Why was Exeter bombed in World War 2?

Answer 1

Some houses were bombed, meaning families lost their homes.

Also, some work places / industrial factories were bombed, meaning many people had lost their job.

Bomb shelters (also known as air-raid shelters) were key for the survival of many Brits.

The underground subways in London was a very good place to hide from the bombings, and often slept their during a bombing.

Rations: Mothers had to feed their family on only 6 oz of meat, 1 egg, 4 oz butter, and 2 oz tea per person per week, they had a special rations card, where they had to stamp for the food. If they did not have the card, they could not have the food.

However, beer and tobacco were never rationed because they were "necessary for morale." Rationing continued after the war which took away from the joy of winning.

Mothers made the most of the leftover meat the family had, she often minced it up using a mince machine, and then used it again for other meals.

Everyone had to carry gas-masks on them, encase there was a sudden air-raid.

The children often carried their gas masks to school, and everywhere they went. It was mostly found in a small brown, leather messenger bag.

Men too old, or too un-fit, where often made to sound the air-raid alarm to warn the residents. He would spot the air-raid, and sound the air-raid alarm. Then, quickly go around to everyone's home, and tell them to get in the air-raid shelter, and put the gas masks on.

The families were most affected because of the certain laws in place for night time, these were put in place to prevent the bombers to spot Bristol at night. Such as:ØNo lights on after dark in houses, unless blacked out curtains.

ØNo lanterns, unless with special dimming filter, to make it point to the floor.

ØCars with again with dimming filters, to make the light point towards the floor.

In a night raid on 2 November 1940, 5,000 incendiary and 10,000 high explosive bombs were dropped on the old city.

On 24 November, 148 Luftflotte 3 bombers left Germany to bomb Bristol: the attack started at 6.30pm with waves of 2 or 3 bombers passing over Bristol dropping some 12,000 incendiary bombs and 160 tons of high-explosive bombs; within an hour 70 fires had started: Park Street was "smashed"; Bristol Museum hit; 207 people killed and thousands of houses destroyed or damaged. The area that is now Castle Park was extensively damaged.

The Jacobean St Peters Hospital was destroyed, and the 17th century timber-framed Dutch House was damaged and subsequently demolished. Four of Bristol's ancient churches, St Peters, the interior of St Nicholas, St Mary-le-Port and Temple Church were also badly damaged. The St James' Presbyterian Church of England, Bristol was gutted.

The Lord Mayor of Bristol, Alderman Thomas Underwood, described the effect of the raids as "The City of Churches had in one night become the city of ruins."

On 3 - 4 January 1941 Bristol had its longest raid lasting 12 hours; during this raid the Luftwaffe dropped their biggest bomb on the city. It was nicknamed "Satan", and weighed 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb), measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) long (without the tail), and 26 inches (66 cm) in diameter; it did not explode. The bomb was recovered in April 1943. The bomb disposal crew had to dig down 29 feet (8.8 m) to get to it. "Satan" was paraded through the streets of London during the VE Day Victory Parade at the end of the war.

The infamous Good Friday air raids caused further damage to the centre of the city, Knowle, Hotwells, Cotham and Filton, and caused the permanent closure of the Bristol Tramways. Winston Churchill visited the ruins on 12 April 1941. The last air raid of the Blitz on Bristol was on 25 April 1941, when Brislington, Bedminster and Knowle were bombed. It is speculated that these suburbs were not the targets themselves but that bombs intended for Filton's manufacturing areas were mistakenly dropped on other areas.

One of the common types of bomb dropped on the city was a canister containing a large number of incendiaries (locally known as Goering's Bread Basket - from the Molotov bread basket device); these caused numerous fires and were designed to cause panic amongst the citizens, and stretch the fire services to their limits

The last raid on Bristol was on 15 May 1944

Bristol was in danger of being hit by V-1 flying bombs, and by the A4/V2 rockets, whose launching platforms already had been built on the Cotentin peninsula in 1944; D-Day on 6 June 1944 put an end to this danger. The launching platforms on Cotentin were quickly overrun by the allies, so Bristol was safe from the V1 and V2.

Bristol was the 5th most heavily bombed city of WW2

The presence of Bristol Harbour and Bristol Aeroplane Company made a great target for bombing by who was able to trace a course up the River - Avon from Avonmouth using reflected moonlight on the waters into the heart of the city.

Between the 24th of November 1940, and 11thof April 1941, there were 6 major bombing raids.

In total Bristol received 548 air raid alerts and 77 air raids with:

919 tons of high explosive bombs and myriad incendiary bombs

1299 people killed, 1303 seriously injured, and 697 people rescued from debris.

89,080 buildings damaged including 81,830 houses destroyed, and over 3000 later demolished.

Answer 2

Bristol had many factories, in particular Bristol Aircraft which was a major aero engine manufacturer and thus a prime target for the Germans.

Answer 3

It was a very industrial city, lots of factories

Answer 4

Exeter was bombed because it was a historic and cultural city whcih a long with others such as bath and york were bombed by the Germans to oppress the british people