The Blitz was the German bombing campaign against Britain from September 1940 to May 1941. London was bombed on 57 consecutive nights at the start of the campaign, and major industrial cities such as Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast were also hit. About 43,000 civilians were killed and over a million homes damaged or destroyed.
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Despite the destruction, civilian morale held. The phrase "keep calm and carry on" — although the wartime poster was little used at the time — captures the popular memory of the period. The Underground stations doubled as bomb shelters; rationing of food, fuel and clothing began in 1940 and continued for years after the war.
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