Britain and the Blitz (2025) Movie Script
1
[low rumbling]
[distant air-raid siren wailing]
[engine droning]
[booming]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Hitler, in German] England
is the last island standing in Europe.
Come what may, England will break down!
[cheering]
[whistle blowing]
[suspenseful music builds]
[man, in English] It was a total shock
to suddenly feel
that the enemy is so close.
To know that someone
was trying to destroy us.
[woman 1] We all got under the stairs.
I thought, "I'm gonna get burnt alive!"
[woman 2] It was vital and living
'cause you don't know
how long it's going to be possible.
Every moment you're together's
precious, you see.
[Churchill] It may well be
that the final extinction
of a baleful domination
will pave the way to a broader solidarity
than we could ever have planned
if we had not marched together
through the fire.
[haunting singing]
[suspenseful music continues]
[music fades]
[aircraft whirs]
[newsreader 1] If you are
just turning on your radios,
Great Britain is now at war with Germany.
[newsreader 2] The Germans occupied Paris
without fighting this morning
and say that the pursuit of the enemy
to final destruction has now begun.
[newsreader 3] History's
most critical days are just beginning.
[officer] Should Great Britain
be conquered,
Hitler knows anything on the continent
is his for the taking.
One, two, three, down.
One, two, three, eyes right.
[pensive music playing]
[Edith] We didn't know
what girls were going to be allowed to do,
but it was exciting.
[indistinct chatter]
[plotter] We've still got two minutes.
[indistinct chatter continues]
[Edith] You see, we were all, what?
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty.
I can't exactly explain it.
It was something quite different
from anything any of us ever done before.
It was very anxious
to be on the plotting side of it
because you knew
exactly what was going on.
[bell dinging]
[newsreader 4] Today,
the eyes of the whole world
are upon England and its people.
Hostile approaching from southeast.
In Sugar one five at zero feet.
[newsreader 4] Upon the men
of the Royal Air Force,
on whom has been placed the responsibility
of defending a little island kingdom
from Nazi Germany.
[tense music playing]
[pilot 1] It's coming close.
I can feel it.
[pilot 2] Keep your eyes peeled.
[radio chatter]
[Edith] You got yourself involved in it,
you see,
and you're sort of saying,
"Come on, get it!"
[man over radio] Come on.
[Edith] It was a living battle to you.
[pilot 3] Shoot him down.
Yeah, he's got him, boys.
Right in the middle. Bloody good show.
[Edith] This is what made the intimacy
between the girls and the boys.
They were such a handsome lot.
I mean, there were budding romances
all over the place.
But, uh, I don't think I really expected
to meet Mr. Gorgeous.
[newsreader 5] If this island fortress
can hold out,
it might effectively help check
Hitler's plan of conquest.
[newsreader 6] Hitler is in a hurry.
Invasion is expected.
[ominous music playing]
[in German] If the British Air Force
drops two, three,
or four thousand kilos of bombs,
then we will drop 150,000,
180,000, 230,000,
300,000 kilos of bombs,
or more, in one night.
[applause]
[Hitler] We will erase their cities!
[cheering]
[Hitler, echoing]
We will erase their cities!
[newsreader 7 in English]
London is at war,
and London has had
its first air-raid signal.
[news vendor] Hitler. Read all about it.
[newsreader 8] Britain is concerned today
that Germany is making
gigantic preparations to invade England.
[dramatic music playing]
[newsreader 9] In this country,
it's just been announced
that blackout regulations come into effect
from sunset tonight.
[newsreader 10] 400,000 children
have already been taken out of London,
and more will follow tomorrow.
[newsreader 11] These are days
of solemn hardship,
not the least being the separation
of parents and children.
But the consideration of safety
is of supreme importance.
[train whistle blows]
[dramatic music fades]
[Eric] I was a boy, and, uh...
in those days, big boys don't cry.
We were told that we must not run
to our parents to say goodbye
and have the last hug and kiss.
[gentle music playing]
[Eric] I used to look up
to my big sister Kitty.
I felt more secure
because Kitty had promised
to look after me.
[whistle blows]
[Eric] My mother had a premonition.
[train bell dings]
[Eric] She was sure
that if Kitty and I stayed in London,
something terrible would happen to us.
[train chugging]
[Eric] It was supposed to be a holiday.
That's how it was painted to us.
That marked the end
of one chapter of my life, as it were.
A normal childhood.
We didn't realize
what the reality would be.
[gentle music fades]
[Edith] All we were told
was that battle was coming.
But we didn't really know
what we were up against.
[indistinct chatter]
[Edith] I was on duty.
[unsettling music playing]
[Edith] There was a tally-ho,
a lot of noise, really.
[excitable chatter]
[Edith] And we saw
between 400 and 1,000 Germans coming.
[plotter] Hostile approaching
from southeast.
In Sugar one five at zero feet.
[Edith] And you could see that,
and you were thinking,
"Oh my God, they're going for London."
[unsettling music builds]
[music fades]
[gentle music playing]
[Tom] It was a very warm September.
I looked at the sky.
[serene singing]
[Tom] I saw some fluffy clouds,
tiny little balls in the sky.
I thought, "Gosh, what's that?"
[dreamy string chords playing]
[Tom] We weren't very frightened
at that stage
because we didn't really know
what was going on.
I saw all the bombs dropping from the sky.
[bombs whining]
[Tom] It was amazing.
We went into corridors
at the bottom of the flats
because suddenly, of course,
I realized the enormity of it.
[aircraft whirring]
[booming]
[booming]
[low rumbling]
-[tense music playing]
-[bell ringing]
[fire officer] Order report
to control points.
One hundred pumps from the E
to 60 station to stand by.
[bell ringing]
[people shouting]
[newsreader 12] Good evening.
This is London.
As I am speaking,
great fires are still burning
across the river in the dockyard
and industrial areas of the east side.
All evening, fire engines
from the west end of town
have been screaming eastward.
[man] I had my first sight
of what a fire was really like.
The older fireman, he sort of helped me
by saying, "It's all right, lad.
Don't worry. You just stand by me."
[firefighter] We want three lengths.
[Richard] "Just hold on to the hose,
and whatever you do, don't let it go
because if it hits you,
it could kill you."
[firefighter] Stand clear below!
[Richard] The older fireman said,
"You all right, son? You all right, boy?"
You feel scared. You are scared.
[newsreader 13] I'm standing on top
of a very tall building
from where I can see practically
the whole of London spread round me,
and if this weren't so appalling,
I think it'd be one of
the most wonderful sights I've ever seen.
The whole of the skyline to the south
is lit up with a ruddy glow.
It's almost like the Day of Judgment
as pictured in some of the old books.
The Day of Judgment.
-[swing music playing]
-[car horns honking]
[Joan] The tempo's speeding up.
Tonight the blitz started.
The sky over by the docks was red
as if it was an enormous sunset.
What a life!
Never knowing if you're going to be bombed
or seduced from one moment to the next.
I met this really good-looking man
called Rupert.
And he kept trying to persuade me
to lose my virginity.
[ominous music overlaps with swing music]
[Joan] The fact is,
I prefer men to be slightly caddish.
I like men who think they are God.
Rupert is completely at ease
with the universe
and thinks himself a lord of it.
I can't help feeling
that each moment may be my last.
And as the opposite of death is life,
I think I shall get seduced
by Rupert tomorrow.
[swing music resumes fully]
-[air-raid sirens wailing]
-[ticking]
-[booming]
-[music fades]
[air-raid sirens continue wailing]
[Tom] When we came out,
we could hear the fires raging.
We could hear them in the distance
from the docks.
Dad said to me,
before he went into the Air Force,
"Make sure Mum's okay."
And I said,
"Well, there's an official shelter, Mum."
"The ARP shelter. Let's go there."
I felt this was a safe haven.
We wouldn't have any trouble down there.
[bombs whining in distance]
[low rumbling]
[rumbling intensifies]
[Tom] It got hot.
Hotter and hotter.
-[man coughing]
-[child crying]
[thunderous booming]
[Tom] I was calling out for my mother.
I thought, "Are you around?
Where are you?"
And nobody answered.
And I realized
that something horrible had happened.
There'd been a bomb.
[high-pitched ringing]
[ringing fades]
[newsreader 14] The worst dislocation
and suffering have been caused
in the working-class districts
of the East End,
where whole streets of little houses
have been bombed to smithereens.
[newsreader 15] Tentative reports put
the casualties in Saturday night's raid
at 400 killed and 1,400 wounded.
[chilling music playing]
[sobs]
[somber music playing]
[inaudible]
[Bernard] I was in my sister's house
overlooking Brick Lane,
and, uh, Churchill came into that street.
Hearing, suddenly,
shouts and hoorays and boos,
and, uh... there he was, this... this figure.
He did exist.
Churchill's name was anathema in my house
until the war came.
And then his name was angelic.
These cruel, wanton,
indiscriminate bombings of London
are, of course,
a part of Hitler's invasion plan.
Little does he know
the spirit of the British nation
or the tough fiber of the Londoner,
bred to value freedom
far above their lives.
This is a time for everyone
to stand together and hold firm.
The citizens of London
are facing a great ordeal,
the end of which or the severity of which
cannot yet be foreseen.
[Tom] I was taken out to the hospital.
My father found me.
I asked him, I said, "Where's Mum, Dad?
How is Mum?"
And he just said,
"She's dead."
[mournful piano music playing]
[Tom] It stabbed me.
It was a real feeling of pain, of anguish.
I'd taken Mum down
to that wretched shelter,
and she'd been killed.
I... I... I haven't ever got over it.
I never have. Never got over it.
[newsreader 16]
Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth.
[Elizabeth] Thousands of you
in this country
have had to leave your homes
and be separated
from your fathers and mothers.
[determined music playing]
[Elizabeth] To you living
in new surroundings,
we send a message of true sympathy.
And at the same time,
we would like to thank the kind people
who have welcomed you
to their homes in the country.
[guard] Can you please make your way
down the platform?
Quick as you can, please.
[Eric] Someone said we were in Wales.
People talked funny.
And my class went off in one direction.
My sister went off in another direction.
The council ladies had arranged
that the foster parents
would choose which children they wanted.
Finally, I was the only one left,
and there were no foster parents.
Then I got worried.
[whimsical music playing]
[Tom] Suddenly there came
a clattering of feet.
This lady burst into the room and said,
"Are there any vaccies left?"
She said, "I don't much like
the look of him,
and I wanted a girl anyway."
I tried to smile winningly.
And, uh, she said,
"Oh, all right, I'll take him."
And I went off with this strange woman.
No sign of Kitty.
There was a great deal of resentment
against the London evacuees
by many of the people in this mining town
because there had been the miners' strike.
They deeply resented
the London government.
They also deeply resented
Winston Churchill.
And there were three kids I remember,
and they picked on us,
and, uh, we got into fights with them.
[angelic singing]
[Tom] And, uh, my foster mother said,
"You London vaccies come down here
to get away from one war,
and you start another down here."
[music fades]
[engines rumbling]
[suspenseful music playing]
[man, in German] We wanted to force London
into an air-raid shelter.
And so we flew nothing
but London, London, London.
Every 20 minutes, in waves.
We believed that this
would bring England to its knees.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[newsreader 17, in English]
This is Trafalgar Square.
The noise that you hear at the moment
is the sound of the air-raid siren.
[suspenseful strings build]
[bombs whining]
[booming]
[suspenseful music fades]
[newsreader 18] Here at Buckingham Palace,
the King and Queen see the twisted
evidence of their narrow escape.
[newsreader 18] Having had
their own home bombed,
Their Majesties speak
with understanding and sympathy
to those of their subjects who have also
fallen victim to Nazi savagery.
[man] When the King and Queen came down,
people were cheering,
but others were saying,
"Go back to Buckingham Palace."
"You call yourselves bombed?
You had one bomb?"
"We've had thousands."
[determined music playing]
[Bernard] There simply was not
enough safe shelters in the East End.
The Underground
seemed to be the perfect place.
But the government had decided
they weren't gonna open up the Tubes.
[indistinct announcement]
[Phil] We decided to go all out
on the campaign
to open the Tubes for shelters.
[indistinct]
[Phil] The Savoy hotel, that's our target.
[indistinct]
[Phil] Now we're going to aggravate
the situation,
to occupy the shelter of the Savoy hotel.
All in all, 78 people turned up.
We were now occupying a place
where we had no right to be.
And then the police came in.
A police inspector says,
"What do you intend to do here?"
I said, "We don't really want this place.
We want the Tubes opened."
[newsreader 19] The government announced
that people would not be allowed
to use the Tubes for shelters.
But the most remarkable development
of this strange war
is the way in which Londoners
have taken charge
and solved the deep-shelter problem.
[Bernard] There were rumors going around.
"Get down the underground.
It's gonna be all right."
We find all the gates closed
and soldiers there.
[people shouting]
[Bernard] More and more people
crowding behind us.
Shaking the gates.
"Let us in! Let us in!"
[commotion]
[Bernard] Suddenly, a great roar goes up.
Somebody in government
had changed their mind.
My father said, "This is a great victory
for the working class!"
[triumphant music playing]
[Bernard] And that was the beginning
of this subterranean life.
[music builds]
[newsreader 20] A new, dramatic phase
in the Battle of Britain.
After weeks of suspense,
the German High Command
has launched large-scale air attacks
on shipping and docks.
Day after day, Nazi bombers and fighters
have roared in hundreds
above the English Channel.
[newsreader 21] This fortress isle
is the last citadel in Western Europe
blocking Hitler's ambition.
[newsreader 22] The RAF
is the best air force in the world,
but Germany still maintains
numerical air supremacy.
[triumphant music fades]
[Edith] We had to win the war,
and we were determined to do it,
whatever happened.
We knew we were fighting
for our very existence,
and we... we weren't going to give in.
[aircraft rumbling]
[Edith] There must have been
about a hundred of us, I should think,
and, uh, the men treated us with respect.
We were accepted.
We had a feeling of elation
that we were by ourselves
and we could do our own thing.
[pensive music playing]
[Edith] The first time I met Denis,
I was driving a tractor...
and he threw some sand in my engine
and stopped it.
And I made him start it.
I said, "You stopped it. You start it."
So he did.
Denis was fairly well-built, very upright.
He was reasonably good-looking.
He never really smiled properly
'cause he had two teeth
that he was ashamed of,
but he had his own way of smiling.
And apparently,
he decided that he quite liked me.
And he said, uh, "Are you coming
to the squadron dance?"
So I said, "Yes."
['"Cheek to Cheek" playing]
When we came off duty,
we all flood in, and he's waiting for me.
Heaven
And my heart beats
So that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find...
[Edith] We were very fortunate to meet.
We wouldn't perhaps have met
if there hadn't been a war.
Out together dancing cheek to cheek...
[Edith] He was funny.
He was terribly romantic.
We used to laugh a lot.
[wistful music playing]
[Edith] I think it made it more intense,
better, stronger.
And every moment
you're together's precious, you see,
'cause you don't know
how long it's going to... be possible.
["Cheek to Cheek" overlaps
with mournful music]
So that I can hardly speak...
-[music stops]
-[booming]
[newsreader 23] The Battle of London is
now nearly at the end of its first month,
and London still stands.
[chilling music playing]
[newsreader 24] She has been sorely tried,
but her spirit is as good as ever.
[woman] We can take it.
If he thinks he can win the war
by bombing women and children,
he's found a big mistake.
This is London.
We're all alive and kicking.
Cheerio. All the best.
-[low rumbling]
-[booms echoing]
[Joan] I'd worked my way up into such
a state of passion over the absent Rupert.
I hadn't seen him for a week.
All morning I was thinking of him
and wondering how much longer
I could bear life without him.
On the way home, I saw 17 German planes
with hundreds of shells
bursting around them.
-[soldier] Fire!
-[booming]
[Joan] I heard a yell.
-[booming]
-[man yells]
[Joan] And there was old R
lurching down the street,
completely ignoring the guns.
[lively swing music playing]
Wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah-wah, wah-wah, wah...
[Joan] We found a very classy caf
called Mountview,
with a band in red coats.
Huge mosaic pillars
glittered under the lights,
and I was so happy, I felt almost drunk.
Everything is heightened and speeded up.
[lively swing music continues]
[Joan] We were played out
and wandered our way back
through the wreckage
of Shaftesbury Avenue.
[music fades]
[Joan] We made love very seriously,
and I was filled with peace and delight.
One of the few transcendent
and satisfying things left
in this bloody awful life.
[bombs whining and booming]
[newsreader 25] If the Germans
had been figuring on breaking morale,
they have failed miserably.
[indistinct German announcement]
[newsreader 26] The Germans appear
to have changed their policy
in their attacks on Great Britain
in the hope of doing greater damage.
[cheering and applause]
[resolute music playing]
[newsreader 27] The German leader hinted
that the war may last a long time.
[man, in German] We were all aware
this was going to be a difficult mission.
[unsettling music playing]
[Gerhard] Every day,
some of the crews didn't return.
The mood was serious.
Before we took off, I was thinking,
"Will we get back safely?"
"Will I be all right?"
"Will I see my home again?"
[indistinct chattering in English]
[determined music playing]
[newsreader 28] Coventry drew on
its historic past for the Godiva pageant.
Coventry today stands
a great industrial landmark,
thanks to the Countess Godiva,
who stripped herself of her wealth
to win for the city its freedom.
[newsreader 29] An ancient city,
which produced
from its hundreds of factories
the newest machines and engines
in the world.
[newsreader 30] More women are needed
in the munition factories,
in the auxiliary services,
especially women who will leave home
and go wherever they are sent.
[Frieda] It was the thrill
of going somewhere different,
doing something different.
[train announcer] Coventry. Coventry.
This is Coventry.
[Frieda] Even though my dad tried
to talk me out of it.
My dad was one of these people
that always want to keep you all together,
and the only chance to grow up
was to get away.
But no, I was determined.
"I'm going away to do war work."
[music fades]
[Frieda] They took us to the factory
the next day.
Everybody was on bikes.
Hundreds, thousands of folks
cycling to work.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[Frieda] The first sirens went.
They said, "Oh, you've brought bad luck!
We're not wanting you here."
[whistle blowing]
[Frieda] They were machine-gunning
the cyclists.
And I said,
"What's happening to these people?"
I saw people were falling off. [chuckles]
-[gunfire]
-[commotion]
[uneasy music droning]
[bombs whining]
[Gerhard, in German]
We were all just doing our duty,
and no one was looking to do anything
against ordinary people.
[bombs crackling]
[Gerhard] This whole Coventry strategy,
the way it was to bring fear to Britain,
was completely idiotic.
[Frieda, in English] When the raid
started, we knew it was gonna be bad.
We all got under the stairs.
Everybody said that was
the best place to be, the safest place.
Suddenly, everything's black, and...
there's fires.
And I had this long hair,
and it had started to singe,
and that was frightening.
I thought, "I'm gonna get burnt alive!"
[uneasy music fades]
[indistinct chatter]
I want to remind you
about how very important it is
that all water should be boiled
before being used in Coventry.
No matter where you get that water from,
will you please see
that it is boiled before it is used?
[foreboding music playing]
[Frieda] We came back to Edinburgh
looking like refugees.
I was a nervous wreck.
And the first sirens that went
when I came back,
I used to nearly go hysterical.
[newsreader 31] German aircraft
carried out attacks
on Great Britain last night.
[bombs booming]
[newsreader 31] The raids,
which lasted for several hours,
were scattered over many parts
of the country.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[newsreader 31] Firebombs were dropped
in many places.
Towns on the south coast...
the west of England...
the Midlands...
the northwest.
All the fires
have now been brought under control.
[words echoing]
[newsreader 32] Yesterday's German air
attacks, according to their High Command,
were concentrated on Liverpool
to put Liverpool harbor out of commission.
[newsreader 33] Hundreds of German bombers
concentrating on Liverpool
and inflicted damage
even more impressive than at Coventry.
[woman] Churchill was telling us,
you know, how brave we all were.
We would never surrender.
The people in Liverpool, after that blitz,
would have surrendered overnight.
[haunting music playing]
[Marie] It's all right
for people in authority, isn't it?
You know, who are sitting
down in their steel-lined dugouts.
I was so full of hatred
that the Germans could do this to us,
and we couldn't do anything about it.
We were just people
there waiting to be killed.
What do you think about
this question of reprisals?
Well, if I was a man, I'd go over there,
and I'd give them the same
as what they've gave us here.
After all this, what do you think
about us going over to Berlin
and doing the same to them?
I should think so too.
Bit worse than this, I hope,
with a wicked bugger like he is.
And now, sir, do you think
we ought to bomb Berlin
the same as they're doing to us in London?
I definitely do, sir. Bomb 'em tenfold.
I'm sorry for the women
and children of Berlin,
but what about the women
and children of this country?
[tense music playing]
I am confident
we shall succeed in defeating
this most tremendous onslaught.
Whatever happens,
we will all go down fighting to the end.
[newsreader 34] The twin towns
of Mannheim-Ludwigshafen,
the second-largest inland port in Europe,
is about to receive its attack.
With its maze of docks,
industrial installations,
and chemical plants.
[bombs whining]
[booming]
[tense music fades]
[Edith] When you're living
amongst death like that...
[plotter] Go stand by. Hostile...
[Edith] ...I don't think you ever think
it's going to happen to you.
But you begin to know,
and they begin to know,
when the bullet's going to strike.
[somber music playing]
[Edith] And they seem
to get a sort of aura.
And you think, "Ah,
you're not going to come home from this."
And they know it as well.
[chatter]
[somber music swells]
[music fades]
[Edith] Denis said,
"When I next have some leave,
could we spend it together?"
And I said, "Well, yes, if you like."
We arranged it, and we went to Cambridge.
It was high romance.
[hopeful music playing]
It was...
quite out of this world, quite literally.
We had dinner and chatted like mad,
you know, like you do.
And then he said,
"I've got something I want to say to you."
And we went to my bedroom.
Now, you never went
into a bedroom with a man.
[woman] That certain night
The night we met...
[Edith] So he went
and got a bottle of champagne,
and he said, uh...
"Will you marry me?"
So I said, "Of course."
And off we went to our respective beds.
It showed a great respect.
He thought so much of me
that he wasn't going to
compromise me in any way.
I may be right, I may be wrong...
[Edith] On the other hand,
I could probably have been persuaded
because if you know
that somebody might not come back,
are you going to miss the opportunity?
'Cause you never get it again.
A nightingale sang
In Berkley Square
[string chords droning]
[music fades]
[newsreader 35] It is Christmas Day
in the year of the Blitz.
Holly and barbed wire.
Guns and tinsel.
[disquieting music playing]
[newsreader 35] The German embassy
in Washington
says the British government
has been notified
that the Germans
will not bomb England tomorrow,
provided the British will refrain
from bombing any German territory.
[newsreader 36] Between now
and next Christmas,
there stretches 12 months
of increasing toil and sacrifice.
A few blocks away,
in the underground shelters,
entire families
were celebrating Christmas Eve.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of...
[Joan] I saw there was a big envelope
in the letterbox.
[mournful music playing]
I tore it open, and the nightmare sprang.
Report for military service. Royal Navy.
"Oh God," I thought, "Christmas alone."
I wish I was dead. I want Rupert so much.
Pubs are all full of happy,
drunken people singing "Tipperary."
[group singing enthusiastically]
To Tipperary
It's a long way to go...
[Joan] I spent a dreary night
in an unheated room,
sleeping in my clothes on a hard bed.
-Sweetest girl I know...
-[mournful music continues]
[Joan] Talk about Christmas night
in the workhouse.
[newsreader 37] The undeclared air truce
appears to be continuing,
which in many European countries
is celebrated as a second Christmas.
Both sides seem to have kept
their bombers on the ground.
[newsreader 38] Standing guard
over the City of London,
St Paul's Cathedral occupies
a unique place in all hearts.
[car horn honking]
[newsreader 39] Three times in history,
St Paul's has been destroyed by fire.
[eerie music playing]
[Richard] St Paul's
was a place of worship.
It was a place of trust.
God was there.
If Hitler got St Paul's,
he would break the spirit
of the London people
and the rest of the country.
[in German] England
is the last island standing in Europe.
[words echoing]
[eerie music continues]
[Hitler] The hour will come
that one of us will crack...
[words echoing]
[Hitler] ...and it will not be Nazi Germany!
[cheering and applause]
[booming]
[in English] A heavy
incendiary bombing raid has occurred
in the City area.
[suspenseful music playing]
[bell ringing]
Control has been established
in St Paul's churchyard.
[bell ringing]
[shouting]
-[firefighter 1] Hold it. Hold it!
-[firefighter 2] Stand clear below!
[Richard] We got called out.
Churchill had made it clear
to the fire chiefs. Save St Paul's.
[indistinct]
[Richard] He felt
that if that could be saved,
we've got something to hold on to.
[bombs whining]
[Richard] It wasn't a fire.
It was a firestorm.
[shouting]
[Richard] There was incendiary bombs
coming through the air.
There was thousands
being let down into London.
The heat was so terrific...
it would've got to St Paul's,
and the dome itself
would've just collapsed.
[Joan] The full blast of Nazi fury
hit the capital.
They set the City on fire,
including six churches.
The airplanes never stopped,
and the sound of the engines dive-bombing
was deafening.
[aircraft whining]
[Joan] Flares lit up the street
like daylight,
and the stars were all put out.
[solemn music playing]
[newsreader 40] Pictures that look
like hell on earth.
The world will see pictures of a raid
that was not aimed at military objectives,
only at the things that men and women
have loved for centuries.
The famous buildings
of the civic company, the Guildhall.
[shouting]
[Richard] I started to feel
that I was a man.
We was there doing a job
that was your life
or the life of your mate.
I felt as though, "God,
when I get home, wait till I tell my mum."
If we could keep the fire under control,
it wasn't creeping towards St Paul's.
[booming]
[newsreader 41] This is London.
Very quiet here.
It's now almost one o'clock
in the morning.
The wall of flames
which enclosed a large triangle
in the main business section of London
has now been quenched.
I watched the fires from a rooftop.
It was not hard to imagine
how London must have looked 300 years ago
when that historic Great Fire
raged across it.
From where I was,
one man seemed to throw
a sputtering firebomb off the roof
with his gloved hand.
[Richard] It's a miracle
that those bombs didn't hit St Paul's.
I thought, "God, there's gotta be
somebody there saying,
'You don't touch that.'"
[contemplative music playing]
It has now been proved
that this form of blackmail
by murder and terrorism...
so far from weakening the spirit
of the British nation,
has only roused it
to a more intense and universal flame
than was ever seen before.
[music fades]
[newsreader 42] How can we find words
to praise the RAF?
Each day they fly into battle
against heavy odds.
Each day they come home victorious.
[newsreader 43] Britain prepares to repel
the long-threatened invasion.
[newsreader 44] Eighty Nazi planes
came over.
Twenty-five of these didn't get back.
[agitated music playing]
[newsreader 45] This may be
the turning point of the whole war.
It is quality beating quantity.
[hopeful music playing]
[plotter] Check one. One aircraft.
[Edith] We didn't believe
that we would lose,
and everybody felt like that.
Well, on the station anyway.
I mean, it was pretty naive.
Denis and I,
we were sort of arranging the marriage
'cause we wanted it to be soon.
He wanted it to be soon.
The officers, they did say
that they didn't like their pilots
to get engaged
because they started being careful.
And you can't be careful
when you're a fighter pilot.
You have to go in full throttle
and not be worrying
about some woman left at base.
-[air-raid siren wailing]
-[bell ringing]
[Edith] There was a big attack
in the morning. I was actually on duty.
I can't remember how many Germans
there were, but it was quite a lot.
[tense music playing]
[plotter] Keep open line.
Hostile approaching from southeast.
In Sugar one five at zero feet.
[officer] Area 243.
Hastings, Ashford, Dover.
[pilot 1] Yeah.
They're firing at us now.
[pilot 2] That was a bit close.
-I think we've been hit, personally.
-[pilot 3] Yeah.
[officer] Have a check on the speed
of fighter 182.
Check the speed on 182 carefully.
[plotter] There's SOS on 207.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Edith] Somebody said,
"There's a plane going down,
and there's no parachute."
[radio chatter]
[plotter] Stand by.
Hostile 8170 removed.
Change hostile 8171. Do stand by. Hostile...
[Edith] I knew who it was.
I knew it.
Don't ask me how I knew it, but I did.
Our flight sergeant said, "Edith..."
S... Sorry. [exhales sharply]
Anyway, she said,
"Denis is missing."
I said, "Yes, I know."
And how... [softly] Oh, shut up!
[sorrowful music playing]
[Edith] He went down in the sea.
Nothing was ever found,
which is what he wanted.
He always said,
if he was shot down and killed,
he didn't want
to have to have a military funeral.
I do wish we'd been married.
That, I do wish.
I wouldn't have cared if it was 24 hours
or two days or five months.
I do regret that.
[music fades]
[cheering and applause]
[commentator] A few members of the crowd
of more than 60,000 spectators
waiting for the final
between Preston North End and Arsenal.
The teams came out together,
Preston wearing dark shorts.
A good deal has been said
against holding this cup final in wartime.
At least it gave the opportunity
for the services and other war workers
to refresh their minds
with complete change.
[whistle blows]
-[commentator] Preston attacking again.
-[air-raid siren wailing]
[commentator] They score.
But the game was destined
to finish in a draw.
It's hard to decide if we can afford
this kind of festival today.
[foreboding music playing]
[newsreader 46] There's a ripe,
yellow moon riding over Britain tonight.
The sirens have sounded.
That monstrous roar of engines
is in the air.
It looks as though
this will be a major raid on London.
[newsreader 47] We turn now
to the British capital
for the report of Edward R. Murrow.
[Murrow] Occasionally there is the sound
of riotous singing
or a plaintive voice shouting for a taxi.
I visited a few air-raid shelters.
They were only about half full.
On the surface, there are many signs
of cheerfulness and courage in London.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[Joan] I decided it was time to join up.
I've got through as a plotter.
Before we go,
we get a long weekend's leave.
Rupert writes he could come to London,
although he could be recalled at any time.
I suppose I could meet someone new,
a pilot or something.
[jolly piano music playing]
[Joan] I'm sure I shall never like him
half as much as Rupert.
The party was being held in a vast studio.
We could hear loud thumps in the distance,
but no one took any notice.
-[forceful boom]
-[whining]
[Joan] Suddenly, there was
the most tremendous whining noise.
Outside, all hell seemed to be let loose.
We were all too drunk to care.
[booming]
[booming intensifies]
[booming in distance]
[man] It was a strange night.
People were not scared.
A news vendor had his stand outside...
[vendor] Read all about it!
Read all about it!
...and this bombing was going on.
"Cup final result! Cup final result!"
[vendor shouting] Arsenal-Preston!
Cup final result! Cup final result!
[booming]
[Ballard] There was a prostitute
coming up from Piccadilly.
Uh, she was singing,
and she had an umbrella up.
I'm singing in the rain
I'm singing in the rain
[woman] I'm singin' in the rain
Just singin' in the rain
What a glorious feeling
I'm happy again
[words echoing]
[agitated music playing]
[newsreader 48] There has been no estimate
of the number of persons killed,
but the government has issued a communiqu
which says that the number
of casualties is high.
[solemn music playing]
[newsreader 49] News has suddenly burst
from Europe
that Germany has declared war on Russia.
It means that Adolf Hitler
has given up all hope
of any quick conquest of Britain.
[music fades]
[tentative music playing]
[newsreader 50] There was
no German air activity last night.
None today.
It seems a long time
since we've heard the sirens.
[newsreader 51] Cinemas
of Leicester Square are open,
but precautions for the safety of London
are maintained.
And though scarred,
London still presents a smiling face.
The bombing had eased.
My mother decided
that she wanted us home immediately.
So the family was complete again.
First thing the next morning,
I wanted to go and look for shrapnel.
I was delighted to be home.
Kitty and I, we went off to school.
And I went to the junior section...
and she went to the senior.
And to us,
it was just a normal school day.
[school bell ringing]
[Eric] We, um...
went down to the dining area,
and we were having our sandwiches there.
The next thing I knew,
bursts of aeroplane engines
close overhead.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[children screaming]
[Eric] The teacher screaming to us
to get under the table.
I remembered Kitty bursting in
and rushing towards me.
And then the bomb hit.
[high-pitched whining]
[whining fades]
[Eric] My mother's premonition
had come true.
Something terrible had happened
to Kitty and me.
[emotional piano music playing]
[newsreader 52] The news concerns the raid
by a lone German bombing plane.
[newsreader 53] This was a case
of really sudden death.
Nobody had a chance even to duck his head.
[Eric] Thirty-eight kids were killed.
And six teachers were killed.
I was dug out.
I was very severely injured.
My mother would come to the hospital
to see me,
and I kept on asking about Kitty.
[music fades]
[Eric] Kitty had come
into the dining area,
and she was dashing towards me.
Kitty had shielded me.
And she were dead.
[sniffles]
[sniffles]
If it hadn't been for Kitty,
uh, I'd be dead.
I've no doubt about that
because whatever killed her
would've killed me instead.
So I'll never forget that.
[poignant piano music playing]
[Eric] In so many ways, I've been so lucky
because, uh... I've always been able
to do so many things.
Met a lovely girl, married her.
Got three great kids.
[music fades]
[tense music playing]
[Bernard] When the war ended,
we were in a different world.
Basically, we needed to pull together.
We needed to be unified.
[dramatic music builds]
[music fades]
[Bernard] The class system broke down.
[cheering]
[Bernard] We thought
we deserved something else.
Life did get better.
[poignant piano music resumes]
[Joan] Sometimes I feel the significance
of what is going on in the world,
but even then, I can't put it into words.
[moving music builds]
[Joan] One half of the world
trying to destroy the other.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
But I don't feel any different
to how I did in peacetime,
except that I'm a bit happier.
[Edith] I don't think there's been
determination like that since.
You see, we were protecting
our livelihood, our... our country,
all our people, everybody.
And that included the civilians.
Going to fight right to the bitter end.
[Churchill] The final extinction
of a baleful domination
will pave the way to a broader solidarity
than we could ever have planned
if we had not marched together
through the fire.
[poignant music continues]
[low rumbling]
[distant air-raid siren wailing]
[engine droning]
[booming]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Hitler, in German] England
is the last island standing in Europe.
Come what may, England will break down!
[cheering]
[whistle blowing]
[suspenseful music builds]
[man, in English] It was a total shock
to suddenly feel
that the enemy is so close.
To know that someone
was trying to destroy us.
[woman 1] We all got under the stairs.
I thought, "I'm gonna get burnt alive!"
[woman 2] It was vital and living
'cause you don't know
how long it's going to be possible.
Every moment you're together's
precious, you see.
[Churchill] It may well be
that the final extinction
of a baleful domination
will pave the way to a broader solidarity
than we could ever have planned
if we had not marched together
through the fire.
[haunting singing]
[suspenseful music continues]
[music fades]
[aircraft whirs]
[newsreader 1] If you are
just turning on your radios,
Great Britain is now at war with Germany.
[newsreader 2] The Germans occupied Paris
without fighting this morning
and say that the pursuit of the enemy
to final destruction has now begun.
[newsreader 3] History's
most critical days are just beginning.
[officer] Should Great Britain
be conquered,
Hitler knows anything on the continent
is his for the taking.
One, two, three, down.
One, two, three, eyes right.
[pensive music playing]
[Edith] We didn't know
what girls were going to be allowed to do,
but it was exciting.
[indistinct chatter]
[plotter] We've still got two minutes.
[indistinct chatter continues]
[Edith] You see, we were all, what?
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty.
I can't exactly explain it.
It was something quite different
from anything any of us ever done before.
It was very anxious
to be on the plotting side of it
because you knew
exactly what was going on.
[bell dinging]
[newsreader 4] Today,
the eyes of the whole world
are upon England and its people.
Hostile approaching from southeast.
In Sugar one five at zero feet.
[newsreader 4] Upon the men
of the Royal Air Force,
on whom has been placed the responsibility
of defending a little island kingdom
from Nazi Germany.
[tense music playing]
[pilot 1] It's coming close.
I can feel it.
[pilot 2] Keep your eyes peeled.
[radio chatter]
[Edith] You got yourself involved in it,
you see,
and you're sort of saying,
"Come on, get it!"
[man over radio] Come on.
[Edith] It was a living battle to you.
[pilot 3] Shoot him down.
Yeah, he's got him, boys.
Right in the middle. Bloody good show.
[Edith] This is what made the intimacy
between the girls and the boys.
They were such a handsome lot.
I mean, there were budding romances
all over the place.
But, uh, I don't think I really expected
to meet Mr. Gorgeous.
[newsreader 5] If this island fortress
can hold out,
it might effectively help check
Hitler's plan of conquest.
[newsreader 6] Hitler is in a hurry.
Invasion is expected.
[ominous music playing]
[in German] If the British Air Force
drops two, three,
or four thousand kilos of bombs,
then we will drop 150,000,
180,000, 230,000,
300,000 kilos of bombs,
or more, in one night.
[applause]
[Hitler] We will erase their cities!
[cheering]
[Hitler, echoing]
We will erase their cities!
[newsreader 7 in English]
London is at war,
and London has had
its first air-raid signal.
[news vendor] Hitler. Read all about it.
[newsreader 8] Britain is concerned today
that Germany is making
gigantic preparations to invade England.
[dramatic music playing]
[newsreader 9] In this country,
it's just been announced
that blackout regulations come into effect
from sunset tonight.
[newsreader 10] 400,000 children
have already been taken out of London,
and more will follow tomorrow.
[newsreader 11] These are days
of solemn hardship,
not the least being the separation
of parents and children.
But the consideration of safety
is of supreme importance.
[train whistle blows]
[dramatic music fades]
[Eric] I was a boy, and, uh...
in those days, big boys don't cry.
We were told that we must not run
to our parents to say goodbye
and have the last hug and kiss.
[gentle music playing]
[Eric] I used to look up
to my big sister Kitty.
I felt more secure
because Kitty had promised
to look after me.
[whistle blows]
[Eric] My mother had a premonition.
[train bell dings]
[Eric] She was sure
that if Kitty and I stayed in London,
something terrible would happen to us.
[train chugging]
[Eric] It was supposed to be a holiday.
That's how it was painted to us.
That marked the end
of one chapter of my life, as it were.
A normal childhood.
We didn't realize
what the reality would be.
[gentle music fades]
[Edith] All we were told
was that battle was coming.
But we didn't really know
what we were up against.
[indistinct chatter]
[Edith] I was on duty.
[unsettling music playing]
[Edith] There was a tally-ho,
a lot of noise, really.
[excitable chatter]
[Edith] And we saw
between 400 and 1,000 Germans coming.
[plotter] Hostile approaching
from southeast.
In Sugar one five at zero feet.
[Edith] And you could see that,
and you were thinking,
"Oh my God, they're going for London."
[unsettling music builds]
[music fades]
[gentle music playing]
[Tom] It was a very warm September.
I looked at the sky.
[serene singing]
[Tom] I saw some fluffy clouds,
tiny little balls in the sky.
I thought, "Gosh, what's that?"
[dreamy string chords playing]
[Tom] We weren't very frightened
at that stage
because we didn't really know
what was going on.
I saw all the bombs dropping from the sky.
[bombs whining]
[Tom] It was amazing.
We went into corridors
at the bottom of the flats
because suddenly, of course,
I realized the enormity of it.
[aircraft whirring]
[booming]
[booming]
[low rumbling]
-[tense music playing]
-[bell ringing]
[fire officer] Order report
to control points.
One hundred pumps from the E
to 60 station to stand by.
[bell ringing]
[people shouting]
[newsreader 12] Good evening.
This is London.
As I am speaking,
great fires are still burning
across the river in the dockyard
and industrial areas of the east side.
All evening, fire engines
from the west end of town
have been screaming eastward.
[man] I had my first sight
of what a fire was really like.
The older fireman, he sort of helped me
by saying, "It's all right, lad.
Don't worry. You just stand by me."
[firefighter] We want three lengths.
[Richard] "Just hold on to the hose,
and whatever you do, don't let it go
because if it hits you,
it could kill you."
[firefighter] Stand clear below!
[Richard] The older fireman said,
"You all right, son? You all right, boy?"
You feel scared. You are scared.
[newsreader 13] I'm standing on top
of a very tall building
from where I can see practically
the whole of London spread round me,
and if this weren't so appalling,
I think it'd be one of
the most wonderful sights I've ever seen.
The whole of the skyline to the south
is lit up with a ruddy glow.
It's almost like the Day of Judgment
as pictured in some of the old books.
The Day of Judgment.
-[swing music playing]
-[car horns honking]
[Joan] The tempo's speeding up.
Tonight the blitz started.
The sky over by the docks was red
as if it was an enormous sunset.
What a life!
Never knowing if you're going to be bombed
or seduced from one moment to the next.
I met this really good-looking man
called Rupert.
And he kept trying to persuade me
to lose my virginity.
[ominous music overlaps with swing music]
[Joan] The fact is,
I prefer men to be slightly caddish.
I like men who think they are God.
Rupert is completely at ease
with the universe
and thinks himself a lord of it.
I can't help feeling
that each moment may be my last.
And as the opposite of death is life,
I think I shall get seduced
by Rupert tomorrow.
[swing music resumes fully]
-[air-raid sirens wailing]
-[ticking]
-[booming]
-[music fades]
[air-raid sirens continue wailing]
[Tom] When we came out,
we could hear the fires raging.
We could hear them in the distance
from the docks.
Dad said to me,
before he went into the Air Force,
"Make sure Mum's okay."
And I said,
"Well, there's an official shelter, Mum."
"The ARP shelter. Let's go there."
I felt this was a safe haven.
We wouldn't have any trouble down there.
[bombs whining in distance]
[low rumbling]
[rumbling intensifies]
[Tom] It got hot.
Hotter and hotter.
-[man coughing]
-[child crying]
[thunderous booming]
[Tom] I was calling out for my mother.
I thought, "Are you around?
Where are you?"
And nobody answered.
And I realized
that something horrible had happened.
There'd been a bomb.
[high-pitched ringing]
[ringing fades]
[newsreader 14] The worst dislocation
and suffering have been caused
in the working-class districts
of the East End,
where whole streets of little houses
have been bombed to smithereens.
[newsreader 15] Tentative reports put
the casualties in Saturday night's raid
at 400 killed and 1,400 wounded.
[chilling music playing]
[sobs]
[somber music playing]
[inaudible]
[Bernard] I was in my sister's house
overlooking Brick Lane,
and, uh, Churchill came into that street.
Hearing, suddenly,
shouts and hoorays and boos,
and, uh... there he was, this... this figure.
He did exist.
Churchill's name was anathema in my house
until the war came.
And then his name was angelic.
These cruel, wanton,
indiscriminate bombings of London
are, of course,
a part of Hitler's invasion plan.
Little does he know
the spirit of the British nation
or the tough fiber of the Londoner,
bred to value freedom
far above their lives.
This is a time for everyone
to stand together and hold firm.
The citizens of London
are facing a great ordeal,
the end of which or the severity of which
cannot yet be foreseen.
[Tom] I was taken out to the hospital.
My father found me.
I asked him, I said, "Where's Mum, Dad?
How is Mum?"
And he just said,
"She's dead."
[mournful piano music playing]
[Tom] It stabbed me.
It was a real feeling of pain, of anguish.
I'd taken Mum down
to that wretched shelter,
and she'd been killed.
I... I... I haven't ever got over it.
I never have. Never got over it.
[newsreader 16]
Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth.
[Elizabeth] Thousands of you
in this country
have had to leave your homes
and be separated
from your fathers and mothers.
[determined music playing]
[Elizabeth] To you living
in new surroundings,
we send a message of true sympathy.
And at the same time,
we would like to thank the kind people
who have welcomed you
to their homes in the country.
[guard] Can you please make your way
down the platform?
Quick as you can, please.
[Eric] Someone said we were in Wales.
People talked funny.
And my class went off in one direction.
My sister went off in another direction.
The council ladies had arranged
that the foster parents
would choose which children they wanted.
Finally, I was the only one left,
and there were no foster parents.
Then I got worried.
[whimsical music playing]
[Tom] Suddenly there came
a clattering of feet.
This lady burst into the room and said,
"Are there any vaccies left?"
She said, "I don't much like
the look of him,
and I wanted a girl anyway."
I tried to smile winningly.
And, uh, she said,
"Oh, all right, I'll take him."
And I went off with this strange woman.
No sign of Kitty.
There was a great deal of resentment
against the London evacuees
by many of the people in this mining town
because there had been the miners' strike.
They deeply resented
the London government.
They also deeply resented
Winston Churchill.
And there were three kids I remember,
and they picked on us,
and, uh, we got into fights with them.
[angelic singing]
[Tom] And, uh, my foster mother said,
"You London vaccies come down here
to get away from one war,
and you start another down here."
[music fades]
[engines rumbling]
[suspenseful music playing]
[man, in German] We wanted to force London
into an air-raid shelter.
And so we flew nothing
but London, London, London.
Every 20 minutes, in waves.
We believed that this
would bring England to its knees.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[newsreader 17, in English]
This is Trafalgar Square.
The noise that you hear at the moment
is the sound of the air-raid siren.
[suspenseful strings build]
[bombs whining]
[booming]
[suspenseful music fades]
[newsreader 18] Here at Buckingham Palace,
the King and Queen see the twisted
evidence of their narrow escape.
[newsreader 18] Having had
their own home bombed,
Their Majesties speak
with understanding and sympathy
to those of their subjects who have also
fallen victim to Nazi savagery.
[man] When the King and Queen came down,
people were cheering,
but others were saying,
"Go back to Buckingham Palace."
"You call yourselves bombed?
You had one bomb?"
"We've had thousands."
[determined music playing]
[Bernard] There simply was not
enough safe shelters in the East End.
The Underground
seemed to be the perfect place.
But the government had decided
they weren't gonna open up the Tubes.
[indistinct announcement]
[Phil] We decided to go all out
on the campaign
to open the Tubes for shelters.
[indistinct]
[Phil] The Savoy hotel, that's our target.
[indistinct]
[Phil] Now we're going to aggravate
the situation,
to occupy the shelter of the Savoy hotel.
All in all, 78 people turned up.
We were now occupying a place
where we had no right to be.
And then the police came in.
A police inspector says,
"What do you intend to do here?"
I said, "We don't really want this place.
We want the Tubes opened."
[newsreader 19] The government announced
that people would not be allowed
to use the Tubes for shelters.
But the most remarkable development
of this strange war
is the way in which Londoners
have taken charge
and solved the deep-shelter problem.
[Bernard] There were rumors going around.
"Get down the underground.
It's gonna be all right."
We find all the gates closed
and soldiers there.
[people shouting]
[Bernard] More and more people
crowding behind us.
Shaking the gates.
"Let us in! Let us in!"
[commotion]
[Bernard] Suddenly, a great roar goes up.
Somebody in government
had changed their mind.
My father said, "This is a great victory
for the working class!"
[triumphant music playing]
[Bernard] And that was the beginning
of this subterranean life.
[music builds]
[newsreader 20] A new, dramatic phase
in the Battle of Britain.
After weeks of suspense,
the German High Command
has launched large-scale air attacks
on shipping and docks.
Day after day, Nazi bombers and fighters
have roared in hundreds
above the English Channel.
[newsreader 21] This fortress isle
is the last citadel in Western Europe
blocking Hitler's ambition.
[newsreader 22] The RAF
is the best air force in the world,
but Germany still maintains
numerical air supremacy.
[triumphant music fades]
[Edith] We had to win the war,
and we were determined to do it,
whatever happened.
We knew we were fighting
for our very existence,
and we... we weren't going to give in.
[aircraft rumbling]
[Edith] There must have been
about a hundred of us, I should think,
and, uh, the men treated us with respect.
We were accepted.
We had a feeling of elation
that we were by ourselves
and we could do our own thing.
[pensive music playing]
[Edith] The first time I met Denis,
I was driving a tractor...
and he threw some sand in my engine
and stopped it.
And I made him start it.
I said, "You stopped it. You start it."
So he did.
Denis was fairly well-built, very upright.
He was reasonably good-looking.
He never really smiled properly
'cause he had two teeth
that he was ashamed of,
but he had his own way of smiling.
And apparently,
he decided that he quite liked me.
And he said, uh, "Are you coming
to the squadron dance?"
So I said, "Yes."
['"Cheek to Cheek" playing]
When we came off duty,
we all flood in, and he's waiting for me.
Heaven
And my heart beats
So that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find...
[Edith] We were very fortunate to meet.
We wouldn't perhaps have met
if there hadn't been a war.
Out together dancing cheek to cheek...
[Edith] He was funny.
He was terribly romantic.
We used to laugh a lot.
[wistful music playing]
[Edith] I think it made it more intense,
better, stronger.
And every moment
you're together's precious, you see,
'cause you don't know
how long it's going to... be possible.
["Cheek to Cheek" overlaps
with mournful music]
So that I can hardly speak...
-[music stops]
-[booming]
[newsreader 23] The Battle of London is
now nearly at the end of its first month,
and London still stands.
[chilling music playing]
[newsreader 24] She has been sorely tried,
but her spirit is as good as ever.
[woman] We can take it.
If he thinks he can win the war
by bombing women and children,
he's found a big mistake.
This is London.
We're all alive and kicking.
Cheerio. All the best.
-[low rumbling]
-[booms echoing]
[Joan] I'd worked my way up into such
a state of passion over the absent Rupert.
I hadn't seen him for a week.
All morning I was thinking of him
and wondering how much longer
I could bear life without him.
On the way home, I saw 17 German planes
with hundreds of shells
bursting around them.
-[soldier] Fire!
-[booming]
[Joan] I heard a yell.
-[booming]
-[man yells]
[Joan] And there was old R
lurching down the street,
completely ignoring the guns.
[lively swing music playing]
Wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah-wah, wah-wah, wah...
[Joan] We found a very classy caf
called Mountview,
with a band in red coats.
Huge mosaic pillars
glittered under the lights,
and I was so happy, I felt almost drunk.
Everything is heightened and speeded up.
[lively swing music continues]
[Joan] We were played out
and wandered our way back
through the wreckage
of Shaftesbury Avenue.
[music fades]
[Joan] We made love very seriously,
and I was filled with peace and delight.
One of the few transcendent
and satisfying things left
in this bloody awful life.
[bombs whining and booming]
[newsreader 25] If the Germans
had been figuring on breaking morale,
they have failed miserably.
[indistinct German announcement]
[newsreader 26] The Germans appear
to have changed their policy
in their attacks on Great Britain
in the hope of doing greater damage.
[cheering and applause]
[resolute music playing]
[newsreader 27] The German leader hinted
that the war may last a long time.
[man, in German] We were all aware
this was going to be a difficult mission.
[unsettling music playing]
[Gerhard] Every day,
some of the crews didn't return.
The mood was serious.
Before we took off, I was thinking,
"Will we get back safely?"
"Will I be all right?"
"Will I see my home again?"
[indistinct chattering in English]
[determined music playing]
[newsreader 28] Coventry drew on
its historic past for the Godiva pageant.
Coventry today stands
a great industrial landmark,
thanks to the Countess Godiva,
who stripped herself of her wealth
to win for the city its freedom.
[newsreader 29] An ancient city,
which produced
from its hundreds of factories
the newest machines and engines
in the world.
[newsreader 30] More women are needed
in the munition factories,
in the auxiliary services,
especially women who will leave home
and go wherever they are sent.
[Frieda] It was the thrill
of going somewhere different,
doing something different.
[train announcer] Coventry. Coventry.
This is Coventry.
[Frieda] Even though my dad tried
to talk me out of it.
My dad was one of these people
that always want to keep you all together,
and the only chance to grow up
was to get away.
But no, I was determined.
"I'm going away to do war work."
[music fades]
[Frieda] They took us to the factory
the next day.
Everybody was on bikes.
Hundreds, thousands of folks
cycling to work.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[Frieda] The first sirens went.
They said, "Oh, you've brought bad luck!
We're not wanting you here."
[whistle blowing]
[Frieda] They were machine-gunning
the cyclists.
And I said,
"What's happening to these people?"
I saw people were falling off. [chuckles]
-[gunfire]
-[commotion]
[uneasy music droning]
[bombs whining]
[Gerhard, in German]
We were all just doing our duty,
and no one was looking to do anything
against ordinary people.
[bombs crackling]
[Gerhard] This whole Coventry strategy,
the way it was to bring fear to Britain,
was completely idiotic.
[Frieda, in English] When the raid
started, we knew it was gonna be bad.
We all got under the stairs.
Everybody said that was
the best place to be, the safest place.
Suddenly, everything's black, and...
there's fires.
And I had this long hair,
and it had started to singe,
and that was frightening.
I thought, "I'm gonna get burnt alive!"
[uneasy music fades]
[indistinct chatter]
I want to remind you
about how very important it is
that all water should be boiled
before being used in Coventry.
No matter where you get that water from,
will you please see
that it is boiled before it is used?
[foreboding music playing]
[Frieda] We came back to Edinburgh
looking like refugees.
I was a nervous wreck.
And the first sirens that went
when I came back,
I used to nearly go hysterical.
[newsreader 31] German aircraft
carried out attacks
on Great Britain last night.
[bombs booming]
[newsreader 31] The raids,
which lasted for several hours,
were scattered over many parts
of the country.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[newsreader 31] Firebombs were dropped
in many places.
Towns on the south coast...
the west of England...
the Midlands...
the northwest.
All the fires
have now been brought under control.
[words echoing]
[newsreader 32] Yesterday's German air
attacks, according to their High Command,
were concentrated on Liverpool
to put Liverpool harbor out of commission.
[newsreader 33] Hundreds of German bombers
concentrating on Liverpool
and inflicted damage
even more impressive than at Coventry.
[woman] Churchill was telling us,
you know, how brave we all were.
We would never surrender.
The people in Liverpool, after that blitz,
would have surrendered overnight.
[haunting music playing]
[Marie] It's all right
for people in authority, isn't it?
You know, who are sitting
down in their steel-lined dugouts.
I was so full of hatred
that the Germans could do this to us,
and we couldn't do anything about it.
We were just people
there waiting to be killed.
What do you think about
this question of reprisals?
Well, if I was a man, I'd go over there,
and I'd give them the same
as what they've gave us here.
After all this, what do you think
about us going over to Berlin
and doing the same to them?
I should think so too.
Bit worse than this, I hope,
with a wicked bugger like he is.
And now, sir, do you think
we ought to bomb Berlin
the same as they're doing to us in London?
I definitely do, sir. Bomb 'em tenfold.
I'm sorry for the women
and children of Berlin,
but what about the women
and children of this country?
[tense music playing]
I am confident
we shall succeed in defeating
this most tremendous onslaught.
Whatever happens,
we will all go down fighting to the end.
[newsreader 34] The twin towns
of Mannheim-Ludwigshafen,
the second-largest inland port in Europe,
is about to receive its attack.
With its maze of docks,
industrial installations,
and chemical plants.
[bombs whining]
[booming]
[tense music fades]
[Edith] When you're living
amongst death like that...
[plotter] Go stand by. Hostile...
[Edith] ...I don't think you ever think
it's going to happen to you.
But you begin to know,
and they begin to know,
when the bullet's going to strike.
[somber music playing]
[Edith] And they seem
to get a sort of aura.
And you think, "Ah,
you're not going to come home from this."
And they know it as well.
[chatter]
[somber music swells]
[music fades]
[Edith] Denis said,
"When I next have some leave,
could we spend it together?"
And I said, "Well, yes, if you like."
We arranged it, and we went to Cambridge.
It was high romance.
[hopeful music playing]
It was...
quite out of this world, quite literally.
We had dinner and chatted like mad,
you know, like you do.
And then he said,
"I've got something I want to say to you."
And we went to my bedroom.
Now, you never went
into a bedroom with a man.
[woman] That certain night
The night we met...
[Edith] So he went
and got a bottle of champagne,
and he said, uh...
"Will you marry me?"
So I said, "Of course."
And off we went to our respective beds.
It showed a great respect.
He thought so much of me
that he wasn't going to
compromise me in any way.
I may be right, I may be wrong...
[Edith] On the other hand,
I could probably have been persuaded
because if you know
that somebody might not come back,
are you going to miss the opportunity?
'Cause you never get it again.
A nightingale sang
In Berkley Square
[string chords droning]
[music fades]
[newsreader 35] It is Christmas Day
in the year of the Blitz.
Holly and barbed wire.
Guns and tinsel.
[disquieting music playing]
[newsreader 35] The German embassy
in Washington
says the British government
has been notified
that the Germans
will not bomb England tomorrow,
provided the British will refrain
from bombing any German territory.
[newsreader 36] Between now
and next Christmas,
there stretches 12 months
of increasing toil and sacrifice.
A few blocks away,
in the underground shelters,
entire families
were celebrating Christmas Eve.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of...
[Joan] I saw there was a big envelope
in the letterbox.
[mournful music playing]
I tore it open, and the nightmare sprang.
Report for military service. Royal Navy.
"Oh God," I thought, "Christmas alone."
I wish I was dead. I want Rupert so much.
Pubs are all full of happy,
drunken people singing "Tipperary."
[group singing enthusiastically]
To Tipperary
It's a long way to go...
[Joan] I spent a dreary night
in an unheated room,
sleeping in my clothes on a hard bed.
-Sweetest girl I know...
-[mournful music continues]
[Joan] Talk about Christmas night
in the workhouse.
[newsreader 37] The undeclared air truce
appears to be continuing,
which in many European countries
is celebrated as a second Christmas.
Both sides seem to have kept
their bombers on the ground.
[newsreader 38] Standing guard
over the City of London,
St Paul's Cathedral occupies
a unique place in all hearts.
[car horn honking]
[newsreader 39] Three times in history,
St Paul's has been destroyed by fire.
[eerie music playing]
[Richard] St Paul's
was a place of worship.
It was a place of trust.
God was there.
If Hitler got St Paul's,
he would break the spirit
of the London people
and the rest of the country.
[in German] England
is the last island standing in Europe.
[words echoing]
[eerie music continues]
[Hitler] The hour will come
that one of us will crack...
[words echoing]
[Hitler] ...and it will not be Nazi Germany!
[cheering and applause]
[booming]
[in English] A heavy
incendiary bombing raid has occurred
in the City area.
[suspenseful music playing]
[bell ringing]
Control has been established
in St Paul's churchyard.
[bell ringing]
[shouting]
-[firefighter 1] Hold it. Hold it!
-[firefighter 2] Stand clear below!
[Richard] We got called out.
Churchill had made it clear
to the fire chiefs. Save St Paul's.
[indistinct]
[Richard] He felt
that if that could be saved,
we've got something to hold on to.
[bombs whining]
[Richard] It wasn't a fire.
It was a firestorm.
[shouting]
[Richard] There was incendiary bombs
coming through the air.
There was thousands
being let down into London.
The heat was so terrific...
it would've got to St Paul's,
and the dome itself
would've just collapsed.
[Joan] The full blast of Nazi fury
hit the capital.
They set the City on fire,
including six churches.
The airplanes never stopped,
and the sound of the engines dive-bombing
was deafening.
[aircraft whining]
[Joan] Flares lit up the street
like daylight,
and the stars were all put out.
[solemn music playing]
[newsreader 40] Pictures that look
like hell on earth.
The world will see pictures of a raid
that was not aimed at military objectives,
only at the things that men and women
have loved for centuries.
The famous buildings
of the civic company, the Guildhall.
[shouting]
[Richard] I started to feel
that I was a man.
We was there doing a job
that was your life
or the life of your mate.
I felt as though, "God,
when I get home, wait till I tell my mum."
If we could keep the fire under control,
it wasn't creeping towards St Paul's.
[booming]
[newsreader 41] This is London.
Very quiet here.
It's now almost one o'clock
in the morning.
The wall of flames
which enclosed a large triangle
in the main business section of London
has now been quenched.
I watched the fires from a rooftop.
It was not hard to imagine
how London must have looked 300 years ago
when that historic Great Fire
raged across it.
From where I was,
one man seemed to throw
a sputtering firebomb off the roof
with his gloved hand.
[Richard] It's a miracle
that those bombs didn't hit St Paul's.
I thought, "God, there's gotta be
somebody there saying,
'You don't touch that.'"
[contemplative music playing]
It has now been proved
that this form of blackmail
by murder and terrorism...
so far from weakening the spirit
of the British nation,
has only roused it
to a more intense and universal flame
than was ever seen before.
[music fades]
[newsreader 42] How can we find words
to praise the RAF?
Each day they fly into battle
against heavy odds.
Each day they come home victorious.
[newsreader 43] Britain prepares to repel
the long-threatened invasion.
[newsreader 44] Eighty Nazi planes
came over.
Twenty-five of these didn't get back.
[agitated music playing]
[newsreader 45] This may be
the turning point of the whole war.
It is quality beating quantity.
[hopeful music playing]
[plotter] Check one. One aircraft.
[Edith] We didn't believe
that we would lose,
and everybody felt like that.
Well, on the station anyway.
I mean, it was pretty naive.
Denis and I,
we were sort of arranging the marriage
'cause we wanted it to be soon.
He wanted it to be soon.
The officers, they did say
that they didn't like their pilots
to get engaged
because they started being careful.
And you can't be careful
when you're a fighter pilot.
You have to go in full throttle
and not be worrying
about some woman left at base.
-[air-raid siren wailing]
-[bell ringing]
[Edith] There was a big attack
in the morning. I was actually on duty.
I can't remember how many Germans
there were, but it was quite a lot.
[tense music playing]
[plotter] Keep open line.
Hostile approaching from southeast.
In Sugar one five at zero feet.
[officer] Area 243.
Hastings, Ashford, Dover.
[pilot 1] Yeah.
They're firing at us now.
[pilot 2] That was a bit close.
-I think we've been hit, personally.
-[pilot 3] Yeah.
[officer] Have a check on the speed
of fighter 182.
Check the speed on 182 carefully.
[plotter] There's SOS on 207.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Edith] Somebody said,
"There's a plane going down,
and there's no parachute."
[radio chatter]
[plotter] Stand by.
Hostile 8170 removed.
Change hostile 8171. Do stand by. Hostile...
[Edith] I knew who it was.
I knew it.
Don't ask me how I knew it, but I did.
Our flight sergeant said, "Edith..."
S... Sorry. [exhales sharply]
Anyway, she said,
"Denis is missing."
I said, "Yes, I know."
And how... [softly] Oh, shut up!
[sorrowful music playing]
[Edith] He went down in the sea.
Nothing was ever found,
which is what he wanted.
He always said,
if he was shot down and killed,
he didn't want
to have to have a military funeral.
I do wish we'd been married.
That, I do wish.
I wouldn't have cared if it was 24 hours
or two days or five months.
I do regret that.
[music fades]
[cheering and applause]
[commentator] A few members of the crowd
of more than 60,000 spectators
waiting for the final
between Preston North End and Arsenal.
The teams came out together,
Preston wearing dark shorts.
A good deal has been said
against holding this cup final in wartime.
At least it gave the opportunity
for the services and other war workers
to refresh their minds
with complete change.
[whistle blows]
-[commentator] Preston attacking again.
-[air-raid siren wailing]
[commentator] They score.
But the game was destined
to finish in a draw.
It's hard to decide if we can afford
this kind of festival today.
[foreboding music playing]
[newsreader 46] There's a ripe,
yellow moon riding over Britain tonight.
The sirens have sounded.
That monstrous roar of engines
is in the air.
It looks as though
this will be a major raid on London.
[newsreader 47] We turn now
to the British capital
for the report of Edward R. Murrow.
[Murrow] Occasionally there is the sound
of riotous singing
or a plaintive voice shouting for a taxi.
I visited a few air-raid shelters.
They were only about half full.
On the surface, there are many signs
of cheerfulness and courage in London.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[Joan] I decided it was time to join up.
I've got through as a plotter.
Before we go,
we get a long weekend's leave.
Rupert writes he could come to London,
although he could be recalled at any time.
I suppose I could meet someone new,
a pilot or something.
[jolly piano music playing]
[Joan] I'm sure I shall never like him
half as much as Rupert.
The party was being held in a vast studio.
We could hear loud thumps in the distance,
but no one took any notice.
-[forceful boom]
-[whining]
[Joan] Suddenly, there was
the most tremendous whining noise.
Outside, all hell seemed to be let loose.
We were all too drunk to care.
[booming]
[booming intensifies]
[booming in distance]
[man] It was a strange night.
People were not scared.
A news vendor had his stand outside...
[vendor] Read all about it!
Read all about it!
...and this bombing was going on.
"Cup final result! Cup final result!"
[vendor shouting] Arsenal-Preston!
Cup final result! Cup final result!
[booming]
[Ballard] There was a prostitute
coming up from Piccadilly.
Uh, she was singing,
and she had an umbrella up.
I'm singing in the rain
I'm singing in the rain
[woman] I'm singin' in the rain
Just singin' in the rain
What a glorious feeling
I'm happy again
[words echoing]
[agitated music playing]
[newsreader 48] There has been no estimate
of the number of persons killed,
but the government has issued a communiqu
which says that the number
of casualties is high.
[solemn music playing]
[newsreader 49] News has suddenly burst
from Europe
that Germany has declared war on Russia.
It means that Adolf Hitler
has given up all hope
of any quick conquest of Britain.
[music fades]
[tentative music playing]
[newsreader 50] There was
no German air activity last night.
None today.
It seems a long time
since we've heard the sirens.
[newsreader 51] Cinemas
of Leicester Square are open,
but precautions for the safety of London
are maintained.
And though scarred,
London still presents a smiling face.
The bombing had eased.
My mother decided
that she wanted us home immediately.
So the family was complete again.
First thing the next morning,
I wanted to go and look for shrapnel.
I was delighted to be home.
Kitty and I, we went off to school.
And I went to the junior section...
and she went to the senior.
And to us,
it was just a normal school day.
[school bell ringing]
[Eric] We, um...
went down to the dining area,
and we were having our sandwiches there.
The next thing I knew,
bursts of aeroplane engines
close overhead.
[air-raid siren wailing]
[children screaming]
[Eric] The teacher screaming to us
to get under the table.
I remembered Kitty bursting in
and rushing towards me.
And then the bomb hit.
[high-pitched whining]
[whining fades]
[Eric] My mother's premonition
had come true.
Something terrible had happened
to Kitty and me.
[emotional piano music playing]
[newsreader 52] The news concerns the raid
by a lone German bombing plane.
[newsreader 53] This was a case
of really sudden death.
Nobody had a chance even to duck his head.
[Eric] Thirty-eight kids were killed.
And six teachers were killed.
I was dug out.
I was very severely injured.
My mother would come to the hospital
to see me,
and I kept on asking about Kitty.
[music fades]
[Eric] Kitty had come
into the dining area,
and she was dashing towards me.
Kitty had shielded me.
And she were dead.
[sniffles]
[sniffles]
If it hadn't been for Kitty,
uh, I'd be dead.
I've no doubt about that
because whatever killed her
would've killed me instead.
So I'll never forget that.
[poignant piano music playing]
[Eric] In so many ways, I've been so lucky
because, uh... I've always been able
to do so many things.
Met a lovely girl, married her.
Got three great kids.
[music fades]
[tense music playing]
[Bernard] When the war ended,
we were in a different world.
Basically, we needed to pull together.
We needed to be unified.
[dramatic music builds]
[music fades]
[Bernard] The class system broke down.
[cheering]
[Bernard] We thought
we deserved something else.
Life did get better.
[poignant piano music resumes]
[Joan] Sometimes I feel the significance
of what is going on in the world,
but even then, I can't put it into words.
[moving music builds]
[Joan] One half of the world
trying to destroy the other.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
But I don't feel any different
to how I did in peacetime,
except that I'm a bit happier.
[Edith] I don't think there's been
determination like that since.
You see, we were protecting
our livelihood, our... our country,
all our people, everybody.
And that included the civilians.
Going to fight right to the bitter end.
[Churchill] The final extinction
of a baleful domination
will pave the way to a broader solidarity
than we could ever have planned
if we had not marched together
through the fire.
[poignant music continues]