Historical Overview: The Coventry Blitz

During World War II, Coventry was under siege by waves of German bombers called a blitzkrieg. The German’s decided to bomb Coventry because it was one of the industrial centers of England. The city had many working factories that manufactured commercial goods, but when the war began, a large number of these factories were converted to making weapons and ammunition for the British troops. The German air raid in November 14th, 1940, was one of the most devastating attacks on Coventry. The attack codenamed “Moonlight Sonata,” consisted of 515 German bombers and lasted around eleven hours. The bombers destroyed much of the city centre with the goal of demoralizing the civilians and forcing them to give up. This attack was basically a terrorist attack on Coventry with the goal of weakening Britain. It was in this raid that William Blagburn’s father, James Blagburn, was killed. There was damage to many buildings such as the Coventry Cathedral and also to the infrastructure of the city. Many people were left without electricity or water and many others even without a place to live. More than 4,000 homes were destroyed that night. Approximately six-hundred people were killed and 1,000 injured during that particular overnight air raid. Aside from the damage done to the city as a result of the German bombs, the city also suffered from scarce amounts of food because the war. This limited amount of food was due to the Germans bombing British ships while they were crossing the English Channel.

Bibliography:
"Coventry Blitz." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 1 May 2010. .
"The Coventry Blitz: Moonlight Sonata - Introduction." Historic Coventry. Web. 02 May 2010. .