Between September 1940 and May 1941, the German Luftwaffe conducted a sustained bombing campaign against London that would forever alter both cities. Known as the Blitz, this chapter of the Second World War created scars, stories, and memorials that remain visible across London today—tangible reminders of a dark period in German-British history that modern visitors can still explore.
The bombing campaign was ordered by Hermann Göring and approved by Adolf Hitler, shifting focus from military targets to civilian areas in an attempt to break British morale. For 57 consecutive nights beginning on September 7, 1940, German bombers targeted London, dropping thousands of tons of explosives and incendiary devices on the city.
The aircraft that carried out these raids—primarily Heinkel He 111s, Dornier Do 17s, and Junkers Ju 88s—were manufactured in German factories from Hamburg to Bavaria. Many of the Luftwaffe crews were based in occupied France and Belgium, making the short flight across the English Channel to their targets. The human cost was staggering: more than 40,000 British civilians died during the Blitz, with over half of those deaths occurring in London.
Visible Traces in London Today
Modern visitors to London encounter the legacy of the Luftwaffe’s campaign throughout the city. The ruins of several bombed churches were deliberately preserved as memorials. Christ Church Greyfriars, near St Paul’s Cathedral, stands as a roofless shell, its Gothic walls enclosing a public garden. The church was destroyed on December 29, 1940, during one of the heaviest raids of the Blitz.
St Dunstan-in-the-East, tucked away in the financial district, offers perhaps the most poignant example. The medieval church was gutted by German incendiary bombs in 1941, and rather than demolish the ruins, the City of London transformed them into a public garden in 1967. Vines now climb the Gothic tracery where stained glass once stood.
The Churchill War Rooms, the underground bunker complex from which Winston Churchill directed Britain’s war effort, preserve the nerve center of the British response to the German bombing campaign. Visitors can see the Map Room where the Luftwaffe’s raids were tracked in real time, pins marking each night’s destruction across London.
German Perspectives and Reconciliation
For German visitors to London, these sites offer an opportunity to confront a difficult chapter of their national history. The German War Graves Commission maintains records of Luftwaffe personnel who died during operations over Britain, and some German visitors make private pilgrimages to crash sites and memorials.
The post-war relationship between Germany and Britain has been defined by reconciliation rather than recrimination. Queen Elizabeth II’s state visits to Germany and corresponding German state visits to Britain have emphasized the transformation from enemies to European partners.
Today, thousands of German tourists visit London annually, and many seek out sites connected to London’s Blitz—not from triumphalism, but from a desire to understand this shared history. The Imperial War Museum in London presents the Blitz within the broader context of total war, showing the parallel experiences of German cities like Hamburg, Dresden, and Cologne, which suffered devastating Allied bombing raids later in the conflict.
Walking through the preserved ruins and reading the stories of London’s Blitz offers German visitors a sobering reminder of the human cost of war and the importance of the European peace that has endured for nearly eight decades since.
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