Exeter Blitz

The Exeter blitz was the bombing of Exeter by the German Air Force. It took place around 1.30am in the early morning of May the 4th 1942. Here are a few facts about what happened and why it happened: Exeter was targeted in 1942 for a number of reasons. It was completely undefended, and it was within easy reach of German bombers crossing the English Channel from Northern France, and the RAF had recently destroyed much of the ancient Hanseatic German port of Lübeck. But Exeter was targeted primarily because of the rich historic fabric of its compact city centre. It was regarded as one of the most picturesque cities in southern England, although one which was in danger of spoiling itself through insensitive redevelopment. Much had been demolished by the local authority between 1900 and 1942, a period which saw many of the city's oldest timber-framed buildings destroyed during slum clearances, but much remained, built up over centuries on the old medieval street plan. During the bombing most of the historic sites in Exeter were demolished. The Cathedral, that now stands in Exeter, took a direct hit but luckily the bomb didn’t explode. The first casualties of the Exeter blitz were 4 young children playing in the street who died from an exploding bomb. This is a personal account of what happened. “I was born in 1929 and at the outbreak of war was ten years old living in Exeter. My first recollection was the troops coming back from Dunkirk. Lots of boats came back full of troops, most of them were wrapped in blankets. The first bombs that were dropped were in Exeter. Maybe the bomber was damaged and needed to get the rid of the bombs. The bombs killed two children while they were holding their mothers’ hands and their house fell around the mother who suffered minor injuries. My father was working at the mortuary and had to pick the dead children up. When he returned home he was extremely emotional. Two bombers came up the River Exe very low and dropped bombs in the centre of Exeter. Fortunately nobody was injured. In April 1942 on a Friday night the first major bombing raid took place. My family was hiding under the stairs because we could hear the bombers coming. A bomb landed to the left of the house blowing a side of it away. My family were buried up to their necks. It was very frightening for us. The house was uninhabitable so we stayed at a friend’s house. The city council had to arrange new permanent accommodation. The next raid was on a Sunday night in May. The middle of Exeter was bombed and lots of shops and houses were totally destroyed. Another raid hit the cathedral on a Friday night. It took one of the cathedral’s wings. The following Sunday my father left the house to report for duty and he was away for ten days and didn’t come home because of the amount of deaths in the raids. My mother and I walked from Fore Street to St Sidwell's fountain and the streets were full of rubble. All of the buildings were destroyed. Four cinemas were destroyed. Quite a lot of people had moved out to more rural areas.” Over all the Blitz had a major effect on the people in Britain as they started to wonder if Hitler was winning the war and frightened that they were being invaded. It also effected the determination of the people that Hitler had to be beaten because he was killing their friends and family. So in the end it is debatable that by bombing Britain Hitler could have just been feeding the fire that destroyed him.