Paulclem

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...z-2130231.html
http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/blitz/stats.php


On the 14th November 1940, Coventry was bombed by the Luftwaffe, who were trying to destroy the industrial capacity of the City. Over 500 people died and there were many casualties. This year, the 70th anniversary of the raid, coincides with Remembrance Sunday.
The City, which had been blacked out, was located by the convergence of radio beams from occupied Europe. The bombers flew along these beams and began to drop the bombs when three converged. The safest place in the city was beneath this convergence, as the bombs themselves travelled horizontally as well, so they didn’t land where the run had started. This is on the site of the Bulls Head Pub on the Binley Road.

Living in the city, you get to hear personal stories from those who lived through the war. Our old Uncle was bombed out of his house on Smith Street, which is a couple of miles from the city centre. The only reason the family survived the bomb that landed just outside their door was that it had failed to go off. His Mother and Father arranged for the family to move out of the city into a village on the outskirts of Coventry with their extended family. This meant a long walk to work every day for the old uncle and his dad.

My wife’s mother, who is still with us, was evacuated due to the air raids. She was sent to a farm in Wales, but came back before the end of the war. Of the experience, she said the people were nice, but she didn’t like the many singing lessons in school.

Just today I met an old learner of mine as I was covering a class. He’s a great old guy, and it was nice to see him again. He spoke a little about the raid, and told us that his Sister had been killed in the Telephone Exchange, manning the switchboard. She was given a posthumous medal.

He then went on to describe how he was riding a motorbike through the raid and delivering messages to help the communication posts, which had lost contact with the command structure. He also reported that a number of his relatives were bombed out of their houses.

Hearing such stories is fascinating, and there are still repercussions today. They recently build a new hotel in the City Centre, but had to evacuate the surroundings when they discovered an unexploded bomb from that time. It doesn’t happen so much now, but could potentially happen with any new excavation.

This event has played a big part in the formation of the modern city. Many of the historic buildings were destroyed, in this and subsequent raids, and the City Centre was completely rebuilt along with the Cathedral.
The Cathedral’s roof was burned and collapsed due to the large number of incendiary bombs which were the first to fall that night. As well as causing damage in their own right, the incendiaries lit fires which guided the German planes towards the target.

The idea had been to break the spirit of the British people, but this had the opposite effect. It may have promoted the British and American bombing raids which resulted in the terrible firestorms which afflicted Dresden and Kiel. Dresden in particular had little strategic significance, but 25,000 people were killed in the raid.

An indirect result of the experiences of Coventry Kiel and Dresden was that there were moves for reconciliation between the British and German people very soon after the war. Coventry and Kiel were twinned in 1947, followed by Coventry and Dresden in 1959, finding a mutual significance in their war losses and a common wish to build relations between the two countries.

I have an ambivalent attitude these days to WW2 and how it is regarded in England and the wider world. Being born in the sixties, I had a strong interest in the war which I still retain today. In fact I have just bought a documentary on the Eastern Front. I also recently reviewed two books on Stalingrad and Vasily Grossmann’s war.

Yet I am less than impressed by the current attitude of some media outlets that constantly refer to WW2, as if it has any bearing on what our attitudes to Germany in particular, and Europe in general, today. In fact it is embarrassing. The repeated references to the Reich, beating Germany in 1966, the Dam Busters theme and story are all rolled out every time we have an issue with Europe, or the Football world cup is played.

Remembrance Sunday, and due respect to the fallen? Definitely. More anti-German headlines from the gutter press? No thanks. In fact the learner I mentioned who lost his sister told me that he never wears his medals or goes on marches because he sees it as promoting war. I’m sure that he has the greatest respect for the people who died in the Blitz, and those whom he saw perish during his Naval career, and I’m also sure that he cringes at the platitudes he sees written today.