Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Coventry Blitz

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{short description|German bombing raids on the English city in World War II}}
{{redirect|Coventry bombing||List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain#1970s}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Coventry Blitz
| partof            = the [[Strategic bombing during World War II|Strategic bombing campaign]] of [[World War II]]
| width             =
| image             = Winston Churchill at Coventry Cathedral cph.3a18421.jpg
| image_size        =
| alt               =
| caption           = [[Winston Churchill]], the Mayor J.&nbsp;A. Moseley, the [[Bishop of Coventry]] [[Mervyn Haigh|M.&nbsp;G. Haigh]], the Deputy Mayor [[Alfred Robert Grindlay|A.&nbsp;R. Grindlay]], and others visiting the ruins of [[Coventry Cathedral]] in September 1941
| date              = 1940–1942
| place             = [[Coventry]]
| coordinates       =
| map_type          =
| map_relief        =
| map_size          =
| map_marksize      =
| map_caption       =
| map_label         =
| territory         =
| result            = Coventry city centre heavily damaged by German air raids
| status            =
| combatants_header =
| combatant1        = {{flag|Nazi Germany}}
| combatant2        = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| casualties1       =
| casualties2       =
| notes             =
}}
{{campaignbox German bombing of Britain 1940–1941}}

The '''Coventry Blitz''' ([[the Blitz|blitz]]: from the German word ''[[Blitzkrieg]]'' meaning "lightning war" {{Audio|De-blitzkrieg.ogg|listen}}), or '''Coventration''' of the city,<ref>{{cite web|date=12 April 2009|title=This Day in History 1940: Germans bomb Coventry|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6380|access-date=28 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412102931/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6380|archive-date=12 April 2009}}</ref> was [[The Blitz|a series of bombing raids]] that took place on the British city of [[Coventry]]. The city was bombed many times during the [[Second World War]] by the German Air Force (''[[Luftwaffe]]''). The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 14&nbsp;November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15&nbsp;November.

==Background==
{{See also|History of Coventry}}
[[File:Coventry Broadgate 1917.jpg|thumb|Broadgate, Coventry in 1917]]
At the start of the [[Second World War]], Coventry was an industrial city of around 238,000 people which, like much of the industrial [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]], contained metal and wood-working industries. In Coventry's case, these included cars, bicycles, aeroplane engines and, since 1900, [[munitions]] factories. In the words of the historian [[Frederick Taylor (historian)|Frederick Taylor]], "Coventry was therefore, in terms of what little law existed on the subject, a legitimate target for aerial bombing".<ref name=Taylor2015>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Taylor (historian) |title=Coventry: November 14, 1940 |year=2015 |page=117}}</ref>

During the [[First World War]], the advanced state of the mechanical tooling industry in the city meant that pre-war production could quickly be turned to war production purposes, with industries such as the [[Coventry Ordnance Works]] assuming the role of one of the leading munition centres in the UK, manufacturing 25% of all British aircraft produced during the war.<ref>Jeffrey Haydu, "Between craft and class: skilled workers and factory politics in the United Kingdom", p.&nbsp;126</ref>

Like many of the industrial towns of the English West Midlands region that had been industrialised during the [[Industrial Revolution]], many of the small- and medium-sized factories in the city were woven into the same streets as the workers' houses and the shops of the city centre. However, it developed many large interwar suburbs of both private and [[council housing]], which were relatively isolated from industrial buildings. The city was also at the centre of Britain's car industry, with many carmakers being based at different locations in Coventry, although many of these factories had switched to help supply the war effort.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
The raid was started on the 14th of November 1940

==Air raids==
===August to October 1940===
There were 17&nbsp;small raids on Coventry by the ''Luftwaffe'' during the [[Battle of Britain]] between August and October&nbsp;1940 during which around 198&nbsp;tons of bombs fell. Together, the raids killed 176&nbsp;people and injured around 680.<ref name="Ray"/>{{Rp|151–152}} The most notable damage was to the new Rex Cinema which had been opened in February&nbsp;1937 and had already been closed by an earlier bombing raid in September.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://merciacinema.org/blog/the-gould-gazetteer/ |website=Merciacinema.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012125547/http://merciacinema.org/blog/the-gould-gazetteer/ |archive-date=12 October 2008 |title=The Gould Gazetteer}}</ref>

On 17&nbsp;October 1940, Second Lieutenant [[Sandy Campbell (GC)|Sandy Campbell]] of the [[Royal Engineers]] Bomb Disposal Company was called upon to deal with an unexploded bomb that had fallen at the [[Triumph Engineering]] Company's works in Canley. War production in two factories had ceased on a temporary basis because of it, and the evacuation of many nearby residents. Campbell found that the bomb was fitted with a delayed action fuse that was impossible to remove, so he transported it to a safe place. That was done by lorry, and he lay alongside the bomb so that he could hear if it started ticking and could warn the driver to stop and run for cover. Having taken it a safe distance, he disposed of the bomb successfully but was killed whilst dealing with another bomb the next day. Campbell was posthumously awarded a [[George Cross]] for his actions on 17&nbsp;October 1940.<ref name="RE">{{cite book|title=Bomb Disposal and the British Casualties of WW2|first=Chris |last=Ransted}}</ref>

One notable casualty of the October raids was [[Ernest Hugh Snell]] [[FRSE]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kingscollections.org/warmemorials/kings-college/memorials/snell-ernest-hugh |title=Ernest Hugh Snell |website=King's College |department=memorials}}</ref> a retired local Medical Officer of Health.

===14 November 1940===
[[File:Coventry Cathedral after the air raid in 1940.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Coventry Cathedral]] in ruins after the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' air raid]]

The raid that began on the evening of 14&nbsp;November 1940 was the most severe to hit Coventry during the war. It was carried out by 515&nbsp;German bombers, from [[Luftflotte 3|''Luftflotte&nbsp;3'']] and from the pathfinders of ''Kampfgruppe&nbsp;100''. The attack, code-named ''Unternehmen Mondscheinsonate'' (''Operation Moonlight Sonata''), was intended to destroy Coventry's factories and industrial infrastructure, although it was clear that damage to the rest of the city, including monuments and residential areas, would be considerable. The initial wave of 13&nbsp;specially modified {{nowrap|[[Heinkel He 111]]}} aircraft of ''Kampfgruppe&nbsp;100'', which were equipped with ''[[X-Gerät]]'' navigational devices, accurately dropped marker flares at 19:20.<ref group="lower-alpha">The British were on [[British Summer Time]] (GMT+1) during the winter months of the war (and [[double summer time]] during the summer months).</ref> The British and the Germans were fighting the [[Battle of the Beams]] and on this night the British failed to disrupt the ''X-Gerät'' signals.<ref name="RL78">{{cite book |last=Lewin |first=Ronald |title=Ultra goes to war the secret story  |publisher=Pengiun |year=1978 |page=103}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

The first wave of follow-up bombers dropped [[high explosive bomb]]s, knocking out the utilities (the water supply, electricity network, telephones and gas mains) and cratering the roads, making it difficult for the fire engines to reach fires started by the later waves of bombers. These later waves dropped a combination of high explosive and [[incendiary bomb]]s. There were two types of incendiary bomb, those made of [[magnesium]] and those made of petroleum. The high explosive bombs and the larger [[air-mine]]s hindered the Coventry fire brigade and were intended to damage roofs, making it easier for the incendiary bombs to fall into buildings and ignite them.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

[[File:Coventry devastation H 5601.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Holy Trinity Church, Coventry|Holy Trinity Church]] rises above a scene of devastation.]]
Coventry's air defences consisted of twenty-four [[QF 3.7 inch AA gun|3.7&nbsp;inch AA&nbsp;guns]] and twelve [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40&nbsp;mm Bofors]]. The AA Defence Commander of [[South Midland (Warwickshire) Royal Garrison Artillery|95th&nbsp;(Birmingham) Heavy Anti–Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery]], had prepared a series of concentrations to be fired using sound-locators, [[GL Mk. I radar|GL Mk.&nbsp;I]] gun-laying radar and 128&nbsp;concentrations were fired before the bombing severed all lines of communication and the noise drowned out sound-location. The anti-aircraft batteries then fought on in isolation. Some gun positions were able to fire at searchlight beam intersections, glimpsed through the smoke and guessing the range. Although the Coventry guns fired 10&nbsp;rounds a minute for the whole 10&nbsp;hour raid (a total of over 6,700&nbsp;rounds), only one German bomber was shot down.<ref name="Ray"/>{{Rp|156}}<ref>{{cite book |first=N.W., Brig |last=Routledge |title=History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55 |location=London |publisher=Royal Artillery Institution / Brassey's |year=1994 |isbn=1-85753-099-3 |page=391}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-Defence-UK/index.html |first=Basil |last=Collier |series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series |title=The Defence of the United Kingdom |location=London|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |year=1957 |pages=263–264}}</ref>

At around 20:00, [[Coventry Cathedral]] (dedicated to [[Saint Michael]]), was set on fire by incendiaries for the first time. The volunteer firefighters managed to put out the first fire but other direct hits followed and soon new fires broke out in the cathedral; accelerated by a [[firestorm]], the flames quickly spread out of control. During the same period, more than 200&nbsp;other fires were started across the city, most of which were concentrated in the city-centre, setting the area ablaze and overwhelming the firefighters. The telephone network was crippled, hampering the fire service's command and control and making it difficult to send firefighters to the most dangerous blazes first; as the Germans had intended, the water mains were damaged by high explosives, meaning there was not enough water available to tackle many of the fires.<ref name="AHistoryoftheCountyofWarwick"/> The raid reached its climax around midnight with the final all clear sounding at 06:15 on the morning of 15&nbsp;November.<ref>''Coventry's Blitz'' {{ISBN|978-1-445-65000-5}} ch. 8</ref>

In one night, more than 4,300&nbsp;homes in Coventry were destroyed and around two-thirds of the city's buildings were damaged. Most of the city centre was destroyed. Two hospitals, two churches and a police station were also damaged.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_3522000/3522785.stm |work=BBC News |title=1940: Germans bomb Coventry to destruction |date=15 November 1940 |access-date=30 April 2010}}</ref><ref name="Historiccoventry.co.uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/stats.php |title=The Coventry Blitz: Some blitz statistics |website=Historic Coventry |access-date=25 June 2012 |archive-date=6 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106021356/http://historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/stats.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> The local police force lost no fewer than nine constables or messengers in the blitz.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.policememorial.org.uk/index.php?page=west-midlands-police |title=Police Roll of Honour Trust – West Midlands Police |website=Police Memorial |access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref> Approximately one third of the city's factories were destroyed or severely damaged, another third were badly damaged, and the rest suffered slight damage. Among the destroyed factories were the main [[Daimler Company|Daimler]] factory, the [[Hillman|Humber Hillman]] factory, the [[Alfred Herbert (company)|Alfred Herbert Ltd]] machine tool works, nine aircraft factories, and two naval ordnance stores. The effects on war production were only temporary, as much essential war production had already been moved to '[[shadow factory|shadow factories]]' on the city outskirts. Also, many of the damaged factories were quickly repaired and had recovered to full production within a few months.<ref name="Ray"/>{{Rp|155}}

[[File:Coventry bomb damage H5600.jpg|thumb|The city centre following the 14&nbsp;November air raid]]
An estimated 568&nbsp;people were killed in the raid (the exact figure was never precisely confirmed), with another 863&nbsp;badly injured and 393&nbsp;sustaining lesser injuries. Given the intensity of the raid, casualties were limited by the fact that a large number of Coventrians "[[Trekking during the Blitz|trekked]]" out of the city at night to sleep in nearby towns or villages following the earlier air raids. Also, people who took to [[air raid shelters]] suffered very little death or injury. Out of 79&nbsp;public air raid shelters holding 33,000&nbsp;people, very few had been destroyed.<ref name="Ray"/>{{Rp|155}}

Although the city centre suffered the heaviest raids, districts of the city including [[Stoke Heath, Coventry|Stoke Heath]], [[Foleshill]] and [[Wyken]] were also heavily bombed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-blitz-november-1940-10441640|title=Coventry Blitz: Reliving Fateful Night 80 Years Ago Today|newspaper=[[Coventry Telegraph]]|date=14 November 2020|access-date=29 May 2023}}</ref><ref>[https://www.familyresearcher.co.uk/Blitz-Victims/Coventry-Blitz-Victims-detalls-F.html familyresearcher.co.uk]</ref>

The raid reached such a new and severe level of destruction that [[Joseph Goebbels]] later used the term {{lang|de|coventriert}} ("coventried") when describing similar levels of destruction of other enemy towns. During the raid, the Germans dropped about {{cvt|500|t}} of high explosives, including 50&nbsp;[[parachute mine|parachute air-mines]], of which 20 were [[Firebombing|incendiary petroleum mines]], and 36,000&nbsp;incendiary bombs.<ref name=Taylor2005>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Taylor (historian) |title=Dresden Tuesday 13&nbsp;February 1945 |orig-year=2004 |edition=paper back |year=2005 |isbn=0-7475-7084-1 |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;10: Blitz |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_b8e7 }} First published in 2004 by Bloomsbury {{ISBN|0-7475-7078-7}}</ref>{{rp|120}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ww2guide.com/west.shtml |title=War in the West |website=WW2 Guide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910092137/http://www.ww2guide.com/west.shtml |archive-date=10 September 2006}} gives different numbers than Taylor (2005): "''449&nbsp;bombers dropped 150,000&nbsp;incendiary bombs, {{cvt|503|LT}} of high-explosives (1,400&nbsp;bombs) and 130&nbsp;parachute sea-mines (causing extensive blast damage) on Coventry''".</ref>

The raid of 14&nbsp;November combined several innovations which influenced all future strategic bomber raids during the war.<ref name=Taylor2005/>{{rp|118}} These were:
* The use of pathfinder aircraft with electronic aids to navigate, to mark the targets before the main bomber raid.
* The use of high explosive bombs and air-mines ([[blockbuster bomb]]s) coupled with thousands of incendiary bombs intended to set the city ablaze in a [[firestorm]].

In the Allied raids later in the war, 500 or more heavy four-engine bombers all delivered their {{cvt|3000|–|6000|lb|adj=mid}} bomb loads in a concentrated wave lasting only a few minutes. At Coventry, the German twin-engined bombers carried smaller bomb loads ({{convert|2000|–|4000|lb}}), and attacked in smaller waves. Each bomber flew several sorties over the target, returning to base in France for more bombs. Thus the attack was spread over several hours, and there were lulls in the raid when firefighters and rescuers could reorganise and evacuate civilians.<ref name=Taylor2005/>{{rp|120}} As [[Arthur Harris (RAF officer)|Arthur Harris]], commander of [[RAF Bomber Command]], wrote after the war "Coventry was adequately concentrated in point of space [to start a firestorm], but all the same there was little concentration in point of time".<ref>{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Arthur |title=Bomber Offensive |orig-year=1947 |publisher=[[Pen & Sword]] |series=Military Classics |year=2005 |isbn=1-84415-210-3 |page=83}}</ref>

The British used the opportunity given them by the attack on Coventry to try a new tactic against Germany, which was carried out on 16&nbsp;December 1940 as part of [[Operation Abigail Rachel]] against [[Mannheim]].<ref name="Horst_etal_2001">{{cite book |author1-link=Horst Boog |last1=Boog |first1=Horst |author2-link=Werner Rahn |last2=Rahn |first2=Werner |last3=Stumpf |first3=Reinhard |author4-link=Bernd Wegner |last4=Wegner |first4=Bernd |series=Germany and the Second World War |volume=VI |title=The Global War |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-822888-0 |pages=507–508}}</ref> The British had been waiting for the opportunity to experiment with an incendiary raid, considering it a kind of retaliation for the German raid on Coventry.<ref name="Horst_etal_2001"/> This was the start of a British drift away from attempting precision attacks on military targets and towards [[area bombing]] attacks on cities.<ref name="Horst_etal_2001"/>

====Coventry and Ultra====
<!-- This section heading is linked at [[Bletchley Park]] -->
In his 1974 book ''The Ultra Secret'', Group Captain [[F. W. Winterbotham]] asserted that the British government had advance warning of the attack from ''[[Ultra (cryptography)|Ultra]]''; intercepted German radio messages [[Cryptanalysis of the Enigma|encrypted with the Enigma cipher machine]] and decoded by British cryptanalysts at [[Bletchley Park]]. He further claimed that [[Winston Churchill]] ordered that no defensive measures should be taken to protect Coventry, lest the Germans suspect that their cipher had been broken.<ref>{{cite book |author=Winterbotham, F. W. |author-link=F. W. Winterbotham |title=The Ultra Secret |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=1974 |isbn=0-297-76832-8}}; also ''London: Futura'' (1975), {{ISBN|0-86007-268-1}}.</ref> Winterbotham was a key figure for Ultra and supervised the "Special Liaison Officers" who delivered Ultra material to field commanders.<ref name="Ray"/>{{Rp|155}}

Winterbotham's claim has been rejected by other Ultra participants and by historians. They state that while Churchill was indeed aware that a major bombing raid would take place, no one knew what the target would be.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/defend-cov.php |publisher=Historic Coventry |title=Defending Coventry |access-date=25 June 2012 |archive-date=20 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820233227/http://historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/defend-cov.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hunt |first=David |author-link=David Hunt (diplomat) |title=The raid on Coventry |newspaper=The Times |page=11 |date=28 August 1976}}</ref>

A few days before the attack, Ultra had identified {{lang|de|Mondschein Sonate}} (Moonlight Sonata) as a probable code for a planned group of attacks on three possible targets over several possible days. The targets had the code names {{lang|de|Einheitpreis}}, {{lang|de|Regenschirm}} and {{lang|de|Korn}}. The day before the Coventry raid, a prisoner mentioned {{lang|de|Regenschirm}} (''umbrella''), which was assumed to mean ''umbrella man'' (Neville Chamberlain) who was born in Birmingham, it would be bombed on 19/20 November. {{lang|de|Einheitpreis}} (''unit-price'') was identified later, which was tied to sixpence at Woolworths, meaning Wolverhampton. {{lang|de|Korn}} was unidentified at the time.<ref name="RL78"/>{{Rp|101}} [[Peter Calvocoressi]] was head of the Air Section at Bletchley Park, which translated and analysed all deciphered ''Luftwaffe'' messages. He wrote "Ultra never mentioned Coventry. ... Churchill, so far from pondering whether to save Coventry or safeguard Ultra, was under the impression that the raid was to be on London".<ref>{{cite book |last=Calvocoressi |first=Peter |year=1981 |title=Top Secret Ultra |location=New York  |publisher=Ballantine Books |pages=85–86 |isbn=0-345-30069-6}}</ref>

The scientist [[Reginald Victor Jones]], who led the British side in the [[Battle of the Beams]], wrote that "Enigma signals to the X-beam stations were not broken in time" and that he was unaware that Coventry was the intended target. The British were yet unaware that the Luftwaffe had moved from their pilots manually listening to the signals to an automatic narrow-band receiver on board, which caused jamming countermeasures to be ineffective. Jones also noted that Churchill returned to London that afternoon, which indicated that Churchill believed that London was the likely target for the raid.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=R. V. |year=1978 |title=Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/mostsecretwar0000jone/page/149 149] |isbn=0-241-89746-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mostsecretwar0000jone/page/149 }} The book was also published in the US under the title ''The Wizard War''.</ref>

Since 1996, the Ultra decrypts for the period have been available in the UK National Archives.<ref>File HW5/6</ref> Between 07:35&nbsp;GMT on 10&nbsp;November 1940 and 05:00 on 11&nbsp;November, a German signal was deciphered and given the serial number CX/JQ/444, paragraph&nbsp;4.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghostbombers.com/1940/Coventry/sonata.html |title=Moonlight Sonata |access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref> The message set out code words to be used by aircraft on an operation named{{lang|de|Mondschein Sonat}} but did not give Coventry as the target or a date. It said that transmission of a figure&nbsp;9 would denote{{lang|de|KORN}} and hindsight has recognised that to be the code name for Coventry. This was not known at the time even though {{lang|de|PAULA}} had been identified as Paris and {{lang|de|LOGE}} as London. {{lang|de|KORN}} was used in two reports<ref>National Archives AIR 22/481: Air Ministry W/T Intelligence Service Daily Summary No.&nbsp;454{{primary source inline|date=November 2023}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=November 2023}} from an aircraft taking part in a raid on Southampton on 30&nbsp;November, two weeks after the Coventry Blitz. Another decrypt on 11&nbsp;November or early on 12&nbsp;November<ref>National Archives HW5/6: CX/JQ/445, para.&nbsp;4{{primary source inline|date=November 2023}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=November 2023}} gave navigational beam settings for [[Wolverhampton]], Birmingham, and Coventry but no dates. There was a hiatus in Ultra decrypts from 01:15&nbsp;GMT on 13&nbsp;November until 02:40 on 15&nbsp;November<ref>National Archives HW5/6{{primary source inline|date=November 2023}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=November 2023}} by which time the raid was well underway: Churchill could not have acted on new Ultra intelligence on the afternoon or evening of the attack because there was none to give him. Intelligence from captured airmen and documents did not offer an unambiguous picture either.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghostbombers.com/1940/Coventry/cov_1.html |title=Kampfgruppe&nbsp;100, ULTRA, and the Coventry Blitz |access-date=26 September 2014}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===April 1941===
[[File:Air Raid Damage PL4511A.jpg|thumb|Children searching for books among the ruins of their school after the April raid]]

On the night of 8/9&nbsp;April 1941 Coventry was subject to another large air raid when 230&nbsp;bombers attacked the city, dropping 315&nbsp;tons of high explosive and 25,000&nbsp;incendiaries. In this and another raid two nights later on 10/11&nbsp;April about 451&nbsp;people were killed and over 700&nbsp;seriously injured.<ref name="Ray">{{cite book |author=Ray, John |title=The Night Blitz |publisher=Cassel & Co |year=1996 |isbn=0-304-35676-X}}</ref>{{Rp|226}} Damage was caused to many buildings including some factories, the central police station, the [[Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital]], [[King Henry VIII School, Coventry|King Henry VIII School]], and St.&nbsp;Mary's Hall.<ref name="AHistoryoftheCountyofWarwick">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16005#s5 |title=A History of the County of Warwick: Volume&nbsp;8: The air raids of 1940 |publisher=British history on line}}</ref> The main architectural casualty of the raid was [[Christ Church, Coventry|Christ Church]], most of which was destroyed, leaving only the spire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/damage.php|title=The Coventry Blitz: What did Coventry lose?|publisher=Historic Coventry|access-date=20 March 2012|archive-date=7 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407234816/http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/damage.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was after this raid that the then-Mayor of Coventry, [[Alfred Robert Grindlay]], led the early reconstruction of much of the city centre.<ref>{{cite book |title=Coventry Planned: The Architecture of the Plan for Coventry (1940 to 1978) |last=Gould |first=Jeremy |publisher=Jeremy and Carline Gould Architects}}</ref>

===August 1942===
The final air raid on Coventry came on 3&nbsp;August 1942, in the [[Stoke Heath, Coventry|Stoke Heath]] district approximately one mile to the east of the city centre. Six people were killed. By the time of this air raid, some 1,236&nbsp;people had been killed by air raids on Coventry; of these, 808 rest in the mass grave in [[London Road Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwn.org.uk/heritage/blitz/index.html |title=The Coventry Blitz |first=David |last=McGrory |publisher=CWN.org.uk}}</ref> Around 80&nbsp;per cent of them had been killed in the raids of 14/15&nbsp;November 1940 and 8–10&nbsp;April 1941.<ref name="Historiccoventry.co.uk"/>

==Aftermath==
[[File:Coventry Cathedral Ruins with Rainbow edit.jpg|thumb|The ruins of the old Coventry Cathedral, the most visible modern-day reminder of the Blitz]]
Immediate reconstruction was undertaken by a committee headed by motor-industry magnate [[William Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes|William Rootes]]. In the aftermath of the war, Coventry city centre was extensively rebuilt according to the Gibson Plan compiled by the town planner [[Donald Gibson (architect)|Donald Gibson]]: a then innovative scheme which created a [[pedestrianisation|pedestrianised]] shopping precinct.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

[[Coventry Cathedral]] was left as a ruin, and is today still the principal reminder of the bombing. A new cathedral was constructed alongside the ruin in the 1950s, designed by the architect [[Basil Spence]]. Spence (later knighted for this work) insisted that instead of re-building the old cathedral it should be kept in ruins as a garden of remembrance and that the new cathedral should be built alongside, the two buildings together effectively forming one church.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mansell, George |year=1979 |title=Anatomy of architecture |publisher=A & W Publishers |page=178}}</ref> The use of [[Hollington, Staffordshire|Hollington]] sandstone for the new Coventry Cathedral provides an element of unity between the buildings.{{according to whom|date=November 2020}}

The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by [[Elizabeth II]] on 23&nbsp;March 1956.<ref>{{cite book |author=Thomas, John |year=1987 |title=Coventry Cathedral |url=https://archive.org/details/coventrycathedra0000thom |url-access=registration |publisher=Unwin Hyman |page=[https://archive.org/details/coventrycathedra0000thom/page/129 129]}}</ref> It was consecrated on 25&nbsp;May 1962, and [[Benjamin Britten]]'s ''[[War Requiem]]'', composed for the occasion, was premièred in the new cathedral on 30&nbsp;May to mark its consecration.<ref>{{cite book |author=Havighurst, Alfred F. |year=1985 |title=Britain in Transition: The twentieth century |url=https://archive.org/details/pedeirkaineymab00unkngoog |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=643}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Roncace, Mark |author2=Gray, Patrick |year=2007 |title=Teaching the Bible through popular culture and the arts |url=https://archive.org/details/teachingbiblethr00ronc |url-access=limited |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit. |page=[https://archive.org/details/teachingbiblethr00ronc/page/n68 60]|isbn=9781589832442 }}</ref>

[[Spon Street]] was one of the few areas of the city centre to survive the Blitz largely intact, and during the post-war redevelopment of Coventry, several surviving mediaeval buildings from across the city were relocated to Spon Street.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/features/local-history/spon-street/brief-history-of-spon-street.shtml |title=Coventry's Spon Street Through the Ages |date=April 2003 |publisher=[[BBC Coventry & Warwickshire]] |access-date=26 June 2012}}</ref> The 14th&nbsp;century [[St. Mary's Guildhall]] in Bayley Lane opposite the ruined cathedral also survived and stands to this day. However, in addition to destroying many historic buildings, the bombing revealed a [[Mediaeval Stone Building, Coventry|mediaeval stone building]] on Much Park Street, thought to date from the 13th or 14th&nbsp;century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16023 |title=The City of Coventry: Buildings: Domestic buildings |editor-last=Stephens|editor-first= W.&nbsp;B. |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1969 |work=A History of the County of Warwick: Volume&nbsp;8: The City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick |access-date=15 October 2012 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[1939 Coventry bombing]]
* [[Die Luftwacht]]
* [[History of Coventry]]
* [[Operation Abigail Rachel]]
* [[Birmingham Blitz]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Calvocoressi, Peter. ''Top Secret Ultra'', includes an account of the Coventry Raid, and the actual [[Ultra (cryptography)|Ultra cryptanalytic intelligence]] available before the raid.
* Farrington, Karen. ''The Blitzed City: The Destruction of Coventry, 1940'' (2015)
* Jones, Edgar, et al. "Civilian morale during the Second World War: Responses to air raids re-examined." ''Social History of Medicine'' 17#3 (2004): 463–479.
* Longmate, Norman. ''Air raid: The bombing of Coventry, 1940'' (1978)

==External links==
{{commons category|Coventry Blitz}}
* {{cite web |author=McGrory, David |url=http://www.cwn.org.uk/heritage/blitz/index.html |title=The Coventry Blitz |publisher=CWN |series=News & Information for Coventry & Warwickshire}}
* {{cite web |author=McGrory, David |url=http://www.cwn.org.uk/heritage/blitz/after-city-centre.htm |title=Photograph – City Centre |publisher=CWN}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.familyresearcher.co.uk/Blitz-Victims/Coventry-Blitz-Resource-Centre.html |title=Coventry Air Raids |publisher=The Coventry Blitz Resource Centre}}

===Archive audio recordings===
The devastating raid on the night of 14/15&nbsp;November 1940, and its aftermath, were vividly described by several civilians interviewed by the BBC several days later. The speakers included Mr.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;Letts, Muriel Drewe, Miss&nbsp;G. M.&nbsp;Ellis and the Very Reverend R. T.&nbsp;Howard. These archive 1940 recordings feature on ''The Blitz'', an audiobook CD issued in 2007.
* {{cite AV media |url=http://www.ltmrecordings.com/blitz1notes.html |title=The Blitz |year=2007 |medium=audiobook CD |quote=with archive recordings of Coventry Blitz}}
* {{cite AV media |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130140153/http://www.storyvault.com/video/view/the_blitz_in_coventry |archive-date=30 January 2012 |title=A letter written in 1940 about witnessing the Coventry Blitz |medium=read aloud |url=http://www.storyvault.com/video/view/the_blitz_in_coventry |url-status=dead}}

{{The Blitz}}
{{WWII city bombing|state=autocollapse}}

{{coord missing|Warwickshire}}

[[Category:1940 in England]]
[[Category:1941 in England]]
[[Category:1942 in England]]
[[Category:20th century in Coventry]]
[[Category:20th century in Warwickshire]]
[[Category:Battle of Britain]]
[[Category:The Blitz]]
[[Category:Firebombings]]
[[Category:History of Coventry]]
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