The London Blitz (Britain at War) 1941 (1946)

Amateur colour film shot and edited by Rosie Newman, of the impact of the Blitz on wealthy parts of West London. In addition to scenes of the devastation wrought on buildings by aerial bombing, there is coverage of firemen and ARP men putting out fires, clearing the rubble and digging for survivors.
Rosie Newman was a wealthy and well-connected woman who consequently had gained a high level of access to create a valuable film record of Britain at war. This section of the film includes many of her human observations of life carrying on despite the Blitz - such as women and children queuing for shopping, a flower seller and a milkman delivering his round. Among the locations identified in Newmans film are Bond Street, Piccadilly, Hyde Park.

Rosie Newman (amateur cinematographer)
6 minute excerpt from 99 minute film.
Original format: 16mm
The Film and Video Archive of the Imperial War Museum was established in 1920, making it one of the first film archives in the world. It holds some 120 million feet of film and 6,500 house of video tape. A large proportion of material has been transferred to the Museum from the armed Services and other public bodies as the Archive is the official repository for such public record films.

More information about this film can be found via the Film and Video section of the Imperial War Museums on-line catalogue: www.iwmcollections.org.uk

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• The
• London
• Blitz;World
• War
• Two

[angloswisslad]

I was born in Bermondsey in 1934 and lived the war years in SW London. We slept many nights down in Colliers Wood Tube Station and were there when a bomb dropped just outside Balham Station, flooding the Underground with water from the sewage and killing some people. Later we moved to Balham and also slept two weeks in that UG. The bombed out houses were our playgrounds and we took a lot of wood home as fuel for the fires, as coal was rationed it came in very handy.

[faulcon1]

Amazing footage. My parents were 8 when the war started and 14 when it ended and mum remembers being thrown out of bed late in the war when a V2 struck about half a mile away. That was in Hayes west London.

[metalqueenofnothing]

@GFBalla no actually not. the war would have been won with or without america, they weren't needed at all. when america joined ww2 russia had already defeated 80% of the german war machine and germany was on the verge of collapse. america didn't make any difference at all.

[mymusic777ify]

if bombs or fires strike a city,place or country today ,especially in the middles east, the help comes rather quickly.,but where was the help for London and their inhabitants back in those days?so many lives could have been saved and so many countries could have helped!

[aspiringdrummer17]

@cryteeek Must be tough knowing your hero died nearly 70 years ago.

[cryteeek]

motherfuckers had it coming lol

[GFBalla]

@NielsShoe your a dumbsack usa helped that allied powers in ww2 since the beginning and joined in a year later, if they didnt join the war germany would have clearly won

[TheRhinehart86]

@NielsShoe That's a good point mate, and London is still getting hammered by terrorists from the IRA to Al Qaeda, the difference is they don't whinge like a pack of babies or invent new mental disorders as a result

[NielsShoe]

Thats the british 9/11 and the USA did'nt help till years later.

[matchless10000]

amazing footages

[travelecomomy]

Bet on your country to World Cup finalist in 2014 Brazil and win prizes up to: 150,000 € wwworldcupbet! BIDS LIMITED! PLAY A ROUND WITH THE STARS: Ronaldinho, Nilmar and Neymar.

[tih1776]

WOW, just look at the footage; amazing and quite scaring. I'm from Sweden and I do appreciate the job Britain did for the liberation of Europe. The Britons got the job done!