The damage caused by the raid could be seen quite soon after the final bomb fell and was mostly confined to the city centre area. The city centre was not as it is today as there were quite a few large factories close to the centre in 1940. Many of these were involved in armament production and were the primary aim of the German attack. German bombing maps exist showing the factories that were targeted.
The civilian population paid a high price for the attack and the facilities available to the city council were over stretched to deal with the casualties. Indeed, one of the main hospitals had been in the firing line of the raid and had to be evacuated whilst the attack was still ongoing.
The number of people who succumbed in the attack overwhelmed the normal processes for handling the dead, and it was decided that a mass grave would be created and all the deceased would be buried in one large funeral. The grave is still here today and can be seen in the London Road Cemetery. The decision was controversial at the time and would be regretted by most of the relatives, who would not be able to identify where loved ones had been buried and therefore could only remember their families and friends at the communal memorial.
The statistics for the raid are quoted in various sources and are slightly different between the sources. Suffice to say the table included here gives an indication of the numbers of people involved and the number of bombs and incendiaries that were dropped that night.
Pictures of the devastation can be found on the internet, and a few of those taken at the time, and soon afterwards, have been reproduced from the Imperial War Museum and Britain from Above archives.
Colourised image of people returning to the City Centre, with the Council Offices in the background. Colourisation by Royston Leonard, Royston Colour
The bombing was initially kept quite quiet in the national media for fear of upsetting the morale of the country still further. Remember that the Coventry Blitz in November 1940 was only a scant few months after the evacuation of Dunkirk, and the Battle of Britain, and it was far from certain that Britain could avoid an invasion force coming if it came across the English Channel.
Germany now had a new focus as the invasion of Russia was started, taking many of the troops stationed on the French side of the Channel away. It is easy with the benefit of hindsight to see that Britain was now safe from invasion, but it was certainly not clear at the time.
The King visited Coventry almost immediately after the raid and a picture of him in the ruins of St Michaels has been included.
Coventry was to see another Blitz attack in April 1941 and again considerable damage was seen. Lessons had been learnt from the November raid, but there was still considerable loss of life and damage to the city. Winston Churchill visited the city some time after this raid with his wife Clementine. He was shown around be the Lord Mayor, The Provost and other dignitaries, and an official War Photographer recorded the visit. Some of the images from the Imperial War Museum archive are included here.
One intriguing piece of history has emerged regarding how the German High Command viewed the raid. They approved the issuing of a booklet on the raid, for circulation amongst the Hitler Youth. This was one of a series of booklets that were intended to persuade the youth of Germany of the glories of war, and often included a plea to enlist in the military.
The booklet on the November Blitz was entitled ‘Bomben auf Coventry’, and were the experiences of the crew of a Ju 88 in action against England. A full English transcription can be found on the German Propaganda Archive at Calvin University and the link is shown at the bottom of the article. Some images from the original booklet have been included.
A recent piece in the Coventry Society website has highlighted that there are still a few of the wartime signs visible on building today, though they are fast disappearing. One such sign is for the firefighters to direct them to the nearest water supply and can be seen on the Hay Lane entrance to the Golden Cross pub close to the old cathedral.
Although it is difficult to read, the sign on the right points to ‘Broadgate’, ‘Cow Lane’, ‘Hay Lane’ and ‘Little Park Street’, all sources of emergency water supplies. These were exhausted or damaged and lost during the November Blitz and could not help to save the old cathedral. Follow the link to the full Coventry Society website for further details on the signs.
There were many acts of bravery and courage on that fateful night in November, and most will have gone unrecorded. The city’s emergency services were overwhelmed, and support was called in from many of the neighbouring towns and counties. When people awoke to the devastation they went back to work and picked up their lives as best they could, clearing the streets and buildings to allow normal life to resume as soon as possible.
Online Resources
This should be part of history lessons, at least in every school in Coventry! Great read - thanks Ian. This video is worth watching too:
https://youtu.be/jzo0KaQ3h9w
Comments