|
HOME
Home page
with latest updates |
NEWS
Links
to festivals, exhibitions,
museums, concerts, theatres...
|
COUNTRIES
Round
the world : English-speaking
countries
PHOTO
GALLERY
Various
topics
|
RESOURCE
teacher's resource,
press,
grammar, cinema...
FUNCORNER
Games,
audio, quizzes
|
TRAVELS
Sightseeing
: what you want to know
before you leave |
LINKS
Useful
classified links |
|
email
|
background
photos
selection of
links
audio & video
resource
printables
BACKGROUND
After France was half-conquered,
Hitler tried to make peace with
England. But Winston Churchill
refused. Hitler made plans for
invading England.
The first German bombers (1)
arrived over London on 7th September
1940. Within
121 hours, 625 bombers and as
many fighters (2)
killed 430 people and lit (3)
more than one thousand fires.
Heavy and frequent bombing raids
were carried out over Britain
in 1940 and
1941. This
was called The Blitz.
Blitz is the German word for
'lightning'
(4).London
was bombed every day and night
for 56 days.
Explosive and incendiary bombs
caused enormous damage (5).
The most devastated areas were
the City, the Docks and the
East End.
The population tried to take
refuge in the city shelters
(6), in
underground stations (7)
and mostly in "Anderson
shelters" (photo)
(8).
Other cities and towns were
also heavily bombed, including
Bristol, Southampton, Plymouth,
Birmingham, Coventry, Liverpool.
And in Wales : Swansea and Cardiff.
Air Raid Shelters were built.
To help prevent the Germans
from seeing where the towns
were, a blackout
(9) was
rigorously enforced after darkness.
Most of the battle was fought
in the air. The Luftwaffe
Vs. (versus) the RAF
(the Royal Air Force) (Spitfire).
During the Blitz some two million
houses (60 per cent of these
in London) were destroyed and
32,000 civilians
were killed and 87,000 were
seriously injured (10).
The Blitz ended in mid-May
1941, when much of
the German air force "Luftwaffe"
was sent east (11)
to prepare for the invasion
of Russia.
In 1944 the V1
and V2 bombers
appeared (June 13th 1944 until
March 27th 1945). "V"
stands for "Vergeltungswaffe"
or "retaliation weapon"
(photo). They
were planes without (12)
pilots. They were nicknamed
"doodlebugs"
(13).
NOTES
(1) bomber :
bombardier
(2) fighter : chasseur
(3) to light - lit - lit : allumer
(4) lightning
: éclair
(5) damage :
des dégâts (toujours
singulier en anglais)
(6) shelter :
abri
(7) underground station : station
de métro
(8) Anderson shelter : abri
Anderson, du nom du Ministre
de l'intérieur.
sortes de huttes individuelles
d'acier ondulé enfouies
dans le sol et recouvertes de
plantations. Deux millions d'exemplaires
ont été distribués.
(9) blackout : black-out,
extinction des
feux
(10) injured
: blessés
(11) was sent
east : a été envoyée
à l'est
(12) without
: sans, dépourvu de (/
with : avec)
(13) doodlebugs
: bombes volantes
PHOTOS
An aircraft spotter on the roof
of a building
in London with Saint Paul's
Cathedral in the
background
The London Necropolis Railway
Station
damaged residential neighborhood
old building after fire bombs
emerging from an Anderson
shelter after a
bombing raid
shelter
Air raid damage at Bank Underground
station
14th January 1941
Alice Smith on the Blitz
doodlebugs :
V1 - V2 rockets ("bombes
volantes")
V1 : "Vergeltungswaffe"
or "retaliation weapon"
It had no navigation system.
It was pointed in the direction
of its target.
SELECTION of LINKS
Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
Mémorial de Caen
from World War
I's consequences to nowadays
the Blitz
Winston Churchill
On This Day
information and archive audio
news.bbc.co.uk
Maps of the battle
www.raf.mod.uk
phase 1 - the battle begins
phase 2 - pressure
grows
phase 3 - the Blitz
phase 4 - the
end of the battle
The Battle of Britain
London Monument
www.bbm.org.uk
18th September 2005
scenes and description by sculptor
Paul Day
The speech by HRH The Prince
of Wales
directions to the museum
Imperial War Museum (London)
The Children's War
World War II adverts
Children of World War II interactive
bbc.co.uk
different topics iwm.org.uk
London at War lgfl.net
AUDIO
& VIDEO RESOURCE
Winston Churchill's speech -
4th June 1940
transcript :
'... We shall
go on to the end, we shall fight
in France, we shall fight on
the seas and oceans, we shall
fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the
air, we shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be, we
shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing
grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we
shall fight in the hills; we
shall never surrender ...'
audio resource
Winston Churchill inaugurates
the Battle of Britain 1:37
PRINTABLES
How did Britain prepare for
war? schoolhistory.co.uk
Anderson shelters schoolhistory.co.uk
TOP
of the page |
