John Nichol

The Blitz – from the German ‘Blitzkrieg’, lightning war – began as the Battle of Britain neared its conclusion. The Luftwaffe’s sustained aerial bombing campaign against British urban centres lasted from September 1940 until May 1941. Over nine months, from Plymouth to Glasgow and Bristol to Newcastle, more than 43,500 civilians would die. John Nichol has flown aircraft in combat, he has dropped bombs himself, but he knew little about the Blitz. The generation who endured it, including his parents, were often keen to keep silent and move on from the conflict that had consumed their childhoods. Nearly half a million bombs were dropped on Britain in a few months, and every one of them had its own story. Beginning with the experience of John’s mother and the attacks on the North East of England where he grew up, he explores what this series of assaults on the Home Front was truly like. Interweaving the stories of survivors with modern experts, the perspective of those on the ground with the aircrew delivering destruction from on high, BLITZ is a powerful new reckoning with one of the defining events of modern British history. It’s about how a nation survived when death was a constant companion, and the deep, conflicting emotions experienced by all involved.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire and The Unknown Warrior, Blitz is a searing account of a nation at war, told through the eyes of those who endured the onslaught.

The Second World War was not only fought in the skies above Europe or on distant beaches – it came crashing into the lives of citizens across the UK night after night . . . for almost five years. Between 1939 and 1945, more than 60,000 civilians were killed and millions made homeless during German bombing raids. For decades, ‘The Blitz’ has been framed as a few desperate months between September 1940 and May 1941 that mainly affected London – but the real story is far broader, longer and more devastating. From Eastbourne to Glasgow, from Cardiff to Newcastle, John Nichol uncovers forgotten tragedies and the extraordinary resilience of communities across the country. He tells of heroic firefighters battling infernos, the unflinching bravery required to defuse an unexploded bomb, families wiped out in an instant, and communities left bereft by a single blast. Drawing on diaries, official records and eyewitness testimony, Nichol gives voice to civilians who endured nights of fire and fear, and to the men and women who found the courage to run towards danger. And he brings the blitz story up to date by speaking to those involved in similar situations today: mass casualty events, uncontrolled fires, unexploded bombs and individual acts of astonishing bravery. By challenging stereotypes and capturing the emotional impact of when World War Two came home, Nichol tells this supposedly familiar history afresh. At once gripping and compassionate, Blitz is a searing testament to a generation whose fortitude shaped the course of history. This is the definitive account of the Blitz — not just a moment in London, but a nationwide struggle that shaped the course of the war and the spirit of a generation. ‘It is rare to find a tale so strange, intimate and human yet at the same time so enormous so global in its importance. Yet again John Nichol impresses us with his ability to weave together the little details and the grand narrative.’ DAN SNOW, historian and TV presenter on THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR