The first part of "The Thing in the Forest" is set amid the German air raid bombing of Britain in 1940–41. This military campaign is known as the Blitz.
An abbreviation of blitzkrieg, a German word coined in the 1930s that literally translates to "lightning war," blitzes were sudden military attacks meant to bring about swift victories. In the second year of WWII, the German Luftwaffe lost to the British Royal Air Force in a battle for daylight air superiority known as the Battle of Britain. Adopting a new strategy, German air fleets began to attack London on a nightly basis for the fifty-seven days following September 7, 1940, and then intermittently thereafter. From October onward, most of the attacks were at night so the German bombers would be less visible to the RAF fighters.
For civilians living through the Blitz, daily life was seriously disrupted. In the evening, air raid sirens would sound, warning citizens of incoming attacks. Wardens would patrol communities, looking for gaps of light coming from inside homes and instructing people to cover the windows with their heavy blackout curtains. Because the enemy pilots were flying at night, any source of light from the ground was liable to help them navigate to their targets.
As many as 180,000 people took shelter at night within the London Underground transport network, while others retreated to bomb shelters in their yards. Designed by Home Secretary Sir John Anderson, the Anderson Shelter was distributed to low-income families throughout Britain. The sheet-metal structure was dug into the ground and covered in a layer of soil, which was meant to protect up to six people from bomb shrapnel. However, the design did little to stop damp from encroaching and water collecting inside. Other Britons opted for the Morrison Shelter, which was effectively a heavy table with cage-like sides, under which two adults could sleep.
Although the bombing effort expanded to other major cities and ports besides London, the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful in its aim of damaging British war production, which increased despite the Blitz. Nonetheless, the Blitz, which didn't end until May 11, 1941, resulted in approximately 43,000 civilian deaths, amounting to nearly half of Britain's total civilian deaths from the entire war.
