After the Blitz

The Luftwaffe Bombing of Britain, 1941–1943

Stephen Moore

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9781985903333
  9781985903319
• eBook ISBN:
  9781985903289
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

From May 1941 to the end of night raids in 1943, Luftwaffe bombers attacked provincial cities across England, Scotland, and Wales. However, these air raids are not considered part of the Blitz—at least, not according to the British Official History. The official historiography maintains that the Blitz on the United Kingdom ended when aircraft were redeployed to support the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, after the final major raid against London that May.
 
In After the Blitz: The Luftwaffe Bombing of Britain,1941–1943, author Stephen Moore argues that official histories minimize the impact of bombing on cities like Newcastle, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham because they use attacks on London to define the Blitz's chronological boundaries. By excavating British and German archives and cross-referencing government documentation with memoirs and secondary sources, Moore demonstrates that Britain suffered from Luftwaffe assaults well after the official end date of the Blitz and rescues the history of post-Blitz bombings from obscurity.

After the Blitz cements itself in the historical record by confronting the official scholarship that has been foundational to the field and affirms the traumatic experiences of people who lived outside of London during this period.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations and Terms
• Figures and Tables
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The End of the Blitz and the Continuation of Raids During 1941
• Chapter 2. ‘East Coast Blitz’: The Autumn Campaign Against Coastal Targets
• Chapter 3. The Effect of Baedeker on the Resurgence of the Luftwaffe in 1942
• Chapter 4. After Baedeker: Continuation of Luftwaffe Operations Throughout 1942
• Chapter 5. The Night Raids of 1943
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• Appendix 1: Most Attacked Towns in the United Kingdom
• Appendix 2: Major Attacks on British Targets, 1940–1941
• Appendix 3: Civilians Killed in the United Kingdom, 1940–1943
• Appendix 4: Composition of Fighter Command, May 1941–December 1943
• Appendix 5: Replacement of Blenheim Aircraft in Fighter Command
• Appendix 6: Supply of Aircrew to Night Fighter Squadrons
• Appendix 7: German Air Activity, July 1941–December 1943
• Appendix 8: Intake and Output from Fighter Operational Training Units, 1941–1943
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index