London in World War II

London in World War II
3 September 1939 – 2 September 1945
Heinkel He 111 bomber over the Surrey Commercial Docks on 7 September 1940
Location	London
Monarch(s)	George VI
Prime Minister(s)	Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee
Key events	Kindertransport, evacuation, The Blitz
Chronology London (1900–1939) Modern London (from 1945)

Part of a series on the
History of London
Roman London Anglo-Saxon London Norman and Medieval London Tudor London Stuart London 18th-century London 19th-century London London 1900–1939 London in World War II (The Blitz) Modern London (from 1945) London in the 1960s
See also
Timeline
London portal
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The United Kingdom took part in World War II from 3 September 1939 until 15 August 1945. At the beginning of the war in 1939, London was the largest city in the world, with 8.2 million inhabitants.^[1] It was the capital not just for the United Kingdom, but for the entire British Empire. London was central to the British war effort. It was the favourite target of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in 1940, and in 1944-45 the target of the V-1 cruise missile, the V-2 rocket, and the unsuccessful V-3 "London gun".

An estimated 18,688 civilians in London were killed during the war,^[2] 0.23% of the population.^[3] 1.5 million were made homeless.^[4] 3.5 million homes and 9,000,000 square feet (840,000 m²) of office space were destroyed or damaged.^[5]