Today saw many attacks on London by single Luftwaffe aircraft, with bombs falling on towns in Kent and Surrey.

“We heard an explosion and at the same time the shelter heaved up and down and filled with dust and smoke. We could see flames. Then the house must have collapsed because we got covered in bricks and stuff.”

The RAF achieved significant success during these attacks. At about 10 past ten in the morning, for instance, a Junkers Ju 88 exploded over Southwold, Suffolk during an attack by Squadron Leader Bob Tuck, commanding officer of No 257 Squadron. All the occupants of the aircraft died. As late as the 1970s wreckage from the Junkers could still be found on a nearby beach.

At night London was bombed yet again. One Londoner, aged 12 in 1940, later described his experience in Stepney during the Blitz.

Part of his account covered an occasion when he was in the Anderson shelter in the backyard. “I remember that we’d been in the shelter for a long time and it was very hot and stuffy. Then the bomb hit the house. First we heard the swish as it came down. You knew it was near if you heard the swish.