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Nightly News   |  September 06, 2010

Rare color footage offers new look at Blitz

The film – released to correspond with the 70th anniversary of the Nazi bombing campaign – was shot by a London air raid warden and recently uncovered by his family. NBC’s Kate Snow reports.

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KATE SNOW, anchor: Blitz , the intense bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany during World War II . It began 70 years ago tomorrow and went on for more than eight months. Most Americans have only seen that part of history in grainy black and white, but today a local London government agency released previously unseen color film .

SNOW: A city in ruins.

Unidentified Man: It's one of the heaviest raids for many nights.

SNOW: The scenes of devastation are familiar, but seeing them in color somehow makes them more vivid, more real. Color footage was still rare in September 1940 , but here medics were filmed training for casualties and treating them in makeshift medical centers. The wartime leader, Winston Churchill reviewing civil defense workers in London 's Hyde Park as thousands of people cheer him on. And through it all, the city going about its business. Bombed out stores are open. Double-decker buses still running. Commuters heading to work, keeping their chins up. The film was made by a local air raid warden who was also an amateur film maker, and was recently uncovered in an attic by his family, giving us a glimpse back in time with a modern twist, changing the way we see an important piece of history after all these years . The London Blitz began with 76 consecutive nights of bombing by Nazi planes. Thousands of civilians were killed, but the spirit of that city was