Coventry had been subjected to many minor air raids during the Battle of Britain, killing 176 people and injuring around 680. Damage had also been incurred on some of the factories that were involved in war production, and work had been ceased on a temporary basis because of it. However, the raid that began on the evening of 14th November was the most severe to hit the city so far.
There are quite a few published timelines of the bombing, which vary slightly. Below is an approximate timeline that details the 12-hour period during which the German airforce attacked the city.
1pm approx. German radio beam activity detected, although the final direction of beam not yet set. This beam would be used to direct the bombers to the target.
3pm approx. The Radio Counter-Measures headquarters informs the R.A.F. that the beams appear to have been aligned on Coventry. Nobody in Coventry was warned of this probability.
6:17pm The first wave of bombers (Heinkel 111's of Kampfgruppe 100 pathfinder squadron) crossed the English coast at Dorset. At this point they were not following the radio beam exactly for fear of detection and interception.
Heinkel He111
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-647-5211-33 / Wilzek / CC-BY-SA 3.0
6:50pm First message received in Coventry that a raid was on the way.
7:07pm Official "Air Raid Message Yellow" signal, which meant "Raiders approaching your area".
7:10pm Official "Air Raid Message Red" signal - Sirens sounded.
7:20pm Marker flares dropped to highlight the target to the following aircraft. Before the sirens finish wailing, the first incendiary and high explosive bombs start dropping. The mixture of bombs was intended to open up buildings with the high explosive bombs and then set the buildings alight with the incendiaries.
7:40pm Incendiaries reported to have landed on St Michaels cathedral roof. Fire fighting action taken by the church wardens and a small team of fire watchers until the fire service could reach them. They were hampered by the state of the roads which were by then potholed and filled with rubble.
The air defences around the city were firing continuously, though with little actual effect. Targeting was almost impossible in the fire and smoke-filled night, and the gun sighting methods were overwhelmed which left the gunners to fire over ‘open sights’.
St Michaels Cathedral c1880
Courtesy of Historiccoventry.co.uk website
8:00pm 240 fires already reported around the city, mainly in the city centre. The cathedral was now alight.
8:30pm Many telephone and telegraph wires broken, making communication exceedingly difficult.
11:00pm Water dries up for those trying to save the cathedral, due to the damage sustained to the water supply system. Provost Howard and the fire-fighting team sit and watch helplessly as it burns down.
~11:45pm According to the Observer Corps Plotting Centre, the raid had "reached its height".
12 midnight The bombs are still coming down.
1am - 6am The German raiding force return and continue bombing Coventry in a concentrated attack on the city centre.
6:16am The "Raiders Passed" signal finally reaches Coventry.
The November Blitz in Westwood Heath
Westwood Heath emerged from the November Blitz relatively unscathed. There are reports of a single bomb falling close to the area, but no definite details could be found about it. Westwood Heath was however heavily involved in the aftereffects, both on the night itself and afterwards. Many of the residents in the city centre had their houses bombed and had nowhere to stay. They started to move out to the outskirts of the city and further afield, and it is said that residents of Westwood Heath housed them as best they could. Other evacuees sheltered under hedges or in outhouses and tried to sleep until the next day when they would return to their own homes to see what could be salvaged. The fierce glow of the burning fires lit up the skyline for many hours.
There are many accounts of the blitz online, and there are some links at the bottom of this article that may be of interest.
Pictures of the city centre after the raid
Images of St Michael's after the bombing
City Centre damage. Broadgate on the morning after the bombing - Owen Owens can be seen in the background.
Photos are from the IWM archive individually referenced.
German Bombing Map from the IWM archives, showing the Morris Engine Factory in Stoke Heath. IWM C 5514
Part of a map showing areas of the city centre damaged by bombing. The complete map is held by Coventry Archives.
Online Resources
The link shown below is a short video put together by John Webb with interviews of residents of Burton Green, which recalls the World War II and the Coventry Blitz:
Articles covering the Coventry Blitz from several different views:
Books
Moonlight Sonata, Tim Lewis, 1990
Coventry’s Blitz, David McGrory, 2015
Coventry’s Blitz, Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1990
Coventry14th/15th November 1940 Casualties, Awards and Accounts, Trevor Harkin, 2010
My Mum and grandparents lived on Browns Lane. Mum never really talked about it and we lost her last year. I do know they took shelter in next door’s shelter that night. The house was hit/damaged and not habitable afterwards. I believe my grandfather believed there would be more damage and made the decision to get them out of the area because the factory was a target. He drove the 3 of them, in total darkness to Bedworth where someone took them in for the remainder of the night. Sadly I don’t know anymore. I do know that they then stayed with relatives in Radford Semele for sometime whilst the house was repaired.
Ian Harrop: In the research for this article I read that people moved out of the city soon afterwards, as far as Leamington as you mentioned. They would then walk to work in the morning! Limited public transport and very few personal cars left people with little choice.
Jill Kashi: How frightening...they must have been terrified. Your poor grandfather driving all that way in the dark. It is no wonder that so many people don’t want to recall those times.
Sue Leatherdale: I wish I had asked more now, but isn't that always the way. I think he was working for BSA and travelling to Birmingham for work each day, by car I assume. They moved up to Crewe when he was offered a job with Rolls Royce at some point during the war.
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