Plymouth Blitz
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
The royal dockyards at
History
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][a] 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."
— André Savignon on dawn, 21 March 1941.[3]
Damages to local structures
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
On the evening of 22 April 1941 during an attack on the central area, the communal
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]
Reconstruction
So great was the devastation of the largely
Notes
References
- ^ "Plymouth Blitz remembered". Plymouth City Council. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ a b USNAAB (1944), p. 3.
- ^ a b c d Gill (1993), pp. 259–262.
- ^ PCC (2007).
- ^ Hardy (1946).
- ^ UOP (n.d.).
- ^ Bayley (2017).
- ^ Gould (2010), p. 1.
- ^ Gould (2010), pp. 5–8.
- ^ Gould (2010), p. 32-33.
- ^ Gould (2010), p. 13.
Bibliography
- Bayley, Jon (14 November 2017). "Fascinating footage show bunker under Plymouth University". plymouthherald.co.uk. Plymouth Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
- Gill, Crispin (1993). Plymouth. A New History. Devon Books. pp. 259–262. ISBN 0-86114-882-7.
- Gould, Jeremy (2010). Plymouth: Vision of a modern city. Swindon: English Heritage. ISBN 978-1848023222.
- Hardy, A.C. (1946). "Stanley Wells Kemp 1882-1945" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- Masters, Warren, Plymouth in the Blitz (The heavy raids March and April 1941)[full citation needed]
- "War Diary, 5/1-31/44". www.fold3.com. Plymouth USNAAB. 15 June 1944. Retrieved 4 April 2012 – via Fold3.
- "Places of Worship". www.plymouth.gov.uk. Plymouth City Council. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
- "75th Anniversary - Portland Square Air Raid Shelter Bombing". plymouth.ac.uk. University of Plymouth. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.