Why was coventry bombed during ww11?
1)… It was an industrial centre. Like York and Oxford it was an ancient city whose picturesque mediaeval heart was surrounded by a fringe of modern industry. 2)… The RAF had already bombed some ancient German cities which had similar industrial developments. The raid was one of a series of revenge raids on heritage cities (the so-called ‘Baedeker Raids’) which included railway hubs and areas with a high concentration of engineering factories (York, Coventry) but also blitzed Bath which has comparatively little of economic importance, but does have an historic town centre. In the case of Bath the revenge element was uppermost; the Luftwaffe was under orders to concentrate on the town centre, ignoring the Admiralty research and design station on Lansdown Hill which would have been a more worthwhile target. Coventry was a target for both reasons: revenge, and industrial importance .
