Hellmuth Weissenborn was set free from the Hutchinson Camp internment camp on 26 December 1940 and returned to London. The city he returned to lay in ruins, as German forces had started an aerial bombardment on 7 September 1940. At this time Weissenborn lived in Notting Hill Gate and after air-raids he would always go out on the streets to make sketches of the destruction. To avoid the risk of being re-arrested (as he had no drawing permit), he made his initial sketches on sheets of paper the size of his hand that he could easily conceal if need be. The tiny drawings helped him create the printing blocks for the 16-part series Bombsite London. The air-raids, which lasted until 16 May 1941 are referred to in the UK as “The Blitz” and hence Weissenborn's picture series is also known under the name London Blitz.

The 16 linocuts do not aim at being a wholly realistic depiction – as Weissenborn explains in an interview with the Imperial War Museum – they are to be regarded as metaphorical interpretations. The central motifs are the ruins of buildings, which, despite their abstract nature, nevertheless function as snapshopts of the destruction of various parts of London.