Teacher and voluntary social worker PHYLLIS WARNER:

We all fell flat on the floor of the bus. I thought, ‘My God, what did I come here for. I’m going to be blown to bits with these lousy strangers, and I haven’t even got an identity disc on.’

Then the bomb dropped a few streets away, but we had to remain with our faces among people’s feet until the plane was a distance away. I shall always detest the smell of shoe polish now.”

ABOVE On December 29, 1940, photographers captured London under siege and the shot of St Paul’s Cathedral wreathed in smoke remains an enduring image of that night. Legendary Daily Mirror photographer George Greenwell, meanwhile, climbed the blazing St Paul’s dome to snap London from the opposite perspective

RIGHT Among the London homes damaged was Buckingham Palace, whose Royal Chapel was destroyed during an air raid in 1940. It was not re-opened until 1962, when it was turned into the Queen’s Gallery, showing works of art from the Royal Collection

ABOVE The church of St Clement Danes in the Strand, London, set ablaze after an air raid on May 10, 1941 OPPOSITE PAGE Behind the statue of Prince Regent, Holborn Circus bears the brunt of an air raid. April 16, 1941

ABOVE Firemen dampening down fires in the Holbrooks area of Coventry following a Luftwaffe attack on December 3, 1940