Stories from the Blitz | Documentary

[@christopherbutler7588]

So great to see my mum on this video Talking about when they got bombed out one night. She is 94 know. Tough generation All what they went through.

[@BevMattocks]

My mum's 96 and her family used to take in bombed out families from Liverpool when they lived in Southport. My mum went to Uni in London towards the end of the war and remembers air crew who'd been shot down in flames and whose faces were being reconstructed at the hospital next door to the uni, sitting at the back of her uni lectures to pass the time.

[@jackie6343]

Aww that's lovely,my mum lived through the Blitz too,she's 97 now ❤

[@margaretcastell9429]

How amazing to have this precious souvenir and to know she is still with us. I was born in Birmingham in 1941, the hospital was actually struck by a bomb when I emerged. My poor mother was a wreck and father on one of his several war jobs. None of us will forget this time and pass it down to our children. ❤

[@margaretcastell9429]

​@@BevMattocks those poor men would have been horribly disfigured by burns. At least we had just been introduced to penicillin to hopefully prevent infection. Young fellows maimed for life as restorative surgery was so new.

[@a.nelprober-rl5cf]

Nobody f*cking asked!!!

[@davidjma7226]

My parents, both Londoners, met in a bomb shelter in the middle of the 1940 Blitz and were married in Peckam in 1942. They were tough people in those years!

[@Thathairdresserguy]

Wow that’s amazing to think about

[@edhespin4104]

Very interesting. I wish I knew them..💪👍

[@davidjma7226]

@@Thathairdresserguy Yeah. I still have the pics and marriage certificate. Extraordinary.

[@Ira88881]

There was a tragedy in one of the metro stations, right? Many people died?

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

....david jma7226.......there was NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO BE! tbh.

[@mariafrancademarchi6737]

Good morning. I am Italian and when Italy went in war I was 18 months old. The first thing I remember is the first bombing over Milano, when I was 2 years old, and this has signed my entire life. This excellent film should be shown in each school because the memory of how devastating the war is in everyone life be not forgotten. I apologise for my bad use of the English language.

[@jean6872]

Countries of the European Union will never fight each other again.

[@marco5718]

Lei ha ragione. Questo film dovrebbe essere proiettato in ogni scuola in modo che non possiamo mai dimenticare the devastazione della guerra.

[@romans325kjb]

You did fine 👍 with English language. Blessings to you 🙏.

[@helenchristinarees4335]

I think your English is very good 😊

[@sharynkhan1104]

Your English is better than my Italian.

[@markgeary5897]

My mum now 91 lived through all of this,the blitz,doodle bugs,V2s wasnt evacuated from London.Still drives herself about,recounts everything in clear details Unfortunately all the men are dead now from that era in my family(RAF)but talking to her they survive.This generation were tough and had a great spirit.

[@georgielancaster1356]

Oh PLEASE, get a voice recorder and get her to tell all the stories. Start with asking her about her childhood, it relaxes people. Then ask her about the different family members, and what she remembers about what they did. Who was the best singer or dancer. Who was the dog lover? Who was the joker. Answering these questions can get them relaxed, so the memories flow. Try to get a 2nd copy made. Give one to one of the official sites and keep one for the family. Spread them.around the family, as inevitably, some people lose them. If you get a big amount, maybe contact pen and sword publishers and see if they want to work with an author, to turn it into a book.

[@knitwit7082]

georgielancaster1356 • What a wonderful idea! I could listen to those stories all day. There is a series of video stories of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust that were done by USC (where my daughter graduated.) While sad, they deserve to have their stories heard, repeated, and remembered so that these tragedies will never be repeated. Again, what a great idea. I hope people whose families fought in the WWs will do this so others may learn what their lives were like.back then. 😁

[@vincekerrigan8300]

markgeary. I'm an exact contemporary of your mother (92, 3 months ago) and I have very similar memories, obviously. On thing that makes me very angry, is when people today, up to about the age of 40, maybe even older, who have not the slightest idea of what war is like, denigrate and criticise those who lived through this. It is blatant - saying things like we shouldn't have fought Hitler, we shouldn't have bombed Germany so heavily, Dresden was a war crime, and so on. They should look at those pictures of London, Coventry et al. Even with the relatively slighter fire power (compared with later in the war) of the Luftwaffe attackers, the scale of the damage and loss of life was tragic and very widespread. Do these idiots think that if, in 1940, the Germans had had the capability of 1944/45 they would not have used it? Given the chance, at that time they would have totally obliterated the areas they attacked. And today we hear idiotic presenters (one is called Piers something I believe) and journalists, burbling on about 'proportionate response'. When you have suffered in war, you know damn well that you don't win a war by mounting a 'proportionate' response, that only prolongs it, it doesn't finish it. Am I the only one to have noticed all this?

[@janebrown1706]

I saw an interview by a jewish lady who was locked up in a place above Dresden during the bombing and said it was the best she'd ever seen.

[@susandelongis885]

My dad, bless him, an Italian American flew bombing missions out of England with the Army Air Corp. He was just a kid, but the story of how he earned his bronze stars was harrowing, a story my uncle told us after my dad’s death. Like many veterans he didn’t discuss his war experiences. He only did share his love for the British people, something he also expressed by creating a beautiful oil painting of an English village. I inherited this deep appreciation. This exceptional documentary illustrates some of the strengths of the people we admire so much and I’m proud that my dad served beside in the war effort. May The Lord bless our nations with lasting friendship and peace. ❤️🇺🇸❤️🇬🇧❤️

[@emmsue1053]

My USA Dad came here just after the war for five years as he was an electrical engineer & Britain badly help with infrastructure. Thank you to all those who were brave allies.

[@GMT439]

Proof of all CLAIMS Required.

[@pcerel]

My dad worked in the control tower of the Army Air Force in Ipswich England

[@davidgillettuk9638]

Amen 🙏

[@Hannah-Clarke-uk]

My great aunt Laura lived though the blitz, one time she didn’t want to get out of bed and her Anderson shelter was bombed, another time she was in her newly rebuilt Anderson shelter and her house was bombed. A very lucky lady

[@stevelee4952]

My mum and dad were both from east London, near the East India Docks. They were housed in the same village in Dorset , never met but married 8 years later. The old boy , bless him, died aged 65 but our mum is now 94 and misses her George every day of her life

[@romans325kjb]

So sad for the children. (+The adults of course). Todays kids/teens do not have a clue.

[@marywelch5194]

Curious. Are the East India Docks named for the East India Company?

[@georgielancaster1356]

What a romantic story.

[@davidrobinson8337]

Please thank her,

[@oneviewcornwall8200]

My mum (born 1937) was there with her mum in the air raid shelter on Goswell Road EC1 down in the basement of the C&A building - my mum wasn't evacuated. My mum shared her memories and fortunately I have many recordings of my mum's memories despite her very young age. Love you mum, miss you everyday, your stories and amazing memories of the blitz 💛

[@BestDoc]

@oneviewcornwall8200 Sorry for your loss.

[@oneviewcornwall8200]

@@BestDoc thank you so much 🌿

[@patricialeusing1083]

Her memories are a treasure. Have you been able to share them? Thank you for sharing her story here! ❤

[@adrianthomas6667]

My family would gather at Christmas with relatives and friends , this was in the early seventies, remembering the war years and shared experiences. They would play Vera Lynn records and as a youth I could feel the palpable atmosphere which was created amongst them. Indescribable & unforgettable.

[@CraigBrown-t6r]

Sounds like a good ol cockney knees up 🎉

[@AngelitoSastrillo-vx5ei]

Cf tc

[@nomadpi1]

We'll meet again...

[@gavinkitchen1472]

In 1976, I stayed in a 6 person Bomb Shelter with 4 other people for 48 hrs. We ate down there, & cooked tea. The toilet was a bucket. With 5 people using the bucket, it smelled. The experience was absolutely horrible,uncomfortable smelly, & very cramped. This was in peace time, ie no.bombs dropping. I'm glad I was convinced to go through this experience, I have the utmost respect for everyone who lived through these horrific Wars.

[@stephenperretti8847]

@gavin... Who sponsored the experiment?

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

.......what war was going on in London in 1976?

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

......Okay, thanks for the added info!

[@gavinkitchen1472]

@stephenperretti8847 you find them all over the UK.& in many other Countries its not uncommon to buy a property in the UK & there is an underground bunker in the garden. Many have been demolished, converted etc, but there are still many WW2 & Cold War bunkers remaining. Of course bunkers come in many different varieties. Some People might have s 1 room underground bunker in their garden or basement. 1 room could be as basic as a small concrete room, with very basic amenities, such as a bucket & bottles for a toilet. Paranoid multi millionares might of built themselves a luxurious doomsday bunker with as many rooms & as many luxurious as they like. There are Community bunkers, Government bunkers, etc. Government bunkers are designed so that the Politician's can live there with their families & run the Country. The most famous bunker in the UK, is the Churchill War Rooms. As the bunker i stayed in was built under somebody's garden & they were the same People that owned the Property. It was a simple process of just opening the hatch & climbing in. There was pretty much nothing down there that was useful as it had not been used since WW2. So we imagined it was War Time & we only had a couple of minutes. Someone was smart enough to bring a bucket & empty milk bottles, otherwise it was on the floor. Apart from that it was whatever we brought with us. I had some sandwiches, we all had blankets, pillows & basic bedding. Cell phones didn't work 99% of the time. Could only get a very faint signal on rare occasions. Someone else brought Tea, Coffee, Cups, sugar, but no milk. We forgot that. We did have lots of water. Anyway we got very little sleep, pretty much staying up for 2 days, as I reckon that's what you'd probably do in a real situation. Ie the first 2 days you'd be too stressed to sleep.

[@JME-TV]

5 days? You were in a shelter for few hours at most ! Why would you stay in one for 5 days haha

[@philipr1567]

Many families have stories to tell, and these should not be forgotten. My mum was 7 when the war began, living in Tooting (South London) with her parents; when she was evacuated my grandmother went to Essex to stay with her sister while Grandad stayed behind working, growing vegetables, and waiting to be called up. One morning he came out of the shelter (in the neighbour's garden) to see that the house windows had been blown out and roof tiles dislodged; one bomb had wrecked a house two doors away, another hit a house across the road, and the school at the end of the garden had been hit - three of the thousands of bombs dropped that night, each exploding less than forty feet away from my grandad. Two of mum's uncles were kept busy - my great-uncle Fred (WW1 Royal Navy veteran) was a firefighter based at West Ham, and my great-uncle Charles (WW1 army veteran) was a Heavy Rescue volunteer in Southwark digging survivors and dead bodies from the wreckage. My great-uncles never talked about what they had seen and done, but they were both commended for bravery and were plagued by nightmares for the rest of their lives.

[@christinamarie3598]

This effected my mother as a child all through her life .. many of her life lessons and codes of honor were cemented surviving this

[@smileandpresson]

A terrific documentary. I'd love more like this! Gave me better understanding for what my Granny went through. Truly the greatest generation.

[@karenmihranian9707]

I have watched so many documentaries and read so many books about WW2. When u realise what people went through. The lose suffering and pain. The courage and determination to fight on. So many people came together to give a helping hand. The input of women in the war effort. Amazing that's what makes a nation great.

[@AndyJarman]

And the kids, that evacuee worked on the trawlers, dangerous and hard work, even without U boats and mines! He thrived on it though! When American aircraft carriers visit (Perth Western Australia) it is shocking to see how young and naive the people who fight wars are. They are nearly all black - no doubt putting your life on the line is a hand up for many. It seems shameful that our children fight our wars, not the adults, the well heeled, those that profit from it, but the kids from poor homes.

[@nomadpi1]

They adapted. They got by. Life went on. That's the genius of our species.

[@CJ-ft9yo]

What gets me is how they did all of this on very little food. Very tough generation, they had to become this

[@lylaclark3977]

My dear Grandfather, a Dublin Man, was an Air Raid Warden in London during the Blitz, he would always send his wages home to my Grandmother to provide for her and their young family at that time, in which my dear Mum was a 10 yr old girl. He was a brave and honourable man God rest his soul 💛, as Air Raid Wardens really were on the Frontlines of such devastation in London at that time, doing their best to care for the People of London during the Blitz. I have such Respect for my Granddad who did his part as an Irish Man during WWII and managing to provide for his young family back in Dublin in such difficult times . They were a determined Generation ! Much respect and thanks to all of them still .

[@serenashaw-q3y]

I was born in Bristol in 1940 , in the midst of a huge bombing raid. Bombing in Bristol was regular and devastating . People walked out of the city to spend the nights in fields, returning the next morning to go to school, or do a full days work. Bristol suffered terribly, but is very very rarely mentioned. Files have only recently been allowed to be opened, and there are others still sealed under protection. There was much resentment that the King and Churchill never visited, as they did in London's east end, and Coventry. It is now known that it was purposeful; Churchill did not want the Germans to know how successful the bombing was, so there was very little allowed to be published in the British press. German bombers targeted the churches, to try and break moral. But there was an important - underground - oil pipeline from Avonmouth, that went under the Bristol Channel, through Wales, to Liverpool, that fuelled the vitally important ships braving the North Atlantic convoys; bringing in food and essential materials for armaments that were critical, enabling the war effort. I do hope that soon, Bristolians will get the recognition they deserve, for their very important contribution towards winning the war.

[@PhyllisGlassup2TheBrim]

"German bombers targeted the churches, to try and break moral. " That's absolute nonsense. Several thousand feet up, in the dark there was no precision bombing. They got roughly over the target and opened the doors. The bombs landed where they landed. Who on earth told you that poppycock?

[@vincekerrigan8300]

sallygardiner. Don't hold your breath. They are too busy blaming the people of Bristol for something that happened a couple of hundred years ago, and was nothing to do with them, than to consider how they suffered in the war.

[@nomadpi1]

Sealing files is a criminal act in a Republic or a Democracy. The public has a right to know everything and governments sealing files must mean a propaganda effort is in process.

[@philipr1567]

I agree. We remember the Royal Navy and the merchant navy bringing supplies across the Atlantic, but we haven't given sufficient credit to the people in the seaports who unloaded, repaired, and fueled the ships, as well as the transport workers who kept distribution flowing and the civilian population who were bombed again and again. I think it is no exaggeration to say that if the major seaport cities (especially Liverpool and Bristol) had been destroyed the UK would have been starved into submission.

[@philipr1567]

@@nomadpi1 I think you are over-simplifying the issue of sealed files. Every nation keeps secrets to protect national interrests - this is not necessarily about propaganda. However, it can be argued that the 'hundred year rule' for some secrets may be excessive.

[@mikehefford6499]

During the November raid on Coventry my mum, aged 21, happened to be staying overnight with her aunt and uncle just outside the city centre but near to a railway line. When the raid started they were in the house and took shelter under the stairs. A bomb landed in the street not far from their house and she saw their front door go flying past them. Fortunately that was the most serious damage to them but there was a massive creater in the street and serious damage to other houses.

[@SectorSos]

What a great documentary. Cheers from the USA 🇺🇲. War is horrible. Im a retired US Army combat veteran. With multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa etc. But can't imagine a WW2 scale war. What an informative documentary. Thanks 👍

[@alexcarter8807]

Aha one of the Peace Creeps(tm) has crawled out from under its rock. You know, the same brand of creep that didn't want us to pick on poor old Hitler, the same creeps who were America First! isolationists, said the Nazis were just peaceful folk who just wanted their "lebensraum". @@swisscottagecleanairaction

[@louisebb4183]

No one is saying why the US wasn’t helping from the start ? Was it because they have been making money of selling the oil for Germans Messerschmitt that was attacking Britain? Only when their own borders were under threat then they woken up and joined.

[@taliabraver]

Thank you so much!

[@Linda-io2ns]

Thanks , and thank you to the American soldiers based in England during the war,

[@davidrobinson8337]

@@Linda-io2ns Thank you for remembering them,,, I couldnt begin to imagine what those folks endured,

[@Jen.K]

My parents are both in their 90's still alive and remember being children during the blitz. My dad lived in London and was sent to the country, he said it was a nice time because the family he stayed with were very kind to him, unlike his own family, which was effected by alcoholism. My mum lived further away from London, so they stayed at home. She remembers going to bomb shelters and hearing the explosions near by. For me now, it's hard to comprehend how some people can be so psychopathically evil to attack other countries, killing thousands of innocent people, and feel justified doing it. It's still happening today, I don't understand how it is allowed to happen. We are a very broken species.

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

.......one of my mother's worse recollections as a young mother and suffering from the daily bombings in London, were when the "sound" of the German Doodle-Bugs which regularly flew overhead suddenly "cut-out" .b.c. she said one of them would then come crashing down on their home. In fact in May 1940, two "very-newly-married" other family members of theirs were killed in their London bed from one of them. The Records of the names & addresses of Civilians killed during WW2 in London are Online..

[@JackJackKcajify]

They dont feel justified. They know what they are doing is theft and murder. Conquering another country what else can it be? They are crimes, and those who commit them know they are doing so. But they can protect themselves from facing consequences from their own nation by controlling the government and laws. But guess what? That wont protect you from other nations.

[@Cromwelldunbar]

@@elizabethsheffield6609 With deep respect for your comment but not from any doodle-bug were they killed in 1940! Because… The V1s began in the second week of June 1944 and it was either the very first one or the second one came down on a house near to where I lived and no-one knew what they were like at all and in fact they were first described as “terror bombs” the term “doodle-bug” being coined a little later. Some times no air-raid warning was sounded and I recall being seated in an upstairs school class-room one early afternoon and glancing out of a window to see one advancing towards us - and no air-raid warning had been sounded at all. This also happened four years back in September 1940 when walking to school when suddenly - and oh so suddenly - there was a tremendous dog-fight up in the skies above me and no siren had been sounded and there a completely horrifying drama beheld to a seven year old so overcome were the anti-air raid spotters ie there were so many incoming waves of German ‘planes it was beyond our blokes to monitor them all to sound off their siren warnings. In early 1944 and before the doodlebug period which began in June of that year and NOT before that month, there was a renewed period cum effort by the Luftwaffe to start up a “mini blitz” - for they were becoming short of bombers - and we were bombed out of our house and into sleeping nights in the public air raid shelter until spring time: but still a month or so before June ‘44 when the new phenomenal V1 came to bewilder everyone. That lasted the rest of the summer but only to be joined - oh horror above all horror - by the V2 against which there was no hope at all except for our lads in the Army on the other side of the Channel to beat up the coasts through France and the Low Countries to Germany to find their launching sites and destroy them…And that wasn’t easy locating exactly where they were. As to your question of why murdering civilian populations was/is allowed to happen, you have to delve into human nature, the wish to dominate others, the wish for power, motivated by greed, and the desire to oppose others because of pure personal dislike. You might as well express a dislike and bewilderment at shop lifting theft and robbery, perhaps motivated by jealousy, sometimes with nothing more than verbal insult then turning worse. The Hamlet question! Why do people do harm to others? Why do people take things that don’t belong to them and they have no intention of paying for them…Why? Ask me another…! Be not naive nor cynical about human nature!

[@Cromwelldunbar]

@Jen.K

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

@@Cromwelldunbar ....I know the dates my ancestors were killed are correct. Probably the recollection about the dates of the doodle bugs were "off". Living through 6 years of war can do that to the minds of those that did.

[@davidrobinson8337]

God bless those folks. They went through a time in which they were fighting for their very lives. We sure as hell could learn a lot from them. God bless them all.

[@JM-cs3dc]

David Robinson Listen carefully to Israel

[@longwhitemane]

I have a friend who is in his 80's and was 3 years old at the time of the Blitz. I've shown him some pictures of people taking shelter in the underground. He got tears in his eyes looking at them.

[@nancybingham7298]

Good coverage. I was born in 1940s & heard many tales of this time from neighbours & my Uncle Peter in RAF. It was helpful to see actual footage taken.

[@sharonread7674]

Really good documentary. Could be used in school history lessons. Top job. 👍

[@dsouza4746]

My mother was born in Portugal and she told me that my grandparents took in several English children during the war. She told me that they would play in the grape vines as small children with them and that’s how my mom started to learn English. My grandfather and family immigrated to Santa Clara California after the war,

[@peterreston6478]

Excellent presentation uncovering many subjects not often covered, for example, the large increase in crime and traffic accidents at night.

[@claireduncan138]

I just love reading all the beautiful comments thank you for sharing ❤

[@ronahart219]

Brilliant, thank you. My father was in the Fire Service, based at Bishopsgate, London E 1 during the Blitz. But he didn't speak much about his experiences.

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

..........my friend's father also served in the Fire Service during the Blitz and unfortunately lost an eye when on Fire Duty one night and the Germans sent down dangerous Incendiary Bombs spraying their deadly contents all over the area.

[@anthonyeaton5153]

During the Blitz the firemen were the only emergency service that was not allowed to go into the shelters during the actual raids even when the bombs were exploding all around.

[@JulianWaugh]

My dad in the RAF at the time was visiting his aunts in primrose hill for tea. An air raid ensued and my father hit the deck and crawled under the table. His aunties sat calmly drinking thier tea and were heard to say tour brave boys! They had not been able to distinguish between AkAk and german bombs.

[@davidrobinson8337]

'I'd kinda feel sheepish.. I mean if those ladies werent scared why should i be ?

[@Brunette_Rapunzel]

I'm with Oversimplified, "These people had balls of steel!" I have alot of respect for Londoners of that time.

[@JM-cs3dc]

❤

[@rod4095]

Wonderful to have first hand testaments documented.

[@mjc11a]

Brilliant presentation! I'm absolutely convinced that regardless which side of the pond they lived on, folks of that generation came from a different cut of the cloth. Thanks for posting and I wish you all a safe and enjoyable holiday season 🙏

[@Texaslonestargal]

God bless the brave British citizens that endured The Blitz and lived to tell their stories.

[@Joyfulgrace7777]

Brilliant work ! I’ve not seen any more concise! I have Foyle’s war but never understood how bad the looting and theft was !

[@1220b]

My great grandfather was a Eastend fireman in the blitz. Went to the truck to get a hose and a bomb went off blowing the truck into the next street. Spent the rest of his life with scars on his head...

[@billotto602]

What an incredible video. Wow, I've read quite a lot about WW 2 but I've never heard or read anything like this. What incredible people with incredible stories. Thank you ! ❤

[@timburr4453]

it is so important that we hear this

[@rodneymaennling5963]

An impressive video, not dramatized or overstated. I was born in 1934 and lived in Northwest London and evacuated to East Anglia for a short time when the V1 flying bombs commenced. I'm turning 90 this year and the eldest of three siblings. Our parents were very considerate, yet kept us up to date on the troubles; we were always included for the important BBC radio broadcasts. We lived just outside of the main blitz targets in Kenton, but rather close to Northolt and the Hendon RAF aerodromes.. We were told never to pick up from the streets anything that looked odd. One example looked like a cigarette lighter I found but which actually a shell casing but which could have blown us to bits. As boys, we did accumulate and swap all kinds of stuff, such as shrapnel, small toys, military buttons, and jewellery. I did find an aircraft cockpit instrument, and I was given by an uncle German army helmet and badges. All my uncles and aunts served. My father enlisted, but was honourably discharged due to several medical issues, but then became a radar researcher at GEC Research Labs close to home. This long note I suppose, reflects the pride of my heritage. There's something about island life which reflects the nature of the British mentality that "one doesn't mess about with my patch". Rodney British Columbia Canada

[@vincekerrigan8300]

rodney. I am a bit older than you, and can relate to all you said. Don't talk about the 'pride of your heritage' in Britain today - you will be vilified. Most of this modern generation have no respect for us, in fact they denigrate us all the time, and actually seem to hate us. They are contemptible. I weep for what England has become.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

Thank you for sharing your memories with us all Rodney. Always good to see other people proud if their heritage. Sincerest regards to yours and my own parents generation. Best wishes to you.

[@donna1420]

Thank you for that

[@lorrainewilson2067]

My husband is 91 and remembers all of this. It brings tears to his eyes when he remembers. He lived in Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire. This was a fishing port and that saw lots of action.

[@gaziosman95]

👏👏👏 çok güzel harika bir bilgi aşırılıkların insanlığı hangi noktalara götürdüğü açıkça gözler önü e seriyor teşekkür ederim emeğinize sağlık...mutlu sağlıklı ve savaşsız bir yaşam dileğimle.....

[@alexcarter8807]

This is a very good documentary. Very detailed.

[@christopherbutler7588]

Thanks

[@audreybuchanan5112]

I was in Esher when a bomb dropped on the kitchen we children was in the cellars but were brought up to the lawn, and l can see that London was alight the sky was red, all l could think of was my Dad was there somewhere , guns on the roof firing at planes going over. The doodle bugs were very noisy and very frightening, l must have been about 9 as lm now 94. I hope it never happens again.

[@vincekerrigan8300]

audrey. You must have been about 15 when the doodlebugs arrived, because they appeared in June/July 1944.

[@audreybuchanan5112]

@@vincekerrigan8300 yes you are right l would have been about 15 when the doodle bugs came followed by the rockets

[@MrLemonbaby]

Wonderfully informative and even handed between courageous acts and some lessor so. But the last sentence... "reminding of the time when the country nearly buckled". But the country didn't buckle nearly or other wise.

[@aidencox790]

Nearly buckled??? Was that said to generate effect or what? I went through the whole war but further up North - I'm an old 80+ year old Geordie - and we never even came remotely close to "buckling". Then again, Northerners are different to Southerners - and don't think we up north with the coal mines and ship building yards and Vickers Armstrong etcetera had it easy would have gone on forever. But unlike the Southerners we were used to hard times with many people killed in mining and other disasters over many years. Also the South was better looked after by the government - always was and even in 2023 it still is. Maggie Thatcher (Prime Minister1979 to 1990 ) DECIMATED the Northern industries and I as one of many will never forgive her. Buckled? HOGWASH !!!

[@mitcha1065]

Both my father and mother were evacuated to the countryside. I suspect they both suffered something horrible. My father had great difficulty with emotional connection. My mother suffered severe mental health issues and was an alcoholic and drug addict all her adult life. They both were so emotionally distant. The war sure created pain for multiple generations.

[@normabyde4766]

I was a three year old when the war began. My Father was killed in the evacuation of Dunkirk a year later. My Mother and I moved from Liverpool to stay with her sister in Birkenhead, but no escape from the bombing which was centred on Cammell Lairds, the ship builders. I remember sleeping in our Anderson shelter in the garden every time the air raid warnings sounded . I don’t know how the adults coped with everything on the home front.

[@allanhymer8220]

This should be shown in every classroom of every school in the UK and the US to try to instill some reality into today's generation.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

The corporate globalist "powers that be" don't WANT that to happen. We have to do it ourselves, to teach our kids to ignore the constant BS they see on the "idiot box" and "soshal meeedya".

[@oldman1734]

I remember the war. For me, being a small child, the worst thing about going down shelters while at school was having to form two lines and hold hands with a GIRL. But feelings can change!!

[@B_Rh_Neg]

My grandmother who also served for the RAF signal corp was dead centre of the blitz , I remember as kids we couldn’t have kazoos or even whistles in her house she suffered badly fr ptsd fr the Blitz , she came to Canada after the war as a war bride and veteran herself, I’ve been to England many years ago but want to go back again now that I’m older to visit some of the worst hit areas. I couldn’t imagine the fear of the British ppl but they could never break their spirits!!! 🇬🇧🌺🇨🇦 I love my British family

[@asullivan4047]

Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what/whom the orator was describing. Special thanks to the veteran soldiers/civilians sharing personal information/bombing experiences making this documentary more authentic and possible. The civil defense/bobbies/other organizations. Did an exceedingly professional job preparing for the diabolical on slaught of the diabolical 😈 Luftwaffe bombings. Victory gardens/recycling scrap drives. Sand bagging crews & other essential groups. Made quite a difference between having & not having essential war time items.

[@j.dunlop8295]

The Royal Navy captured German U-boat U-110 on May 9, 1941 in the North Atlantic, recovering an Enigma machine, its cipher keys, and code books that allowed … In mid-1942, America's counterpart to Bletchley Park, Building 26 in Dayton, Ohio, cracked the Kriegsmarine's four-rotor Enigma system.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

No it didn't. The UK broke the "shark" network.

[@davidrussell8834]

🇨🇦 My sister and I were evacuated in 1939 to Laindon Essex and returned to Ilford after 2 months. Dad built an Anderson shelter where we slept. It was cold , wet and had spiders. At night we could see flares searchlights and hear the AA guns in Barking park. Dad went in the RAF at 38 and we were again evacuated in 1941 to Derbyshire.We roomed with an old couple and were about to go back when mum got a job and we never returned

[@gaelaelliott2333]

Did you know Irene and Sheelagh Turner or Mary and Gerald Ells? I ask because my Nan recalled playing with a David in Ilford during the war, and I haven't been able to locate him.

[@arthurthomasware5004]

Yep, I was a London boy. Evacuated out to the countryside and back three times: Devon, London, Northhamtonshire, London, Bury, Lancashire, and finally back to London once Germany was defeated. I was 3 when WW2 started and 9 when it ended. I witnessed the night bombings then, later the Doodle-bugs (V1's) As as someone said in this video "Not a fear in the world." Too young to feel it, I guess. I probably spent 3 years away from my London home, and the rest in London.

[@boondockingamerica]

Not very often you find someone 90 years old posting on you tube.

[@arthurthomasware5004]

Not quite 90, Boon. I'm 87.@@boondockingamerica

[@boondockingamerica]

@arthurthomasware5004 man I bet you got some stories to tell. Very few people are left that lived thru the war and those numbers are getting smaller every day. We need people like yourself to tell thier stories so people won't forget and repeat the same mistakes they made in the past.

[@Jen.K]

@@boondockingamerica My dad, now in his 90's was still on the internet up until about 6 months ago, when his vision got too bad. My mum, also in her 90's still is, and she still drives. They were both children in the UK during the war and have memories of it.

[@arthurthomasware5004]

@@boondockingamerica Thanks, Boondock. But I was only a kid: 3 to 9 in WW2. Though I do remember quite a lot about it.

[@michelleduplooymalherbe2837]

VERY IMFORMATIVE AND INTERESTING, WOW THOSE PEOPLE HAD BACKBONE, WHAT POTRIOTISM!! I HONESTLY THINK IF THAT HAD TO HAPPEND TODAY THE RESLUTS MIGHT NOT BE THE SAME - WE JUST HAVE NOT GOT THE SAME SPIRIT

[@sylviaball3874]

I was born in the blitz. South London. Used to sleep down Elephant and Castle underground. We were then evacuated to Devon for over 6 years before returning to London. Look how we have ended up. Pensioners now are nobody s. Total disgrace. We sit in A & E FOR 12 HOURS for a service we paid into for up to 50 years. Not valued at all.😢

[@vincekerrigan8300]

sylvia. Bang on - I weep for what England has become.

[@sylviaball3874]

I lived it but still can't believe it. God bless you sunshine ❤❤

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

@@sylviaball3874 God bless you as well Sylvia. I do hope you're keeping well. It is indeed a tragedy what the most greedy and ambitious in our country have done to it all. Look after yourself darling. x

[@kez8355]

Love watching things like this, thankyou

[@srothbardt]

The English Channel stopped them, just as it stopped Napoleon. The bombing just made the Brits tougher. They would never surrender.

[@adventussaxonum448]

Never stopped us going the other way.

[@JimmyEatsFood]

Until 2024

[@mrkittengaming7735]

My Granny’s neighbour home was destroyed by a bomb which damaged their house she was then shipped by herself at 13 to Canada and her parents passed away in England

[@terrym3837]

My mum endured the blitz three times they were bombed out when I asked her what did you do all she said was find somewhere else to live

[@kieramaccourt8717]

That was what my Nan said too. Her and my grandfather spent the night in a shelter (in London) out the next morning to be married before he went off to the Army.

[@MrScaryLemonHead]

When I see and hear these stories… I can only think about “When the wind blows”.

[@philomenamagill700]

Great documentary

[@glennwing4214]

I met a man once who had been in London, as a student, during the Blitz. When asked about what his experience had been, he answered that it all seemed fairly normal. And what else could he have answered? Everything we go through seems normal when we're young. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like... Any time you think life is requiring too much grit, just think about the British in these years. It will put things into perspective.

[@phubblewubbphubblewubb]

I can't see the population of today's London pulling together, they'll be too busy on their knees asking Allan to save them.

[@MrMAC8964]

My mom got sick of the wet cold bombshelter my Grandfather built in Eastbourne and refused to die in it , so stayed in her bed . She and her friends (like 12 yrs old ) were strafed bye a BF109 while swimming in a river as well. Nuts.

[@janebrown1706]

Gèe the strafing is very nasty! In the mid 70s my UK cousin fell in love with a German lad however he found his father had been a nazi in the war and refused to marry her.

[@MrMAC8964]

@@janebrown1706 was it a "he" or a "her" ? hard to make heads or tails on that one.

[@AndyJarman]

I just watched "Things to come" a 1936 film dramatization of the book by H G Wells, it's here on You Tube for free. My mother (who was at school in London during the Blitz) told me that film is what they expected to happen. It was the end of the world, NOBODY thought a bombing raid by the Luftwaffe was survivable, at least in the long term.

[@KNemo1999]

I was evacuated at age 9 and spent most of the war in a wardrobe. Good times

[@lindawatkin9667]

Sending your children out of London must have been horrible. I applaud those people who took care of the evacuated children.

[@Jimmiburn]

Very interesting piece of history excellent film.

[@justadildeau]

Imagine Britain trying this feat with it's contemporary diversity. Britain isn't capable of anything like this today.

[@tom79013]

British/Europeans in general having nothing to fight for. Everything that made our countries special has been destroyed. Fight? For what? Just to see it all be given away to those that don't deserve it. No thanks

[@wmorris189]

Jesus mate stop with the war nostalgia, it was a horrible time for everybody which we will hopefully never have the deal with again and who did the soldiers vote in? Socialism and The NHS . And yes let’s not forget one of the main purposes of the EU to stop 1000s of years of incredibly destructive and harmful wars, but hey Vera Lynn?

[@justadildeau]

@@wmorris189 show me a single country where diversity is a strength. Otherwise clap your trap shut.

[@marthae9338]

What a stupid statement. Diversity has nothing to do with it. Ridiculous to look at the Second World War with 21st century attitudes.

[@warrenlewis3977]

What does diversity have to do with surviving the Blitz?? Why do you creeps always have to involve your bigotry when the program has NOTHING to do with race?? Help me understand..

[@emilygooner9697]

Amazing doc thank you

[@TrilbyJeeves]

This was so interesting to watch. It continues to amaze me what humans can invent and make. My mother who is 90 with dementia was a London kid who was evacuated to Newquay, Cornwall. I wish I could meet someone who has this memory or has relatives with this memory. My GrandDad worked on the Barrage Balloons, and my Grandmother drove an ambulance. They divorced during the war! My Mum didn't talk a lot about her life during wartime, but I do have some of her memories. She does remember her mother and Grandma fighting about her being evacuated. Does anyone here have any information on the kids who went to Cornwall? Thank you...

[@michelles2299]

The 1939 register may help you search for evacuee in the occupation field or you could contact evacuee association and perhaps some stories or info in the imperial war museum, the UK kept good records in the war

[@TrilbyJeeves]

@@michelles2299 Thank you for this tip. I will do some research.

[@johnryan2193]

How crazy is that.looting the dead and dying

[@vm6824]

Humans at their best!

[@AnthonyRooney-be2tx]

Will always have the memory's as a small boy who used to wander wasn't Controlled seeing doodlbug flying over clapham common taking shelter when Siren sounded also in Kent seeing dog fights overhead parachutes in the sky and Dads army running with fixed Bayonets near Penshurst troop trains crossing Wandsworth Rd waving to soldiers heading to war many never to return Thanks to all who served

[@johnhewett9483]

brilliant video wellworth watching all the way through

[@K1110.]

Really good Narration.👍

[@MS-sb9ov]

The movie Finest Hour was pretty good except the diversity segment on the tube just felt too contrived and false. It let the whole thing down. Look at this film l and you’ll see the reality of diversity. Aka zero.

[@vincekerrigan8300]

MS. Ruined the film for me - bloody nonsense. I started work in 1948, travelled by tube every day, and didn't see a single black person until the early sixties.

[@johnfleming446]

I was,a portsmouth boy born 1933. Evacuation 3 times.saw much of😮 the bombing.no school.day and night diving into air raid shelters

[@derekantill3721]

I was a young child living near the docks in London during WW2. Probably too young to be frightened. I never went to school, consequently only doing 9 years of schooling in total. I remember some of the blitz, and even today I remember vividly the V1 and V2 rockets.

[@MadAntz970]

My grandparents came from South London, Kennington. My grandmother was an ammunition inspector at the Woolwich Arsenal and coped with bringing up three small children over the duration of the war, whilst holding down her job. At the start of the blitz she sent her children (including my father) off as evacuees. When my grandfather came home after the aborted invasion of Norway, he went and collected the children as he said the family should stay together. To dispel a big myth about the great times the young evacuees had, my father was with a pair of old spinsters, and when he was collected he was apparently malnourished and was "running alive" with fleas and ticks...... Also I was told a story about a Luftwaffe crew member who bailed out somewhere between Kennington Park and the Oval in daylight. He was alive when he landed, but by the time the Police go to him, he was dead.......

[@sueengle6242]

FFS Sake: It wasn't just London that was devastated The Luftwaffe heavily bombed Liverpool and Manchester. Targeting the ship yards, ports and manufacturing areas. And then dropped the surplus bombs over Hull on the way back over. Hull was devastated. More than 97pc of homes and buildings were damaged/destroyed by the dumping of bombs on the way back over the channel

[@vincekerrigan8300]

So what?

[@michelles2299]

They ways forget the north...... Good film worth watching ...... housewife 49 based on war diary of a housewife Mrs nella last who lived in Barrow in Furness, played by Victoria Wood

[@anthonyeaton5153]

I doubt if the Germans dropped ‘surplus’ bombs. You either get rid or you don’t. They would not route back over an area full of anti aircraft guns and nearby fighter stations. Another false wartime story. Hull was pulverised as a vital target but 97% of all housing would not have been destroyed. Bomber Command didn’t achieve that with hundreds of heavy bombers.

[@rogersinclair2772]

Tonnage of bombs/number of raids: London - 18,291 tons in 71 raids Liverpool - 1,957 tons in 8 raids Hull - 593 tons in 3 raids Manchester - 578 tons in 3 raids This is major raids where at least 100 tons dropped. Ray, John (1996). The Night Blitz: 1940-1941. London: Cassell Military. ISBN 978-0-304-35676-8 You were saying? Also your geography is a bit shaky. The route from Liverpool/Manchester back over the Channel goes nowhere near Hull which is on the North Sea not the English Channel.

[@michelles2299]

I wonder if my dad age 4 in 1939 was listening with his mum to the radio when war was announced? My dad passed away earlier this year age 89 🙏🌹RIP dad

[@DataWaveTaGo]

At 39:57 - "...coupled to his eating carrots." This was misdirection promoted by the RAF. RAF night fighters were equipt with RED BACKLIGHTING for the cockpit instruments, as the red light after-image quickly faded away, and in any case, was of minimal intensity when the pilot took his final instrument check then looked ahead in the night sky.

[@georgielancaster1356]

England had a glut of carrots that year, and it was done to get little boys to feel they were eating like their heroes. I hadn't seen Cats-eyes look so old! Lovely to see him as old chap.

[@Mebbe308]

My mum lived in Holloway Road during the Blitz. She was bombed out 3 times. All her possessions fitted in a small suitcase. She was a GPO telephonist and could speak German which was useful

[@RT-fe1mu]

I have the highest respect for the English people they were very tough people!

[@conveyor2]

Key is the "were".

[@GrahamEMinckley]

Mum and her older sister worked the latter part of the blitz as typists in an army war office in Knightsbridge and went home to Northolt every evening to sleep in an Anderson shelter.I asked mum of recent what were the best years of her life and she said at 16 she was looking forward to the future even as the bombs were about to rain down.Mum turns 100 soon March 2025 and her sister aged 101 has just passed May 2024 Looks like that optimism paid off

[@neilyadav9448]

Best Documentary

[@stephfoxwell4620]

My mother in law was orphaned in the third biggest raid if the Blitz. 21 March 1941, Welling. House collapsed killing my wife's grandparents and leaving the kids buried at the back of the building.

[@cazkrt]

Came after watching the film Blitz.

[@montygemma]

One of the funniest stories I heard from the war is of this man who lived in Poole. Because the town was a port and on the coast he feared bombing raids so he and his family moved to his brothers in London. East London.

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

......back to the middle of the London Docks which were mercilessly bombed during the Blitz.

[@CJ-ft9yo]

I love the lady saying that the bombs were a hassle in nightclubs If anything… watched the Edge of love and it showed this happen, dancing just carried on

[@garyfrancis6193]

How well would the current generation cope with something like this? My guess they would immediately surrender.

[@alexcarter8807]

Back to your easy chair, Grandpa. Today's young folks would fight, it's the boomers who'd roll over.

[@marthae9338]

You don't know until you have to face it. I don't think they would at all. Look at the Ukrainians, young and old if you want an example. No surrendering there!. There were also people in leadership in Britain at the time who wanted to negotiate even in May 1940.

[@sharonread7674]

​@@alexcarter8807Hey there that's a bit cheeky. 61year old boomer, brought up by my dad who was in the RAF during the 2and world war and my mum who was younger was in the Red Cross training for the eventually that Hitler invaded the uk.

[@taliabraver]

Who would fight?The refugees whom ran away from their own countries.

[@Jen.K]

We all are currently surrendering to the invisible war which is right now being waged on us for our minds.

[@lisathomas627]

My nan he always spoke if never knowing where my grand father was . He worked for Becton gas plant keeping gas pumping into London and was a fire fighter at night . She often spoke of fire watching and wondering if my grandad was there ,she hated the not knowing 😢

[@j.dunlop8295]

Ukrainians at the same horrible terrorist threats as these good people! 🇺🇦🚀🙏

[@conveyor2]

Including the oh so noble Azov Battalion with its neo nazi emblems?

[@chingapu7308]

​@@conveyor2You repeat the narrative of Russian propaganda.

[@richards200]

That fella is a bit keen... Cracking program

[@carolisherwood493]

Those were the days when the sentence aligned with the crime. Don’t mess with Britain days. Sadly long gone.

[@Lynda-oo7ey]

What a brave people,the Brits are!😁😀

[@catbevis1644]

1:04:06 The aerial photo shown is actually MacKenzie Road Islington, which was struck by a V2 a few months later on Boxing Day 1944. This photo was taken the following April, after a lot of the immediately dangerous rubble had been cleared.

[@carolking6355]

Thank you stomping the music. I hope it stays off.

[@AndyJarman]

The thumbnail to this video! I often see rats and mice scurrying down on the tracks - people must have been desperate to sleep there!

[@pixie706]

And people moan about hardship now . making do is nothing new. .at least UK isn't being bombed

[@namcat53]

Good documentary, but the audio is flawed with inconsistent volume levels.

[@michelles2299]

Wow really how inconvenient