LONDON INTELLIGENCE REPORT 1940

WAR Paper 1 LONDON INTELLIGENCE REPORT 1940

MOMENTS FROM HISTORY

LONDON INTELLIGENCE REPORT

12 September 1940

I

Issued by the Public Record Office on 12 September 1940, the date is significant because three days later, the 15 September 1940 is documented as being the official date upon which the Luftwaffe’s campaign to defeat the Royal Air Force had failed. Upon this date Adolf Hitler temporarily suspended Unternehmen Seelöwe ~ Operation Sealion.

This also marks the Führer’s retributive response point, at which the intensive and relentless bombing of the London Capital and all major cities throughout the four nations of the United Kingdom commenced, and which history records as The Blitz. (Lightning in German), with London being bombed on 57 consecutive nights. By the end of 1940, upwards of 35,000 civilians had been killed or wounded, and by May 1941 this had risen to 43,000.

At this point the United States of America was still sixteen months away from formal entry into the Second World War.

The Blitz formally commenced on 7 September 1940 and paused on 11 May 1941 three days after the consecutive Eight Night Liverpool Blitz 1-8 May 1941.

All four nations of the United Kingdom were attacked. The principal British and Irish Cities being:

Belfast
Birmingham
Bournemouth
Bristol
Cardiff
Clydebank
Coventry
Dublin
Hull
Graveney Marsh
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Plymouth
Portsmouth
Sheffield
Southampton
Swansea

It is important to remember that this list does not include the numerous towns , as opposed to being that were bombed not as targets but because German crews were retreating and jettisoning their bombs.

The Republic of Ireland

It is also very important to note that Nazi Germany paid no heed to the neutrality of the Irish Republic.

Had they done so, they would not have bombed the Irish Capital, Dublin. To Nazi Germany, the landmass of the island of Ireland was sufficient for their planners.

I emphasise this to underline how Norway and Denmark had been occupied. Sweden’s neutrality in 1940 gave it only a veneer of protection, and the Government and People of Switzerland were under no illusion that Hitler felt frustrated that Switzerland lay, in his view, only temporarily beyond his reach.

The United Kingdom refers to England, Scotland, Wales and only Northern Ireland.

The Irish Republic is (and was in 1940) a separate and independent Sovereign State.

And Adolf Hitler went a step further.

His view was simplistic. The defeat of Russia would lead to the immediate occupation of Sweden and Switzerland. That man had not contended with the superb Intelligence networks and their determination to not only protect their borders but to also give whatever assistance they could to the British and Commonwealth air forces, and to the Royal Navy.

The deliberate bombing of Dublin on three separate occasions, 20 December 1940, 2 January 1941 and then following the Liverpool Blitz 1-8 May 1941, on 31 May 1941 when the Luftwaffe targeted the North Strand Dublin, killing 28 people, injuring 90 and destroying 300 dwellings.

London ~ The Capital

A Heinkel He 1-11 bomber on 7 September 1940 over South London and Wapping, below are the Surrey Commerical Docks and the Isle of Dogs in London’s East End. [4]

II

I sometimes read that Operation Sealion is overstated. That it was not a really serious attempt, more of a gamble in light of the rolling of the dice clearly being in the Third Reich’s favour. Presumed invincibility is also always the first cracks that signal ultimate failure, even oblivion.

During my time in Liverpool (2003-2017) I remember a chilling article about a Nazi Directive declassified and released. In the 1970s I remember reading books about the invasion, and historians warmed to the premise that the intention, was to only occupy Southern Britain below a line drawn across England from the Wash on the South East of East Anglia to Severn Estuary on the West Coast at Gloucester, suggesting that everything above that line would be akin to Vichy France. I remember my father’s reaction, given that we all lived in Cheltenham. My parents had a practical view. Do not waste time on conjecture, ‘what ifs, Ken!’ Good advice.

But the publication of this directive showed a different strategy, to lay siege to Liverpool on the North west Coast of England and also upon Edinburgh, the Capital City of Scotland.

Both cities would, the directive stated, be used as an example. It caused some disquiet at the time.

I lived at the top of the East Waterloo Dock.

Earlier this week, I read pages 471-472 of Rowland White’s outstanding History of the De Havilland Mosquito and of the Occupation and Liberation of Denmark.

It is a superb account.

And then I turned the page, to page 471. I wished I hadn’t.

I experienced the same fear and dread I had sensed when I read that article in my Waterfront Apartment in Liverpool.

III

Fortunately, this did not happen. But it did happen throughout what was termed the Third Reich. It also happened throughout what was termed the Japanese Empire.

I reflect upon this when I look at the War in Ukraine and the War in Israel and Gaza and the Lebanon, and now Syria. The League of Nations proved to be impotent in reining in dictators, instead giving them carte blanche to inflict upon the world the most terrible catastrophe in the history of humankind. I fear that the United Nations demonstrates a similar impotence.

They who maintain a close eye on history quietly place within their defences that awareness that enables us to live freely and independently, at the same time following that very ancient principle:

“That if you wish for peace, you must prepare for war.”

— The phrase is adapted from a statement found in Roman author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus's tract Dē Rē Mīlitārī (fourth or fifth century AD) (Wikipedia)

MOSQUITO by Rowland White

In which the chilling pages 471 and 472 are located.

De Havilland Mosquito low over Liverpool. I love this image. It captures everything. If I move my eyeline to the right across the page I would arrive at Waterloo Dock where, six decades later I would live and see one of the most exciting and diverse cities I know. KTW [5]

Sources

1 London IOntelligence Report as displayed on the back dustcover of LISTENING TO BRITAIN Edited by Paul Addison and Jeremy A. Crang and published by THE BODLEY LONDON IN 2010

2 Extract pages 471-472 from MOSQUITO by Rowland White and first published by Transworld Publishers Penguin Random House UK in 2023

3 Banner Image 21st Century Adobe Stock image by KTW on Coordinates UAF signed 29.12.2022 Adoabestock_547800464

4 The Blitz. (2024, December 6). In Wikipedia.

5 De Havilland Mosquito over Liverpool Image is provided by gracious permission of the Imperial War Museum. Non-commercial use.

6 Mr Finton O’Toole ~ Traces in Dublin Article written by Mr O’Toole entitled ‘German Bombing of Dublin 1941’ through the Goethe Institute Ireland (Der Goethe Institut Irland)

“Presumed invincibility is also always the first of the cracks that signal ultimate failure, even oblivion.”

— Kenneth Thomas Webb

1 July 2025


Liverpool and Gloucestershire


© 2025 Kenneth Thomas Webb