“Just four days after Christmas 1940, Hitler turned London into a flaming hell. December 29, was London’s longest night, the night Hitler tried to burn London down and incinerate the majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral.

At sunrise, however, the dome of St. Paul’s stood, though surrounded by a smoldering warscape of total destruction. The salvation of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the hellish inferno uplifted British spirits and is a Christmas story worth retelling seventy-three years later. . . .

London was under blackout orders, so Hitler’s first wave of bombers enjoyed the use of two radio beacons beamed from France. When the beams intersected, the bombers were over their targets – the civilian, publishing and garment industry neighborhoods of East London.

Instead of explosions, Londoners heard the dull thuds of objects hitting rooftops.

No explosions, just thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

These were incendiaries hitting rooftops then igniting. Over the next few hours, waves of German bombers dropped over 10,000 incendiaries and created a firestorm that destroyed London all around St. Paul’s. Waves of bombers followed through the night, dropping conventional bombs and blasting the fireman battling the firestorm the incendiaries started.”

Full story at link above.