Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit. Today, in 1940, 80 years ago today,

one of the most infamous aerial attacks of all time. An attack on the British city of

Coventry that took place on the night of the 14th of November through to the morning of

the 15th of November 1940. Over 4,000 homes were destroyed. A third of the city's factories

were completely destroyed or severely damaged. The other two thirds suffered damage ranging

from slight to bad. Nearly 600 people were killed and over a thousand badly injured.

This was an attack so severe, so dramatic that it represented a ratcheting up of the bombing

of civilian areas by combatants in the Second World War. Indeed, it became a verb to Coventry

meant to annihilate an enemy town or city. Joining me on the podcast to commemorate the

80th anniversary of this terrible event, I would like to have been in Coventry but lock

down conditions here in the UK means I can't go. Joining me here on the podcast to do a

virtual commemoration of this event is the historian and Coventry resident David McGrory.

You'll hear that his father and mother were caught up in the bombing and he's got a comprehensive

knowledge of what went on that night, both on the military side but also the impact for

civilians living in a near Coventry itself. If you want to go and watch our documentary

that we filmed a few months ago just before lockdown began, you can go to History Hit TV.

We've got the Fire Bombing of Coventry documentary. It's one of many documentaries on our new

TV station History Hit TV. You'd use the code pod1, POD1 and you get a month for free

in your second month, which is one pound euro or dollar and it was a great honour to make

films like this that other broadcasters just aren't making any more, commemorating one

of the saddest nights in British history. In the meantime, everyone, here's David McGrory.

Enjoy.

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