Plymouth Blitz | |||||
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Part of the Strategic bombing campaign of World War II | |||||
Winston Churchill is cheered by workers during a visit to bomb-damaged Plymouth on 2 May 1941 | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
United Kingdom | Germany | ||||
Casualties and losses | |||||
1,174 civilians killed 4,448 injured 22,143 houses damaged or destroyed | Unknown | ||||
[1] |
The Plymouth Blitz was a series of bombing raids carried out by the Nazi German Luftwaffe on the English city of Plymouth in the Second World War. The bombings launched on numerous British cities were known as the Blitz.
The royal dockyards at HMNB Devonport were the main target in order to facilitate Nazi German efforts during the Battle of the Atlantic. Portsmouth, some 170 miles away in Hampshire, was also targeted by the Luftwaffe due to the presence of a royal dockyard there. Though civilian casualties were very high, the dockyards continued in operation.
The first bombs fell on the city on Saturday 6 July 1940 at North Prospect, killing three people. In early 1941, five raids reduced much of the city to rubble. Attacks continued as late as May 1944 with two minor air raids in that month. [2] [lower-alpha 1] During the 59 bombing attacks, 1,172 civilians were killed and 4,448 injured. [3]
The resident population fell from 220,000 at the outbreak of war to, at one point, only 127,000. In 1941 most of the children were evacuated and on any night that a raid was expected thousands of people were taken by lorry into the countryside, usually to the fringes of Dartmoor. [3]
"[...] in this town that was wasting away in reddish trails of smoke, only a few citizens wandered: the others were still in hiding; or lay, all distress ended, under the ruins."
In March 1941, St Andrew's Parish Church was bombed and badly damaged. Amidst the smoking ruins a headmistress nailed over the door a wooden sign saying simply Resurgam (Latin for I shall rise again), indicating the wartime spirit, a gesture repeated at other devastated European churches. That entrance to St Andrew's is still referred to as the "Resurgam" door and a carved granite plaque is now permanently fixed there. [4]
Charles Church, Plymouth, destroyed by incendiaries on the nights of 20–21 March 1941, has been preserved in its ruined state as a memorial to civilian victims of the Blitz.
The Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association on the Hoe was also severely damaged on the evening of 20 March 1941. The bombardment is described in the obituary of Stanley Wells Kemp who was the director of the Association at the time. [5] The seminal work by Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew Fielding Huxley on the ionic basis of nerve conduction resumed there in June 1947.
On the evening of 22 April 1941 during an attack on the central area, the communal air-raid shelter at Portland Square took a direct hit which killed 76 people. Almost 70 years later, this was commemorated by the University of Plymouth, which named a new building on the site after the incident, and also commissioned a local artist to create a commemorative piece. [6] Just three people in the shelter survived. [7]
During the Blitz the two main shopping centres and nearly every civic building were destroyed, along with 26 schools, eight cinemas and 41 churches. In total, 3,754 houses were destroyed with a further 18,398 seriously damaged. [3]
So great was the devastation of the largely Victorian era streets of central Plymouth, that in the autumn of 1941, the City Council appointed Professor Patrick Abercrombie, an eminent town planner, to prepare a plan for the city's reconstruction. [8] The completed plan, which was co-authored by James Paton Watson, A Plan for Plymouth, was published in March 1944, and proposed a radical redevelopment. Main roads were diverted around the city, while the original street plan of city centre, with the exception of Union Street, was to be erased and replaced with a grand vista leading from Naval Memorial on Plymouth Hoe to Plymouth railway station, intersected by new roads and lined by modern buildings. [9] The Plymouth Athenaeum and the Pannier Market were among the buildings which were rebuilt during the reconstruction. [10] Plymouth was the only British city to retain its wartime plans; reconstruction of the city centre began in 1948 and was completed in 1962. [11]
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, for a little more than 8 months during the Second World War.
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids in April and May 1942 by the German Luftwaffe on English cities during World War II. The name derives from Baedeker, a series of German tourist guide books, including detailed maps, which were used to select targets for bombing.
Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War. It was bombed by the RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945, the United States Army Air Forces' Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945, and the French Air Force in 1940 and between 1944 and 1945 as part of the Allied campaign of strategic bombing of Germany. It was also attacked by aircraft of the Red Air Force in 1941 and particularly in 1945, as Soviet forces closed on the city. British bombers dropped 45,517 tons of bombs, while American aircraft dropped 22,090.3 tons. As the bombings continued, more and more people fled the city. By May 1945, 1.7 million people had fled.
The Belfast Blitz consisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. The first was on the night of 7–8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz.
The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, all by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A total of 34,711 long tons of bombs were dropped on the city by the RAF. 20,000 civilians died during the war in Cologne due to aerial bombardments.
The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe. It was one of three major raids on Manchester, an important inland port and industrial city; Trafford Park in neighbouring Stretford was a major centre of war production.
The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater Blitz, which was part of the Battle of Britain; and ending on 23 April 1943. Situated in the Midlands, Birmingham, the most populous British city outside London, was considered an important industrial and manufacturing location. Around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom in the Second World War, behind London and Liverpool.
The Coventry Blitz was 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 November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15 November.
The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easily found as enemy bombers were able to trace a course up the River Avon from Avonmouth using reflected moonlight on the waters, into the heart of the city. Bristol was the fifth-most heavily bombed British city of the war.
The Southampton Blitz was the heavy bombing of Southampton by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during World War II. Southampton was a strategic bombing target for the Luftwaffe as it contained both busy docks with associated business premises and factories and the Supermarine factory building Spitfires in Woolston. Being a large port city on the south coast it was within easy reach of German airfields in France.
During World War II, the Estonian capital Tallinn suffered from many instances of aerial bombing by the Soviet air force and the German Luftwaffe. The first bombings by Luftwaffe occurred during the Summer War of 1941 as part of Operation Barbarossa. A number of Soviet bombing missions to then German-occupied Tallinn followed in 1942–1944.
The Clydebank Blitz was a pair of air raids conducted by the Luftwaffe on the shipbuilding and munition-making town of Clydebank in Scotland. The bombings took place in March 1941.
The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.
The Cardiff Blitz ; refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II. Between 1940 and the final raid on the city in March 1944 approximately 2,100 bombs fell, killing 355 people.
The Barrow Blitz is the name given to the Luftwaffe bombings of Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom during World War II. They took place primarily during April and May 1941, although the earliest Luftwaffe bombing occurred in September 1940. VSEL shipyard was the main target for bombing alongside Barrow's steelworks, which were formerly the largest in the world.
Drake is an election ward within Plymouth, Devon, England. One of the main roads from the city to Tavistock and Dartmoor runs through the ward. In the past it played an important role in the supply of water to Plymouth, and it was the location of both a fatal bomb explosion and a large unexploded bomb during the Plymouth Blitz. The University of Plymouth has its main campus in this ward and the large student population has led to part of it being designated as one of the four areas subject to Designated Public Places Orders in the city. It is also the location of the city's main railway station, museum and public library.
The term Bath Blitz refers to the air raids by the German Luftwaffe on the British city of Bath, Somerset, during World War II.
The Leeds Blitz comprised nine air raids on the city of Leeds by the Nazi German Luftwaffe. The heaviest raid took place on the night of 14/15 March 1941, affecting the city centre, Beeston, Bramley and Armley. The city was subjected to other raids during the Second World War, but they were relatively minor; only the March 1941 raid caused widespread damage, including to the city's museum and its artefacts.
Large numbers of British civilians engaged in trekking during the Blitz. This involved leaving cities at night to sleep in nearby towns and rural areas. The practice was most prevalent in provincial cities during early 1941. While the British Government was concerned that trekking indicated that civilian morale was under strain, the practice was generally motivated by a desire to avoid the risk of death or injury and to be able to sleep.
The Bournemouth Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bournemouth, Hampshire, England from 1940 to 1944, by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.