This is the story of saturday 10th May, 1941. Arsenal played Preston in the Cup Final, Vera Lynn drives in for a concert, RAF pilot Guy Gibson relaxes in the sun before his night patrol. Australian journalist John Hughes starts his shift at the Reuters in Fleet Street, 20 year old Reenie Carter starts her shift at the fire station in Westminster Abbey and in Germany thousands of German airmen are preparing for a massive night raid.
In this book survivors of the London blitz talk of their ordeal. 1,486 Londoners were killed, 11,000 houses were destroyed and millions of lives were changed for ever. The pictures show a bruised and battered London with people still picking their way over debris to go to work next morning and the very iconic view of St Pauls still standing amidst the smoke and ruins. The descriptions are very real and very traumatic, a young boy sees a badly burnt dog being shot by a home guard. There were people looting from bombed out houses, there was the incredible bravery of the firemen and women who tried to put out the fires and of course the tragedies of the individual families who lost their loved ones in the fire storm.
On the cover is a picture of an air raid warden rescuing a sobbing child from her bombed home. She was one of the lucky ones.
I recommend this book.
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