84 years ago today, Londoners woke up to a hazy morning as smoke filled narrow streets after the worst blitz during World War Two. More than 100,000 bombs were dropped across the city by Luftwaffe planes. American journalist Ernie Pyle watched the chaos unfold, and dubbed it the ‘Second Great Fire of London’.
As the planes roared over London at around 6.15 pm on December 29, 1940, and dropped their deadly bombs until around 9 pm, central London was heavily impacted, with the square mile destroyed. 160 people were killed immediately and dozens more died from their injuries in the days following.
![[Photograph taken of the Thames Estuary during the first mass air raid on London, Tower Bridge stands out against a background of smoke and fire, 7th September, 1940. (Photo by Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/PRI_217520362-b45d.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Recalling the fire, Mr Pyle wrote: ‘For on that night this old, old city – even though I must bite my tongue in shame for saying it – was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. ‘You have all seen big fires, but I doubt if you have ever seen the whole horizon of a city lined with great fires – scores of them, perhaps hundreds.
![[Fire-fighters direct their hoses onto a blazing building after an incendiary raid on the City of London during the Blitz. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_232674142-7b5a.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘The greatest of all the fires was directly in front of us. Flames seemed to whip hundreds of feet into the air. Pinkish-white smoke ballooned upward in a great cloud, and out of this cloud there gradually took shape – so faintly at first that we weren’t sure we saw correctly – the gigantic dome and spires of St. Paul’s Cathedral.’.
![[Shelter Photographs Taken In London By Bill Brandt, November 1940, Elephant and Castle London Underground Station Shelter: People sleeping on the crowded platform of Elephant and Castle tube station while taking shelter from German air raids during the London Blitz, 11 November 1940. (Photo by Bill Brandt/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_232674241-5b66.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
St Paul’s Cathedral had its designated watch after Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared: ‘St Paul’s must be saved at all costs.’. 28 incendiary bombs hit St Paul’s that night, but the building remained standing tall above the London skyline, resulting in a stunning photo named ‘St Paul’s Survives’.
![[A young child is rescued by an air raid warden from a bombed out house following a German Luftwaffe bombing raid on London during The Blitz in World War II, circa 1940. (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_232674183-32f2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=594)
