The Blitz 75th anniversary: Survivors tell their stories

On 7 September 1940 the Blitz began. A series of aerial raids by German planes during World War Two over the United Kingdom, the sustained bombing between September 1940 to May 1941, destroyed parts of various cities and killing over 40,000 civilians

To mark the 75th anniversary since the Blitz began, IBTimes UK spoke to survivors of the bombings to hear their story.

Sally Flood

"I was standing there one night and the air raid siren had already gone. I was standing looking out and I saw an incendiary bomb drop on the corner opposite and you saw all the bricks coming apart.

"I thought that the building would obviously be flattened the next day, but when we came out it had come back together. And apparently this happens. In an explosion it can go out but then come back into place. It doesn't fall, it joins up again. And I'd never seen anything like that in my life and never since either.

"When the bombs started coming down we did go to the shelter in the building. But there was no windows and it was dark in there and you could hear every sound. There was nothing.

"So we started going to the station and that's where they had the tragedy at Bethnal Green Underground. And on that night we went and the gates were locked. Our mother told us off for making her late for the shelter.

"But it was because of the tragedy, so it was fated that we'd be late that night."

Gladys Hale

"We suddenly got air raids and planes and bombs. The first time I knew it was really bad I was listening to the planes and the guns firing. And all of a sudden I heard a great a great big whoosh and the wall and all the glass came in and fell on me and my brother in bed.

"If my sister had been in bed at the time she would have been killed. The neighbours rushed in and grabbed me and my brother from the bed. And I swore at Hitler, even though children then didn't swear.

"Every day my mother used to say, "please God don't let it be me but God help the poor soul who gets it". So every day you didn't know what was going to happen really and truly.

"On 8 December I said goodbye to my friend Mary. Her and 53 other people went into a shelter. It was a direct hit and she was killed. So were all the others. Completely blown to bits.

"I went to look for her to say goodbye. They buried them all in cardboard coffins, put them in a coach with a Union Jack flag, no flowers, and took them away. At the time I thought, 'I wonder which coffin Mary is in?'

"The more they bombed us, the more we were determined. 'We're going to get you, you ain't going to get us,' we all thought. That's just how it was."