Horror of the Blitz in London brought back to life by fascinating colourised photos

1/15
Tom Powell26 September 2017

The harrowing reality of the Blitz in London has been brought back to life by a fascinating set of newly colourised photos.

The haunting images show Londoners huddled in the now-closed Aldwych Tube station for shelter during an air raid, while others show the devastation caused by German bombs.

In one picture, a London bus has been completely gutted, while the road has been ripped apart. Two police officers can be seen walking carefully through the wreckage.

The historic images are the work of Welsh electrician Royston Leonard, who has added colour to black and white photos from the time.

Children sit in front of the wreckage caused by a German air raid
Royston Leonard/mediadrumworld.com

The 55-year-old electrician from Cardiff told the Daily Mail: “It's a time when we all pulled together and I think it's important to show the work of men and women which can so easily be forgotten in time.”

A particularly poignant photo shows a young girl cradling her doll as she sits surrounded by the rubble left behind after a German air raid. Another shows a girl huddled up in a typical 'Anderson' shelter.

In one photo, men can be seen surveying the damage to a private library in Kensington following a bombing.

Around 32,000 civilians died during the Blitz, which was a German bombing campaign against Britain during the Second World War. The attacks also injured 87,000 people, and destroyed 2 million homes.

The Blitz lasted from September 7, 1940 to May 11, 1941.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in