AP file

The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London stands out from the flames and smoke of surrounding buildings during heavy attacks by the German Luftwaffe on Dec. 29, 1940. The German bombers and fighters flew across the English Channel by the hundreds, all intent on destroying London and forcing Britain out of the war and Hitler's way. As they dropped their bombs on the city on Sept. 7, 1940, the barrage signaled the start of the Blitz, the attack on the British mainland by Nazi forces during World War II. On Tuesday, Sept 7, 2010 a memorial service was held at St. Paul's Cathedral itself a symbol of British fortitude during the attacks on the 70th anniversary of the day the Germans focused on non-military targets, and to honor those who protected London during the attacks.

Harry Shepherd / Fox Photos - Getty Images

31st December 1943: Searchlights over St Paul's Cathedral during The Blitz.

Harry Todd / Fox Photos - Getty Images

17th October 1945: A group of men playing cricket on a blitzed site during their lunch-hour, with St Paul's Cathedral in the background.

Fox Photos / Getty Images

19th October 1940: A hole in the roof of St Paul's Cathedral above the altar after the cathedral was hit in a German bombing raid. Debris from the roof is lying in front of the altar.

'Like a picture of some miraculous figure'

Today is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Blitz. St. Paul's Cathedral still stands, and is still a symbol of Britain's endurance. Memorial services were held there today, and were filmed by the BBC.

Journalist Ernie Pyle has a lovely description of the church emerging out of an incendiary bomb attack:

The greatest of all the fires was directly in front of us. Flames seemed to whip hundreds of feet into the air. Pinkish-white smoke ballooned upward in a great cloud, and out of this cloud there gradually took shape - so faintly at first that we weren't sure we saw correctly - the gigantic dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.

St. Paul's was surrounded by fire, but it came through. It stood there in its enormous proportions - growing slowly clearer and clearer, the way objects take shape at dawn. It was like a picture of some miraculous figure that appears before peace-hungry soldiers on a battlefield. (More here.)

The cathedral does not make an appearance in the video clip below, but it's worth watching--it's a report on newly released and very rare color film footage of the Blitz:

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