St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

The German air campaign and the defence by the RAF were known as the ‘Battle of Britain’, while the bombing attacks on London and other cities were collectively termed ‘the Blitz’. More than 40,000 British civilians were killed in the bombing, and more than a million homes were destroyed or damaged.

View from the glazed nose of a Luftwaffe Heinkel He-111 bomber towards one of its counterparts, making a bombing run over London during the Blitz of 1940.

Paul Carrington

Firestorm in a London street following a German bombing raid in 1940.

State Library of Queensland

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