Genially sans titre

The Blitz Around Britain

Coventry

• Important engendering and armaments producing centre
• Small city (200,000 inhabitants)
• 14-15 November 1940
• 503 high explosive
• 30,000 incendiary bomb on the city
• 568 deaths
• 850 people seriously injured
• Médiéval cathedral destroyed
• 1/3 houses uninhabitable
• 35% shops destroyed
• New verb : to concentrate, used by Germans to describe a level of destruction

Birmingham

• August 1940 + September and October 1940
• 19-20 November : more than 400 tons of high explosive bombs dropped
• Britain’s third most-bomber city after London and Liverpool
• Birmingham Small Arms destroyed = 53 workers killed
• Blitzed again on 21-22 and 22-23 November

Bristol

• Until November 1940
• Docks and aircraft factories
• 1540 tons of high explosive
• 12,500 incendiaries
• 207 deaths
• 187 people seriously injured
• Many of the city’s historic buildings were destroyed

Southampton

• 23 November
• 30 November : six hours, 800 high explosive bombs dropped
• Water, gas and electricity supplies were cut off i many areas
• Municipal leaders widely criticized

Sheffield

• industrial city : steel production, major center for armaments
• Two raids : 12 and 15 December 1940 : 750 deaths
• Light damage to the city’s industrial areas
• Devastated city center : 3,000 homes and shops destroyed

Liverpool

• 1940 : Liverpool and the rest of Merseyside = most bombed area outside London
• 28-29 November : 350 tons of high explosive bombs
• 20-23 December
• City’s docks targeted
• Merseyside was bombed every nights from the 1st to the 8th may 1940
• 19,000 deaths
• 1450 people seriously injured
• 70,000 people made homeless
• Bootle : 8,000 houses destroyed or damaged

Manchester

⁃ heaviest raids : 22-23 and 23-24 December nights

⁃ Many buildings destroyed such as the Free trade Hall, Smithfield Market and St Anne’s Church

⁃ 8,000 homes destroyed or made inhabitable

⁃ Trafford Park industrial areas damaged by fire

Cardiff

⁃ 2 January 1941 : start of a series of raids on cities targeted for their docks

⁃ Docks and factories hit

⁃ Residential areas damaged

⁃ 165 deaths

⁃ 165 people injured

⁃ Bombed again on consecutive nights in early March

Portsmouth

⁃ important naval base on the south coast

⁃ Raids happened every four weeks during the start of 1941

⁃ Heaviest raid : 10-11 January

⁃ 140 tons of high explosive bombs

⁃ 40,000 incendiaries on the city

⁃ Fires started in dockyard

⁃ City’s Guildhall set on fire by incendiary bombs : interior and roof destroyed

Hull

North east of England : vital east coast port of Hull

⁃ 2 heavy raids in March and on the 8-9 May

⁃ Riverside quay devastated by fire

⁃ 450 deaths

⁃ 10% of the population was made homeless

⁃ The city was bombed again in June 1941

⁃ Hull was referred as a « north east town » for security reasons

Plymouth

⁃ Attacked in 1940

-Devastating raids in March and April 1941

-900 people killed and 40,000 made homeless

-Guildhall lost

Clydebank

-Devastating raids on 13-14 March 1941

-Buildings overcrowded

-35,000 people made homeless

-major disaster

Belfast

-Air raid on 7-8 April 1941

-residential areas nearby docks and shipyards badly hit

-Blitzed again on 15 April

-Fire crews were sent

-745 people killed