By the light of the moon on November 14, 1940, German bombers began a relentless crusade against
the English city of Coventry. The people below were helpless against the firestorm that blazed
through the city centre leaving death and destruction in its wake. But perhaps the
greatest wound of all? That Churchill knew, and did nothing to save them. Today on Nutty History
we’re covering the Coventry Blitz, and the ensuing conspiracy that Churchill sacrificed one city
to win the war. But first, be sure to hit that subscribe button for more mysteries from history.
Like many other areas in the English West Midlands,
Coventry grew into a booming industrial city after the Industrial Revolution,
responsible for production of cars, bicycles, airplane engines, and the big one...munitions.
Its metal and woodworking capabilities made it easy to shift the city’s production goals during
wartime. In World War I, Coventry was responsible for a quarter of British aircraft produced,
and in World War II it again resumed its role as a hub for military production.
Only issue? It made poor Coventry the perfect target for a wartime bombing blitz.
The German Luftwaffe began small attacks on Coventry from August to October of 1940.
Unfortunately, a “small” bombing raid is still a freaking bombing raid...176 people were killed
while 680 more were injured. Among the casualties in this first mini-blitz was MVP of the bomb squad
Sandy Campbell. Campbell was called up after an unexploded bomb fell, stopping production on two
nearby factories. Another term for “unexploded bomb”? Not-yet-exploded Bomb. Campbell discovered
a delayed action fuse on the bomb that he couldn’t remove so Plan B was enacted - moving
the bomb to a safe location. They moved the dangerous explosive in a truck, or a lorry as
the Brits would call it. Campbell then had the fun task of lying beside the bomb in the truck,
listening in case it started to tick. After reaching a certain distance, the bomb was safely
disposed of, only for Campbell to be killed the following day while attempting to defuse another
Coventry bomb. That’s a tough week at work. Sandy Campbell was posthumously honored with the George
Cross. Give this man all of the awards! But the biggest raid on Coventry was yet to come.
On November 14, 1940, the Germans began “Operation Moonlight Sonata,” a pretty name
for the very ugly destruction that followed. 515 German bombers dropped high explosive
and incendiary bombs on Coventry for about ten hours. The high explosive bombs knocked
out the city’s infrastructure - destroying the water supply, electricity, and the phone lines
while cratering the roads. The incendiary bombs, much like their namesake implies,
fell into buildings with already damaged roofs and lit them aflame. This tactical combination
set Coventry ablaze while also preventing the fire department from doing their job.
The damaged roads made it difficult for fire engines to maneuver, the broken telephone lines
made it impossible to communicate about the worst of the fires and prioritize accordingly,
and the water shortage eliminated, well, the best and most obvious defense against fire.
In the ensuing firestorm, two thirds of the city’s buildings were destroyed.
As for the factories, one third were destroyed, one third were badly damaged, and the remaining
third were just slightly damaged. Was anything NOT damaged? An estimated 568 people were killed,
with about 1,000 more sustaining injuries. The Coventry blitz was a new kind of bombing raid
and it later inspired the British. Basically they figured, hey that sucked a lot, we should do that
to them! The British got their revenge in their own incendiary-heavy attack on Mannheim. Coventry
marked a shift in bombing strategy - whereas before, precision attacks on specific military
targets were the status quo, now the focus shifted to area bombing of entire cities. Great...
A tough break for Coventry, but where’s the conspiracy? In 1974, Frederick William
Winterbotham, an officer in the Royal Air Force during WW2, published a book about Ultra - the
ultra secret super classified intelligence project that intercepted encrypted German
radio messages during the war. And Winterbotham had his own bombshell to drop. He claimed that
through Ultra, German communication about the Coventry bombing was intercepted and decoded
before the blitz actually happened. According to Winterbotham, Churchill himself knew of the raid
and commanded that no protective measures would be taken to defend the city. If they were to act,
the Germans would know that the Allies had the ability to obtain and decode their transmissions,
and the loss of this secret weapon would be more detrimental to the war than the loss at Coventry.
It’s important to note that as far as conspiracy advocates go, Winterbotham wasn’t some random
theorist with internet access and too much time on his hands. Not only was he British military,
he was a top ranking member of MI6. He was also directly involved with Ultra, and supervised the
officers who delivered Ultra decrypted messages to commanders in the field. He’s also not the
only person to make the claim. Journalists slash Authors Anthony Cave Brown and William Stevenson
also picked up the theory, while changing some of the details. While Winterbotham claimed that
Churchill found out about the Coventry bomb just a few hours before it occurred, Cave Brown and
Stevenson say he learned of the blitz with more advance notice. All agree though, that Churchill
made a cold-hearted yet pragmatic decision to let the city of Coventry burn for the greater good.
But what would a conspiracy be without its critics? Many historians debunk these claims, with
a different story - Churchill knew that a bombing was going to occur, he just didn’t know where.
On November 11, 1940, a German message was decoded that referred to Operation “Moonlight Sonata”
and a mysterious code “KORN.” Korn, we now know, was referring to Coventry as the location of
a bombing. But according to the anti-conspiracy side, it’s meaning wasn’t understood at the time.
As for “Moonlight Sonata,” the Air Ministry interpreted this code to mean that the operation
would take place at night under a full moon, suggesting between the 15th - 20th of November,
and that it would be a three-part bombing. Churchill was warned of the impending raid,
but not where it would occur. On November 14th, the day of the Coventry bombing,
Churchill received word that Moonlight Sonata was likely to take place that evening. According to
one of his personal secretaries, John Colville, Churchill was headed out to the countryside that
afternoon when he received a lockbox containing the most recent intercepted German signals.
Upon reading them, he demanded the car be turned around so he could spend the night in London.
This gives credence to what Colville, and many others have claimed - that Churchill believed
London to be the target of attack that night. He returned because he didn’t want to abandon the
city during its hour of need. But what Churchill truly read inside the lock box, we may never know.
Whatever the case, the Germans weren’t finished with Coventry. The city experienced two more air
raids in 1941 and 1942, forever synonymizing its name with destruction. Do you subscribe to the
conspiracy theory of the Coventry Blitz? And if you do, did Churchill make the right call? Let us
know in the comments and check out our other super bomb videos (sorry...) for more nutty history!