JAKARTA - Queen Elizabeth's knees shook shortly after her residence, Buckingham Palace, England was bombed by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. The incident that occurred right today, September 13, 80 years ago or in 1940, passed like lightning.
"My knee shook a little for a minute or two after the explosion," wrote Queen Elizabeth in a letter describing the event, as quoted by The Guardian. "It all happened so fast that we only had time to look at each other when the whirring sounded, and then the bomb exploded with tremendous destructive force in the quadrangle."
The letter was sent to her father-in-law, Queen Mary, hours after Queen Elizabeth and King George VI survived the attack. The letter was only published to the public after the incident had taken place for some time.
The shaking on Queen Elizabeth's knees subsided after seeing her servants tending to several wounded people when the bomb hit the roof of the building and shattered glass. The buildings that were hit by the bomb appeared to be completely destroyed except for a few small objects, photographs and a bed.
German pressureThe Second World War, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, was a conflict that affected millions of British people including the royal family. During the war, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth tried to raise the morale of the people and frequently visited areas that were bombed by the enemy.
The events of the Buckingham Palace bombing of England will be remembered as the day the Luftwaffe nearly lifted its highest trophy: the life of King George VI. But even though the King and Queen were at his residence, the goddess of fortune still seemed to side with England.
According to a newspaper report at the time of the incident quoted by the Independent, the threat of a bomb had indeed haunted the Buckingham Palace area. Earlier, on September 8, 1940, a 50 kg bomb fell on Buckingham's yard, but did not explode. The bomb was then destroyed.
But five days later, the Luftwaffe managed to drop five bombs on the residence of Queen Elizabeth. Two of them exploded in the quadrangle - the residence of the queen and king of England.
Meanwhile a third bomb hit the Royal Chapel to the south and a fourth was dropped on the front lawn. Meanwhile, the last bomb fell near the Queen Victoria Monument.
From the attack, at least three palace workers were injured. Fortunately, none of the royal members suffered significant injuries as a result of this incident.
Maintain morale
After the bombing took place, the kingdom rejected the Foreign Ministry's suggestion to evacuate. They did this to keep the morale of the British people down.
"The children will not leave unless I leave, I will not leave unless their father leaves, and the king will not leave the country under any circumstances," said Queen Elizabeth.
The bombing of the palace led Queen Elizabeth to say one of her most famous comments, "I am glad we have been bombed. Now we can see parts of London's East End from the front," he said.
Queen Elizabeth admitted that this incident really made her realize how terrible a bomb attack threat that could come at any time. "One cannot imagine that life could be so terrible. But in the end we must win," said Queen Elizabeth.
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