London Transport in the Blitz

Up until the twentieth century, wars were fought on the battlefield; it rarely impacted the civilian population. All this changed with the development of aircraft; suddenly there was an additional dimension to warfare. World War 1 saw the first limited raids on urban areas, but it was World War 2 that forced Britain’s towns and cities onto the front line. While many town and cities suffered severe damage, it was the greater London area that sustained the longest and most damaging onslaught from the early bombing raids of 1940 through to the V1s and V2s of the later years of the war. Central to the viability of the city during the war was London Transport; not only did its Underground stations provide essential additional air raid shelters, but its buses, trains, trams, and trolley buses had to continue to operate throughout the period, despite sustaining vast damage to vehicles and infrastructure. This book tells its fascinating story.