Once the Luftwaffe began to inflict devastating carnage on British cities, huge numbers of families lost their homes. Steve Richards explains how the War Damage Commission picked up the tab
The cost was going to be astronomical, but Winston Churchill was determined to solve the problem. A ministerial visit to Margate was caught by an early Blitz raid, forcing the prime minister to shelter in a tunnel. When he emerged, among the damage was a hotel which he described in detail as being reduced to “a litter of crockery, utensils and splintered furniture.”