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Photograph used with the kind permission of Phil Carradice

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Part IIThe bombing of Swansea – The Swansea Blitz

The Free Press of Monmouthshire, February 7 th, 1941

What does the fact that Swansea had to call in Fire Fighters from other

counties tell you about the scale of the bombing raids being carried out

during late January 1941?

In the evening hours of 16th February, German bombers carried out a half-hour attack against the important English port of Swansea at the entrance to the Bristol Channel. In spite of the incursions of numerous hostile night-fighters, who tried in vain to bring down our bombers, many tons of high explosives and thousands of incendiary bombs were dropped over the industrial quarter and the harbour area, and above all, numerous fires sprung up in the dock installations.

Do you think that the following extract was written from a British or German newspaper?

Pick out the words and phrases that helped you to decide.

The Education and School Improvement Service Taken from Wales and the Second World War by Phillip Tapper and Susan Hawthorne, 1991

Source from:

On their return flight the German pilots observed the glow of the fires from a distance of over 30 kilometres.

Swansea, one of the most significant oil ports in England, is also one of the most important ports for re-shipment of supplies and materials to British Troops fighting overseas.

The newspaper went on to add…

The German Press often referred to all parts of the U.K. as England!

Why did the Germans consider Swansea to be such an important target in 1940?

Taken from Wales and the Second World War by Phillip Tapper and Susan Hawthorne, 1991

The Education and School Improvement Service

Reason 1:

Other reasons:

Reason 2:

Swansea was the principal target for the Nazi murder raiders last night. Fires were started and houses, shops and commercial buildings damaged. One bomb fell on a public building and a crater was made outside another. A school and a church were hit, and a cinema had four incendiaries through the roof during the performance.

Up to this afternoon the deaths of 17 people had been officially recorded and the injured totalled 36, of whom some were treated by A.R.P. personnel.

Compare this British Newspaper report of the bombing raid with the German report. How do they differ and why do you

think this is?

The Education and School Improvement Service Taken from Wales and the Second World War by Phillip Tapper and Susan Hawthorne, 1991

Swansea was the principal target for the Nazi murder raiders last night. Fires were started and houses, shops and commercial buildings damaged. One bomb fell on a public building and a crater was made outside another. A school and a church were hit, and a cinema had four incendiaries through the roof during the performance.Up to this afternoon the deaths of 17 people had been officially recorded and the injured totalled 36, of whom some were treated by A.R.P. personnel.

In the evening hours of 16th February, German bombers carried out a half-hour attack against the important English port of Swansea at the entrance to the Bristol Channel. In spite of the incursions of numerous hostile night-fighters, who tried in vain to bring down our bombers, many tons of high explosives and thousands of incendiary bombs were dropped over the industrial quarter and the harbour area, and above all, numerous fires sprung up in the dock installations. On their return flight the German pilots observed the glow of the fires from a distance of over 30 kilometres. Swansea, one of the most significant oil ports in England, is also one of the most important ports for re-shipment of supplies and materials to British Troops fighting overseas.

Highlight the differences using different colour highlighters.

Over each of the three nights of the 19th to 21st of February, 1941,

warnings were given at about 7:30, the first aircraft arrived

about 20 minutes later, and they remained over the town until

about midnight. In all they dropped 1273 high explosive bombs and more than 56,000

incendiaries.

Gerald Gabb & John Upton “All that was left was the coalshed…”, Swansea Museums Service, 1997

Incendiary Bomb Fragmentswww.swanseaheritage.net

Incendiary bombs caused fires that were then used as targets for bombers carrying high explosive bombs and even more

incendiaries.

http://www.swanseaheritage.net/

“Our toilet was at the back of the house (in Cimla, Neath), commanding a view over Neath, the estuary and Swansea. My son dashed in after a visit to the loo: “Swansea’s burning and the sky’s full of fireworks”, he cried. Out we rushed into the garden and, true enough, Swansea was a huge blazing mass….It was a bright moonlit night…High up, like small birds, aeroplanes flew in threes, following the (Neath) river and, at its estuary, turning over Swansea, would drop their bombs with a soft scrunch, sending up a shower of sparks and debris…it was like watching a film, something happening somewhere else….Horror we felt and worst of all helpless.”

An eyewitness account, 1941Gerald Gabb & John Upton “All that was left was the coalshed…”, Swansea Museums Service, 1997

“We lived about thirty miles away from Swansea and if we went out through our back door we could see all of Swansea ablaze. The sky was dark red and I remember my parents telling me that bombs had been dropped on Swansea. And I wondered, what did they mean?”

After reading these eye-witness accounts of the first night of the Swansea Blitz, how much exposure to war do you think that

the people of South Wales had had up until this point?

Glesni Jones, quoted in Wales at War by Phil Carradice (Gomer Press, 2003)

“We rushed from shelter to shelter leaving behind crying women and children. There was no escape for some. At one stage we were rushed into Holy Trinity Church for safety, but a bomb fell into the crypt and people began to panic and scream to get out. My mother held my baby brother in her arms, while my sister clung to her coat…We were lucky…

In some offices bright windows showed that incendiaries inside were not being attended to. It was the signal for the first of a long series of dive attacks and the planes appeared to be roaring down from the skies at a terrific speed, and there followed a series of explosions. The fire thus spread and increased with immense speed, and the heat became intense.”

How intensive was the bombing of Swansea according to this source?


An “Evening Post” Reporter, 20th Feb. 1942

“I was ten…in 1941 and lived at 5 Trinity Place. I spent the nights of the Blitz in the cellar of No.5…a week or so later I saw the bell of Trinity Church lying at the bottom of the bell tower, the church having been destroyed by incendiary bombs. Down Belle Vue Street, at the Swansea Printers, the lead of the typesetters’ composing room upstairs had melted from the heat of the fire and flowed down the concrete stairway, across the floor, through the doorway, nearly on to the pavement, and then hardened, intermixed with melted glass.”


How does this source reinforce the description of the previous source?

Photographs used with the kind permission of West Glamorgan Archives

What can you see?

How effectively does this illustrate the level of disruption and devastation caused by the Three Nights Blitz?Jot down some key words and facts here

The remains of Swansea Market

A bomb damaged street


Can you identify the VIP’s within these photographs?

Click here if you are stuck




Why do you think that these V.I.P.’s are visiting Swansea during

February 1941?



Do these visits also tell you anything about the severity and

intensity of the Three Nights Blitz?


Why do you think that these V.I.P.’s are visiting Swansea during

February 1941?

Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister,

and his wife Clementine.


King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

During the whole of the Second World War there were 44 raids on Swansea, 387 people died and there were 841 injuries.

Overall during the Three Nights Blitz

230 people were killed

409 people were injured

The last major raid on Swansea was on the 16th February, 1943. There were 134 casualties.

The bombing of Swansea

Areas/places targeted and hit

Effects of the bombing

The importance attached to the bombing

END

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