As the Second World War loomed everyone expected it would bring a new kind of conflict to Britain. Raids by airships in the First World War & the attack on Guernica in the Spanish Civil War had given a terrifying taste of what was to come. So when war was declared in September 1939 massive air raids against civilians were anticipated. Cities & strategic ports were the first to be hit. London was a major target throughout the war. But it was not only the capital that suffered: on 8 November 1940 30 000 incendiary bombs rained down on Coventry laying waste to the city including famously its cathedral. Port cities such as Plymouth Bristol & Liverpool also suffered especially badly. In Blitz Diary" historian Carol Harris has collected together a remarkable series of accounts from the war's darkest days with heart-warming stories of survival perseverance solidarity & bravery the preservation of which becomes increasingly important as the Blitz fades from living memory."