As many of you will know already, this year, 2020, is 80 years since Coventry suffered the November Blitz of 1940. As part of the remembrance of this event the History Group has done some research which will be put onto this Facebook page over the next few days.
War by its very nature is very destructive and the damage inflicted by both sides during WWII was substantial. These articles on the Coventry Blitz of November 14th/15th are by no means intended to glorify or demonise what happened, merely to remember the events and act as a memorial to those affected.
There are already some personal memories and details of what happened on that night 80 years ago, and links have been added to our account.
The ‘Visit Historic Coventry’ Facebook page has been collating and publishing personal memories over the last week and they are a poignant reminder of the bombing. Well worth seeking out if you are interested.
A webpage has been set up by the City Council to bring together all of the commemorations and activities and this can be found on the following link:
If you have personal memories that you are able to share with us, either post them on this page, or email us on:
Broadgate 1939
St Michaels church, 1880
Background to the Bombing
The German Army invasion of Poland in September 1939 brought the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth allies into World War II, due to a commitment to support Poland in such an eventuality. After a long period of inactivity on the Western Front which became known as the Phony War, the German army eventually invaded through The Netherlands, Belgium and France in May 1940 and drove the British and French armies back to Dunkirk. A heroic evacuation of the troops back to England in May and early June of 1940 led to the start of the Battle of Britain. An aerial battle over the southern counties of England and London was fought between July and October 1940, eventually leading to the RAF winning the air battle and the German forces abandoning plans for an invasion of Britain and being withdrawn for an invasion of Russia.
From October 1940 onwards the German airforce or Luftwaffe, turned their attentions to large scale bombing of cities, starting with the capitol London. These intense bombing raids became known in Britain as ‘blitz’ or ‘lightning’ from the German ‘Blitzkrieg’, and the bombs caused significant damage to cities around England. Though intended as attacks on centres of armament production, the raids also hit civilian targets as the bomb aiming instruments were inaccurate at this stage of the war. Both sides used similar tactics, with similar effects.
In November 1940, an attack was planned by the Luftwaffe on Coventry, codenamed ‘Moonlight Sonata’ and said to be a retaliation for a recent British bombing raid on Munich, which had devastating consequences. It has been claimed that Churchill, the Prime Minister at the time, had sacrificed Coventry to keep secret the fact that British Intelligence could read the German military communications as their Enigma code had been broken. There is significant evidence to show that this is unlikely to have been the case, and Churchill had stayed near to London as he had anticipated that this was to be the target for the attack that night.
Those of you who like podcasts might like Dan Snow’s show in which he discusses bombing of the city with Coventry historian, David McGrory
https://t.co/kpH19MmInI?amp=1
Next we will cover the German raid in a bit more detail.
Commentaires