World Battlefronts: BATTLE OF ENGLAND: The Cornered Becst

Not since the blitz had London taken so savage a beating. At dawn, at dusk, in fog, sunlight and darkness the robombs roared across the Channel, streaked through ack-ack and balloon cable defenses, pounded more of the city into debris.

Between salvos, weary, grimy A.R.P. squads cleared rubble, fought fires, dug out the dead and the living in the worst seven days of the robomb terror. Statisticians totted up averages: each day 108 one-ton robombs were mauling southern England (which meant mostly London), each day they destroyed or damaged 17,000 houses. Only half as many civilians (2,441 a month) were...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!