It's now 70 years since our city and other parts of the UK came under nightly attack from the German air force. It's a story that will never grow old for the telling. Tonight, Tony Robinson begins a new show looking at civilian life during the onslaught. Blitz Street, on Channel 4 from 9pm, seeks to recreate the conditions endured by the populous. A realistic 1940s street, specially built on an airbase, is subjected to various bombs, rockets and munitions to show the effects of bombardment on civilian targets (minus the civilians, we assume).
Although the Blitz is often associated with London, major bombing raids were suffered by many towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom. Industrial cities and ports such as Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol paid a particularly heavy price (with 7,500 fatalities in those three alone). Other towns, most notably Coventry and Exeter, were targeted for their historic and cultural worth, in reprisal for raids on German cities such as Lubeck.
We've lent a hand over on Channel 4's web site by creating this map of major UK targets during the Blitz. We've also extended our existing map of V2 rocket sites to include attacks elsewhere in the country. As always with our maps, feel free to suggest additions and corrections if you have reliable information. The site also includes videos, pictures and interviews with survivors.
