Find out how you can use this. those of the BBC. On the night of 14 November 1940, three hundred German bombers dropped 500 tons of explosives, 33,000 incendiary bombs and dozens of parachute mines on the industrial city of Coventry. There were 17 small raids on Coventry by the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain between August and October 1940 during which around 198 tons of bombs fell. Here are just a few pictures of Coventry from before the war. It was the only medieval cathedral to be demolished at the reformation. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Also the job was very secret, he was actually in the Admiralty, people began to talk!! Image caption The ruins of Coventry's cathedral became the defining image of the raid . It's 70 years since Germany launched one of the most devastating bombing raids of World War II, on Coventry. Mr. McIver, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, penned this article eighteen years ago in Finest Hour 41. Take a look back at pre-war Coventry through pictures We've been down in the archives at the Coventry History Centre, which is part of the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. They looked wonderful, I asked if I could have them when she died, to which she agreed, but by the time she died in 1982 they had disappeared from her house and I have never found out where they went. He was horrified and unable to move, the Army had to called for and he had to sit there with his finger on the button until they arrived, a total of some three hours, had the torpedo gone off it would have taken the whole of Oxford, or lets say, a good part of it, with it!! public. The most notable damage was to the new Rex Cinema which had been opened in February 1937 and had already been closed by an earlier bombing raid in September. One was sent & was apparently duff, so was instantly sent back to Oxford, by Rail, my Father as Chief Inspector, got on to the back of it and fiddled around with the switches and found to his consternation that it was charged and ready to go OFF! A 10-hour bombing raid on Coventry left 500 people dead, 2,300 homes destroyed and the city's medieval cathedral a shell which is now a site of reconciliation and … I spent the war living in Oxford, where my Father was the Chief Inspector on the torpedoes being made at Morris motors and the Standard Motor Company in Coventry. Coventry has had three Cathedrals in the past 1000 years: the 12th century Priory Church of St Mary, the medieval Parish Church Cathedral of St Michael and the modern Coventry Cathedral, also named for St Michael. For example, Alvis made armoured cars while Aero manufactured important parts for the RAF. We stayed up all night watching the horizon which was lit up with bright lights and we could hear the German bombers going over Oxford towards Coventry and believe me it was some sight! Someone, somewhere owns them and there can't be that many silver nails around, can there? Three days later he arrived home, he had been working through the night at the time the Cathedral was bombed, his digs had been flattenned, luckily all the guests had been down in the cellar. At the end of the war, when my Father was being discharged from the Admiralty, approx. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. When my Dad got home the rescuers had not found the entrance to the cellar but Dad had been able to show them where it was and every one was got out safely. A 10-hour bombing raid on Coventry left 500 people dead, 2,300 homes destroyed and the city's medieval cathedral a shell which is now a site of reconciliation and remembrance. Together, the raids killed 176 people and injured around 680. We have brought it up to date by adding or quoting additional, recently published material. 1947. The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites
This story has been placed in the following categories. My Father was off work for a week feeling decidedly off colour and they still recieved their usual number of white feathers!! My Mother was in a panic, we didn't know that Coventry Cathedral had been hit until two days afterwards but we new that something pretty big had been bombed and quite naturally thought it was Standards and that my Dad was possibly a goner! During the raid, 507 civilians were killed and 420 seriously injured. (AP Photo) Housewives shopping for rationed food and clothing for their children on Oct. 18, 1943. Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the
Coventry - Cathedral Before the WW2 Bombing An interior shot of Coventry Cathedral prior to it being virtually destroyed by the Luftwaffe on the 14th. © Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. referenced. Although Finest Hour has covered this subject before we asked Sir Martin for his own rendition based on his most recent research. For any other comments, please Contact Us. He had the job of destroying all the secret Papers, he had to burn them, one copy of each was going into the archives. Coventry had a medieval cathedral that survived until the reformation.