• 3rd September 1939 - War declared
• The first air raid siren sounds - it was a false alarm.

• September 1939 - children are evacuated from London to the country.
• About 1,500,000 Anderson shelters given out to poorer families.

• 25th August 1940 - the first bomb drops on London, probably by mistake. It is thought that a bomber pilot was meant to drop bombs on aircraft factories in South London mistakenly dropped them on the City of London.

• 7th September 1940 - the first real air raid of the London Blitz takes place. It comprised over 300 bombers escorted by more than 600 fighter planes. They started bombing the East End before they carried on to bomb the City and Central London.
• This raid caused more than 1000 fires
• 430 people were killed and 1600 badly injured.
• Damage was caused to two major power stations, homes and factories along the Thames and three major London railway stations.

• 17th September 1940 - a bomb hit Marble Arch Underground station killing 17 people.

• 18th September 1940 - the Lambeth Walk was destroyed as was the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street.

• 15th October 1940 - 430 people were killed in the bombing, five major railway stations were badly damaged, the City of London's watermain was also damaged as was the major Fleet sewer.
• By mid October there were around 250,000 people made homeless by the Blitz.

• 14th November 1940 - this dated signalled the end of the nightly raids on London. German bombers raided Coventry instead.

• 15th November 1940 - the Luftwaffe returns to London hitting almost every borough. It uses a new bomb nicknamed Satan - it was huge - 1800 megatons of high explosive and it was a delayed action bomb.
• The main Post Office sorting depot at Mount Pleasant was hit as was the National Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey and Euston Station.

• November 1940 - about 3000 unexploded bombs were waiting to be defused around London by the end of the month.

• 29th December 1940 - incendiaries dropped on the City of London caused over 1400 fires including six that were classed as conflagrations, one of which covered half a square mile
• The Guildhall was damaged, only its walls stood, eight churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren were destroyed as was Paternoster Row, a major telephone exchange, the Central Telegraph Office and guild company halls.
• Also damaged that night were five mainline stations, nine hospitals, sixteen Underground stations and St Paul's was hit by incendiaries.

• 11th January 1941 - 117 people were killed in Bank Underground station when it took a direct hit.

• 19th March 1941 - a 500 bomber raid on the docks and East End of London killed 750 people and injured over a 1000 people seriously.

• 16th April 1941 - a 685 bomber raid caused more than 2000 fires and killed well over 1000 people. This raid also damaged or destroyed irreplaceable historic churches and other buildings.

• 19th April 1941 - This was the biggest bombing raid of the London Blitz so far with more high explosive and incendiaries dropped than any other night previously.

• 10th May 1941 - a 550 bomber raid dropped more than 700 tons of bombs and thousands of incendiaries. This was probably the worst raid of the Blitz.
• Nearly 1500 people were killed and around 1800 seriously injured.
• The Chamber of the House of Commons (Parliament) was destroyed.
• The House of Lords, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, St James's Palace and Lambeth Palace were amongst the many buildings damaged. Almost all the major mainline railway stations were also damaged as were 14 hospitals, the British Museum and the Old Bailey.

This was the last of the major raids on London in this period. There were occasional attacks over the following three years but raids on London only began again in earnest in June 1944 when the Germans started using flying bombs.