The author takes us from the evacuation of the Allies from Dunkirk in June, 1940, through the collapse of France shortly thereafter, the invasion by Hitler of Russia in late June, 1941, and finally to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and subsequent entry of the United States into the war. During the second of these raids, which lasted six hours, 800 high explosive bombs were dropped. Southampton was hit by two serious raids on the nights of 23 November and 30 November. He drew mainly from the private diaries of Mary Churchill, at 17 the youngest of Churchill’s four children John “Jock” Colville, 25, one of Churchill’s private secretaries and Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s chief propagandist. Because so many biographies of Churchill had already been written, Larson opted to craft “a more intimate account” of this period using source material from diaries as well as other documents. Larson was curious how Churchill, by then aged 65, coped psychologically with the challenges. In particular, Larson wondered, how could parents handle the threat to their children? During the Blitz 7,736 children were killed and 7,622 seriously wounded. Shortages of food and medicine increased the worries of the populace. (As a passage relates that Larson shares from one Londoner’s diary: “My heart misses a beat whenever a car changes gear-up, or when someone runs, or walks very quickly, or suddenly stands still, or cocks their head on one side, or stares up at the sky, or says, ‘Sshh!’…”) The physical damage from the bombings required ongoing repairs but there was a lack of sufficient supplies and labor. The noise of the planes and blasts from the bombs added to the general fear and anxiety. Larson explains that he wrote this history after wondering how anyone could stand the frightening reality of constant bombardment and threat of actual invasion by Germany. It was only after the Germans opened up a second front against Russia that the bombing abated because the Germans needed to redeploy the aircraft of the Luftwaffe to their new Eastern Front. Overall, some 33,000 tons of bombs were dropped by the Germans over Britain. Hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed or damaged. Many more were left homeless – over 12,000 alone in the final, brutal raid on London. Shortly after the beginning of World War II, German bombers attacked Britain relentlessly in what came to be known as “the Blitz” after the German word “blitzkrieg,” meaning “lightning war.” Between Septemand May 10, 1941, some 45,000 British civilians were killed and another 139,000 were injured.
As terrible as the costs of war are, we tend to feel especial horror over civilian casualties.
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