruthlessness of the enemy and the endeavor of the citizens of the British capital to retain their human nature. The Blitz period has originated a lot of accounts connected with the scale of bombardment. The present paper tackles the recollections of renowned writers, war correspondents, artists, people at work - firefighters and local defense volunteers. Ordinary citizens - grown-ups and children - were also among the onlookers. Ernie Pyle, a famous journalist, presented a description of blanket night bombings, one of which resulted in the Second Great Fire of London. Virginia Woolf did not only describe her feelings during an air raid but also reflected on future peace. Eyewitnesses’ accounts convey the images of devastation, sufferings, horror. And, at the same time, people stayed heroic and defiant, they continued living among the ruins - sheltering, developing their own mini-governments in the Tube, playing cricket amidst debris, digging for victory. Moreover, as Henry Morton, another famous journalist and traveler, reported, Londoners had not lost their sense of humor even under unrelenting bombardment. The documentary sources indicate that the spirits were high: the old and the young, the rich and the poor were getting along, joined together. Those people were not going to give up, they turned out to be staunch to the end. Many scholars tend to think that the courage of Britons during the Blitz, their determination and confidence in victory have brought about the British national identity.

1. Connelly, M. (2004), We Can Take It! Britain and the Memory of the Second World War, Pearson Longman, Harlow, UK.

2. Gardiner, J. (2011), The Blitz: The British Under Attack, HarperCollins Publishers, London, New York.

3. Field, G. (2002), “Nights Underground in Darkest London: The Blitz, 1940-1941”, International Labour and Working-Class History, Autumn, no. 62, pp. 11-49.

4. Mackay, R (2002), Half the Battle: Civilian Morale in Britain during the Second World War, Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.

5. Morton H.V. (1941), H.V. Morton’s London, Methuen & Co Ltd, London, UK.

6. Morton H.V. (1990), I Saw Two Englands, Methuen, London, UK.

7. Pyle, E. (2017), Ernie Pyle in England, Pickle Partners Publishing, Auckland, New Zealand.

8. Woolf, V. (2009), “Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid”, in The Death of the Moth and Other Essays, London, UK.