London in the Blitz WWII Tour with St Paul's Cathedral

While London was never under Nazi occupation, the fear of an enemy invasion loomed over the British Isles for a good part of World War 2. The response of the British people to this fear was a memorable one, especially in London, where people lived with daily bomb raids and were surrounded by destruction. 

This 2.5-hour London WW2 tour focuses on East London and the Square Mile, around St. Paul's Cathedral, one of the most heavily bombed during the war. It's the perfect counterpart to our Churchill War Rooms tour. We start round the corner from the Museum of London at the Fore Street site where the first Nazi bombs fell, from there, we'll work our way south via St Mary Aldermanbury and the Guildhall exploring more of Churchill’s links with the area. 

We'll discuss how empty tunnels and underground stations along the Central Line were used extensively as air-raid shelters. Our conversation will include the fundamental role of the Ministry of Information, boosting the morale of people near and far, but also contributing to the effort to involve the US in the conflict. We'll discuss propaganda and daily life, destruction and rebuilding, as well as the iconic role that St. Paul's Cathedral came to represent. We may stop for a coffee break at St Mary-le-Bow, destroyed and then restored after the war, before heading to the Blitz memorial north of St Paul's Cathedral, focusing more on specific vignettes that occurred on the streets around us.

Our London in the Blitz tour will finish at St. Paul's Cathedral, with a visit to the American Memorial Chapel, a space rebuilt after being destroyed in the Blitz and dedicated in its entirety to the American dead of WW2.