The Longest Night

August 8, 2005
Drawing on scores of eyewitness accounts and previously classified records, British journalist Mortimer has written the first extensive account of the deadliest night of the 1940–1941 London Blitz. Believing that "terror attacks" against civilians would break "England's will to resist," the Luftwaffe began bombing London on September 7, 1940. Instead of caving in, however, the British responded with an endearing bravado. The great raid of May 10—"the savage climax to the Blitz"—severely strained that indomitable spirit. That night, the Germans sent 507 aircraft to drop 711 tons of bombs—including 86,173 incendiary bombs—on London. By dawn on May 11, London was near collapse. More than 2,000 fires blackened the sky, 11,000 homes lay in ruins and more than 3,000 people were dead or wounded. What Londoners did not know was that that night would be the last major raid against the city; the Blitz would end on May 16. While Mortimer focuses on London, he also switches the narrative seamlessly among the city's residents, the air crews at their bases in the English countryside and the Luftwaffe pilots attacking from their bases in occupied France. The author notes that the Blitz has become a cliché to later generations and asks rhetorically if it has "relevance in modern London." The recent terrorist bombings in London's subways emphatically answer that question.