Tarih Duragı

Milkman, London 1940

If you think that the person in the picture is a real milker, you are mistaken. This picture was made for propaganda purposes to show that the British people continued their daily life during the Blitz Attacks in Germany during the Second World War. The photo was taken by Fred Morley on October 9th and published on October 10th.

What is Blitz?

After the beginning of World War II, only Britain remained among the places Hitler did not fully acquire. France had already surrendered and the European continent was under German control. Hitler was planning a major bombing campaign to destroy Britain from the battlefield or destroy air forces to prepare for occupation.

Blitz children

Britain bombed almost every day between September 7, 1940 and May 16, 1941 until Hitler was to launch an attack against Russia in 1941. These attacks were called Blitz (lightning, thunder).

Blitz Attacks

The main aim of Blitz attacks was to drop London. While the people were hiding in the night houses, they were hiding in the underground under the daytime.

People in subways

The picture below is Saint Paul's Cathedral. Blitz bombardments continue and a cold December night, fire fumes all over the city.

St. Paul Cathedral

When a photographer saw the cathedral of St. Paul, half a mile away, at the time of the attack, he set out to take photographs of destruction. The smoke from the building rises and everyone who follows has thought that the cathedral will definitely fall. At that time, with the effect of a strong wind, the smoke in front of the building was opened and the photographer caught it. Everyone thought the cathedral was burned that night, but the next morning they woke up and saw that the building was standing. It was a source of inspiration for many Londoners. Seeing that the cathedral survived this bombing, people's faith in themselves came back.


The British government was censoring photos of this kind so that people would not lose their morale. That's why Fred Morley staged a milk photograph to raise people's morale.

At the end of Blitz, about 30,000 Londoners died and 50,000 people were injured.
- -