I‘m a layman, but I’ve always wondered How cities were defended from strategic bombing? I know that in the run up to World War 2 and WW2 itself, strategic bombing happened a lot to destroy a countries industry and infrastructure, demoralize the enemy and achieve air superiority by destroying planes on the ground. I know that the Germans and Italians did this in Spain and the Japanese did this in China. The WAllies did this throughout the war and the Americans did this to Japan. But I was wondering hoW were cities defended? Did each major city have AA Gun crews? Did they have air units and fighter pilots to shoot down bombers?

I know that each country is different and has different methods in war, so I’ll ask about Britain specifically. How did they defend their major cities from German bombings? And are there any good books that cover this topic? Thank you in advance.🙂