Coventry Blitz and Crypto(Codebreaking) ‘the Sacrifice of a City’

2 min readSep 3, 2016

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Coventry was an industrial city in the Great Britain during the World War II. Germany made a strategic bombardment to the city that is called Blitz, means storm in German. The Blitz took aim at the weapon, ammo, automobile, aircraft and aircraft engine factories. Over 1200 people were killed in total[1]. Reports say 4,330 homes were destroyed and three-quarters of the city’s factories damaged after the first bombardment[2].

Early bombardments were between August and October 1940 which 198 tons of bombs fell at fifteen to twenteen small raids. They were devastating in total but not the target-driven.

The following raid started on the evening of November 14th which was the most cruel one. Luftflotte 3 (Air fleet 3)

“There was a mass burial on 20 November and as further bodies were uncovered from the rubble another mass burial took place the following week.

Of the 500 enemy aircraft despatched to Coventry only 449 reached the city. This was by far the heaviest bombing raid on Coventry. Figures for the number killed on the night of 14 November vary between 380 and 554 people killed and several hundred injured.”[2]

Cracking the secret of Enigma was more important than military power to turn the battle in Allies’ favor. Germany’s Army, Air Force and Navy transmitted many thousands of coded messages each day during World War II.

“If U-boat Enigma had not been broken, and the war had continued for another two to three years, a further 14 to 21 million people might have been killed.” said Prof. Jack Copeland[?].

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