Coventry & Warwickshire in WWII

Hi Mark. The raids would have been one of those things that was barely mentioned so as not to damage morale. The Coventry Collections is much better than it used to be, so if you haven't looked recently there might be a reference to what you're looking for. I take it that you've tried The Imperial War Museum online? That may be more connected to events during the war than the Herbert.

You might be interested in reading Coventry's Blitz, by David McGrory, 2015, which describes the raids leading up to the 14th November, including details of all the dates you've listed. If you can't get your hands on a copy, please contact me and I might be able to help. Meanwhile, have you seen the Victims of Coventry's air-raids page on Historic Coventry? Using photographs of the original documents taken by Peter Garbett, I compiled a database of records for raid fatalities up to and including the "big one". It details a personal description and the items found on each person. One person (I wish I could recall the name) was extremely suspicious, being found with batched of fivers, etc., about his person..... a looter who met a sticky end, perhaps?

One thing I do know was damaged in the October 14th raid was the cathedral roof. Follow the link to see three pictures at Coventry Digital and a small section of information.

Yes, and a welcome tool for research it is, Rob. Thank you to you and Peter.

You're very welcome indeed, thank you. Please let me know if you can't get a copy of David's Blitz book - although I did spot a copy on eBay for under sick squid!!!

Hello there, How have you got on with this project? If you are still looking for info I may be able to help especially re photos of bomb damage. Best wishes, Geoff

They were not allowed to name the place that was bombed - other than London - so you had the surreal situation of the MDT calling it a "Midland Town" when they are talking about Coventry. They were not allowed to identify specific locations either - hence Ford's Hospital becomes an "ancient almshouse wrecked by h.e. bomb" as they can't name it in the front page headline story of Tuesday 15 October. There is actually a lot of information and photographs over that period in the MDT it's just knowing what to look for and how to decode it. The raid on 14 November led to the government lifting the ban on naming bombed places as it was useful for propaganda purposes to show the world the destruction the enemy air raids were causing - with Coventry being the perfect example.

You are right in saying the ban on naming heavily bombed towns was lifted when Coventry suffered the first major provincial blitz on 14 November 1940. However the government backtracked somewhat after that and other cities had to suffer being referred to as eg 'A town in the West Country' (ie Bristol) and 'A North-East coast town (Hull). It did cause resentment in the unnamed cities but I think the reason Coventry was named was the fact that it was the first to receive such a destructive attack with heavy loss of life (no other city outside London had so many fatalities in one raid till April 1941 when Belfast lost 750 citizens) and because the cathedral had been destroyed (the only UK cathedral to be so) and the government were keen to concentrate on that as an act of Nazi vandalism and barbarism. In this newsreel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDkqqxM7ylg the emphasis is very much on the suffering of the people and playing down the damage to factories, which was quite substantial.

I got the impression that Churchill decided to change policy after Coventry was decimated because it was a cry for help to America. However it might also have given the impression that Churchill had let Germany bomb the city.

I think it's true that by November 1940 although Britain had won the Battle of Britain and Hitler had abandoned invading our shores we did not know that and we were still in great peril. Churchill was desperate to get US to assist Britain in any way it could, short of actually declaring war against Germany so he did all in his power to gain sympathy for our cause. Obviously showing the Nazis as inhuman by killing innocent civilians and destroying their churches, shops, homes etc was one way of bringing that home to US audiences via newsreels and eye witness reports in the press. As for whether he sacrificed the city to prevent the Nazis knowing we were intercepting their secret codes, it's now acknowleged that although we knew there was to be a big raid outside London in mid-November, it was not clear which target was to be chosen till the night itself, it might have been Birmingham, Coventry or Wolverhampton.

Llandaff cathedral, Cardiff lost most of its roof and spire to a landmine on 2nd January 1941 but fortunately was not ravaged by fire. Restoration took until 1960.

Quite correct. Several other cathedrals were badly damaged by high explosive bombs, St Paul's in London twice, also Exeter and Manchester. Luckily others in cities badly raided managed to escape with minor damage to roofs and windows. Fire was always the greatest hazard and Coventry was most unfortunate that the raid was so heavy and concentrated with severe damage to water mains. Once the incendiaries had taken hold, its fate was sealed.