Photo from archives | Greatest photographs of world war II

Censored for days, this picture was finally published in the Mail. Now, 70 years on, by Max Hastings reveals the dramatic story behind THE iconic image of the Blitz.

Today is the ­anniversary of one of the greatest photographs of World War II being taken — and of a defining ­moment in British history. On the night of December 29, 1940, ­Daily Mail chief photographer ­Herbert Mason was ­firewatching on the roof of the ­newspaper’s offices ­between Fleet Street and the Thames.

The Luftwaffe’s blitz on London was at its height: after a brief pause decreed by Hitler on Christmas Day, Goering’s bombers had resumed their almost nightly pounding of the capital. A brief attack on December 27 inflicted 600 casualties, more than 50 of them in a single public ­shelter in Southwark which received a direct hit.

Symbol in the smoke: Herbert Mason's iconic photograph of St Paul's dome emerging from the smoke of raging fires in surrounding streets was taken 70 years ago this week

When darkness fell on December 29, the Heinkel and Dornier planes came again to launch their 125th attack since the campaign began — which inflicted unparalleled devastation on the old City of ­London. Barely 30 minutes into the raid, ­Luftwaffe aircrew counted 54 major fires beneath them; in three hours of early evening bombing, 120 tons of explosive and 22,000 incendiaries fell, inflicting appalling damage.

Capturing history: Daily Mail chief photographer Herbert Mason took the photograph from the roof of the newspaper's office in Carmelite Street

Hundreds of buildings in the heart of the ­financial district were set ablaze; eight Christopher Wren churches were destroyed and the 15th-century Guildhall was set on fire. One bomb landed near the Monument, erected by Wren to commemorate the 1666 Great Fire of London.

A middle-aged spinster named Vere Hodgson, who worked in a charity shop in Notting Hill, kept a wonderful diary of the war years, ­especially of the Blitz. ‘Terrible fires in London,’ she wrote of that night. ‘We went up on the roof to look. At Shepherd’s Bush, flames were leaping, and towards the City they were gigantic. As I walked up the road I could see the smoke.

‘A great red glow filled the sky — I had no need of a torch — I could see every step I took and could have read a book if I had wished.

‘The police said it was Waterloo station, but a taxi man told my friend Miss Mowes that the City was on fire, and they were trying to save St Paul’s. These were her first words to me, and I shall never forget the horror of them.’

On the roof of the Mail’s office at Northcliffe House, Carmelite Street, Herbert Mason gazed on the inferno around the cathedral, less than half a mile from where he stood — and raised his camera.

‘I focused at intervals as the great dome loomed up through the smoke,’ he later said. ‘The glare of many fires and sweeping clouds of smoke kept hiding the shape. Then a wind sprang up. ­Suddenly, the shining cross, dome and towers stood out like a symbol in the inferno. The scene was unbelievable. In that moment or two, I released my shutter.’

Mason knew nothing of the extraordinary drama taking place in St Paul’s, even as he took the ­picture that became the transcendent image of the Blitz.

Devastation: This was the view from St Paul's on January 3, 1941, showing the destruction to the streets surrounding the Cathedral

Falling rubble had blocked emergency ­services from getting through the streets and an abnormally low tide in the Thames caused hydrants on which firemen’s pumps depended to run dry. When a fire broke out in the cathedral’s library aisle, there was no mains water to fight it — the blaze was eventually suppressed with ­stirrup pumps, buckets and sand.

The War's greatest picture: The Daily Mail of 31 December 1940 sums up Herbert Mason's picture in perfect style.

Then, soon after 6.30pm, an incendiary bomb — one of 29 to fall on and around St Paul’s that night — pierced the lead roof of the dome and lodged in its timbers. ­Molten lead began to drip into the nave below. The aged wood of the choir stalls and organ screen, carved by the great sculptor Grinling Gibbons, was at mortal risk, while smoke from the blazing buildings surrounding the cathedral enveloped it.

American reporter Ed Murrow ­pronounced the great building’s obituary in a live broadcast to the U.S.: ‘The church that means most to London is gone. St Paul’s ­Cathedral is burning to the ground as I talk to you now.’

His valediction was premature: as he spoke, two teams of specialist fire watchers recruited from the Royal Institute of British Architects — and hand-picked because they had heads for heights — were ­crawling along the wooden beams with hand pumps to reach the ­blazing section.

But suddenly the incendiary bomb, having burnt through the wood, fell far, far to the nave below, where it was easily put out. Though almost every building around St Paul’s ­perished, the cathedral survived.

More than 160 people died in that night’s raid, including 16 firemen, and 500 were injured.

Eight of the firemen perished in a single incident when a wall collapsed on them as they fought a blaze near Fleet Street and 250 of their ­comrades suffered injuries during the night.

The next morning, it was bitterly cold. There was a light scattering of snow as office worker Dorothy ­Barton emerged from London Bridge station on her commute.

She gazed in horror at the acres of smoking and still burning ruins —then her heart lifted as she looked up at St Paul’s, towering over the scene. ‘I felt a lump in my throat because, like so many people, I felt that while St Paul’s survived, so would we,’ she said.

London's burning: Ruins of a building in the shadow of St Paul's still smoulder a week after the Blitz on the city in December 1940

But mild, gentle Miss Vere ­Hodgson looked on the devastation and wrote bitterly: ‘I shall never bother with Germans or foreigners again. It makes you want to give other people a taste of what we have had.’

Herbert Mason’s photograph went unpublished for two days while censors considered whether it would serve Britain’s cause; others — for example, one of Bank underground.

Eye of the storm | Images of enormous clouds

Eye of the storm: The jaw-dropping Images of enormous clouds 'supercell'
It looks like something from the film Independence Day.

But although it may seem like an alien mothership, this incredible picture is actually an impressive thunderstorm cloud known as a supercell.

Windswept dust and rain dominate the storm's centre while rings of jagged clouds surround the edge.

A flimsy tree in the foreground looks like a toy next to the magnificent natural phenomenon.

Awe: This massive supercell shows a column of rain in the centre of thick clouds

The photograph is just one image from the portfolio of electrician Sean Heavey. The supercell cloud was photographed in July west of Glasgow, Montana, USA.

Mr Heavey, 34, an amateur photographer, created the jaw-dropping panoramic image by stitching together three photos from the 400 frames he took of the violent scene he witnessed in July

It caused minor damage, and lasted several hours before moving on. Massive storm systems like this centre on mesocyclones -- rotating updrafts that deliver torrential rain and high winds.

The dangerous outbreak of weather raged for several hours and caused minor damage to local communities - while watchful Mr Heavey captured all its devastating beauty from a distance.

Taking photographs of storms for the past seven years, this year Mr Heavey and his masterpiece are up for a prestigious award from National Geographic.

Called the 'Mothership', because of the striking image's similarity to an alien space ship, the photograph was actually four years in the making.

'I have two storm chasing friends I met through my wife Toni and they've been badgering me to go out with them for that long,' explained Sean.

'I' normally rely on simply being in the right place at the right time for my photography, while I'm out working. But in July I finally decided to do it and thankfully this picture was the result. We don't usually get weather like this out in Montana, it felt like the perfect storm.
'The power was awe inspiring.'

A super cell thunder storm crosses a path and continues unabated across the plains on July 28th

A storm descends in July 2007 over the sleepy town of Glasgow, Montana

'I felt that if you could walk inside the rain and the wind right into the centre of the storm and stare up, then it would have been like looking into God's eye.'
Known as the 'mother of tornadoes', a mesocyclone can be up to six miles wide and can produce as many as 60 tornadoes.

These severe thunderstorms form where cold dry air meets warm moist tropical air.
The wind coming into the storm starts to swirl and forms a funnel. The air in the funnel spins faster and faster and creates a very low pressure area which sucks more air - and objects - into it.

If the cyclone runs out of wet, warm surface air, it dies out. If it does not run out of this fuel, however, the rotating cloud stretches toward the ground and may become a giant tornado.

Mr Heavey, 34, is an electrician, working in the west of the American state in a town named Glasgow.

Taking photographs of storms for the past seven years, this year Sean and his masterpiece are up for a prestigious award from National Geographic.

The super-cell storm begins to build - before unleashing a powerful torrent of rain down onto a Montana field

The belly of the thunderstorm as it begins to wreak havoc

Photographer Sean Heavey, who has spent the last four years taking beautiful and striking storm pictures, and an image of a lightning bolt in the middle of the storm

'The 'Mothership' picture is a super-cell storm that was around five to ten miles in diameter with hurling winds of around 85 mph,' said Mr Heavey, who moved from bustling Seattle to sleepy Montana for a quiet life four years ago.

'I photographed it for over two hours as it traveled between Glasgow and the town of Hinsdale.

'I can honestly say that the photograph does not do it justice. I caught the shot just as the sun was setting which brought out the colours so vividly.

'I felt that if you could walk inside the rain and the wind right into the centre of the storm and stare up, then you would be able to see God's eye.'

As an amateur photographer, storms have been Mr Heavey's obsession since he was caught under a huge thunder cloud on a visit to relatives in Ohio, which is part of America's famous 'tornado alley'.

'I felt the sheer power of that storm as a young boy and I am not ashamed to admit that it scared the living daylights out of me,' he said.

'Since I moved to Glasgow I travel a lot in my job as a electrician. The clients that I visit are well aware that I carry my camera with me over the state and they are more than happy to help point out gathering storms on the horizon which they think will be great subjects for me.'

A shelf cloud passes overhead as the super cell storm looms ominously in the sky

Rain feathers dancing across the western prairie in August 2010, in Glasgow, Montana

Like scenes of the apocalypse these incredible images are the stunning results of one man's mission to capture stormy skies on camera

Worlds amazing young photographer

Julia is rapidly developing a reputation as one of the leading young photographers in the country. She has won a large number of awards, and her images have been hung in the National Portrait Gallery, London, at Paris-Photo, at Photo-London, and shown at Arles. She has also had solo exhibitions in London, and contributed to a group show in New York. She has also been profiled in many professional and popular photographic magazines.


Julia was born in Bremen, Germany to a German mother and an English father. The family then moved to the United States, and back to Germany, before moving to England in 1986. Julia now lives in London.


After graduating with a Diploma in photography from Berkshire College of Art and Design, Julia spent five years as a freelance assistant. During this time, the shoots covered a wide variety of different fields - car advertisement, still-life, fashion, food, location shots, etc. She was able to hone her knowledge and skills, and at the same time begin to develop her own unique style.


Uniquely, for these shoots, Julia deliberately select girls who are not proffesional models. Once she has the idea for the shoot, she street casts the models. This produces a slight awkwardness in the posture of the models that enhances the unusual surroundings. Another difference is Julia's use of studio lighting to supplement daylight/ She may use as many as seven or eight lash heads to achieve the impression that she wants. This combination of eye for the content of an image, the naturalness of the models, the unusual surroundings, the effect of the lighting all combine to yield a style that identifies her pictures.

Latest Mango swimwear range

A heavily airbrushed Liz Hurley posed happily in a series of her own bikini designs earlier this week for latest Mango swimwear range.

So onlookers were surprised to see her arrive at the exclusive presentation for the campaign in Madrid in a knee-length pink dress, despite several models donning bikinis.

And today she also stayed fully covered up as the Mango bandwagon moved onto Munich.

Could it be that she wasn't prepared to pose in a two-piece without any digital help?

Unlike other celebrities - Miss Hurley, 42, freely admits that her photographs had been airbrushed - confessing that she now relies on "nice photographers” and retouching for swimwear shoots.

In fact not so long ago she declared that she was through with bikinis.

Never again, would she sit eating lunch on a boat in a skimpy two-piece.

The same went for tripping around the beach in a bikini top and skirt with her midriff showing.

But it seems Miss Hurley will relax the rules under certain conditions.

Firstly, it must be in her best business interests, such as helping to launch a series of her own swimwear designs in a diffusion range for the High Street store Mango.

And there must - read must - be an airbrush involved.

In an interview to accompany these photographs in the Sunday Times Style magazine, the model and businesswoman conceded that "shooting bikinis is now my life".

She said: "I can't think of anything worse in the world than another bikini shoot - and I've got two next month.

"It's unbearable and I bring it all on myself. I've got nobody else to blame."

But, she revealed, she now relies on "nice photographers" and a little digital enhancement.

"I like a certain amount of retouching like anybody," she admitted.

Even if they have been airbrushed a little, the photos suggest that Miss Hurley has made good on her promise to "go to ground and annoy everyone by emerging thinner, sexier and mentally cleansed".

She made that vow in an interview in 2005, at the same time as she spoke of instituting her bikini ban.

Miss Hurley, a mother of one, revealed that when she looked in the mirror she saw "a person who eats too much junk food and doesn't exercise. That has sadly become my reality over the past year".

Commenting on one of her own designs for Elizabeth Hurley Beach, she said her days of wearing a towelling miniskirt, bikini top and flip-flops were over.

"I don't feel comfortable doing that any more," she said. "As the years go by you do feel less confident about your body."

Miss Hurley is not afraid to follow strict diets when she needs to drop weight fast.

Her regime after the birth of son Damian, now six, was punishing, she said at the time.

"I did it by eating very little breakfast and not too much lunch.

"And only boring snacks such as a banana or six raisins. The only meal I have is dinner."

She lost four stone, and was back in her trademark white jeans within three months of Damian's birth.