I spent a week there in late August/early September. Gut reaction wasn't very favourable; but after a few days you start to see the tragedy, the haunted quality that seeps out of every building and in many of the faces. It's no surprise that it turned out like it did. Anyone with a heart has to view it with some degree of empathy. I remember getting a cab across town at around 1am. The roads were empty. Main, three lane roads. Utterly empty. After about ten minutes I pointed this out to the cab driver, who was obviously used to it, having been there all his life. He said that the only vehicles you see at that time of night are minicabs and police cars; and there aren't many of those. Ghost town indeed.

The cathedral is particularly moving as it's a very potent, unvarnished reminder of the destruction. Very little attempt has been made to repair it, and you can hear grandparents unable to shy away from telling their little ones why it's the way it is. I took this there on 4th September this year:

reading "Among the Dead Cities: Was the Allied Bombing of Civilians in WWII a Necessity or a Crime?" AC Grayling which helps lay out some of the moral issues. I am wary of getting into the numbers game though not sure it helps a great deal in resolving things. there was some discussion of this film a while ago might worth looking at.
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/i-player-idea

of Coventry are empty because it is one of the most violent cities in the UK. The town planners that designed the re-building of the inner city are the most deserving of Prince Charles monstrous carbuncle tag. Great cathedral though.

That's what it comes down to. All sides do terrible things in war and World War Two just took this to horrific extremes. And the longer a war goes on, the cheaper human life gets, so you go from Coventry, through Dresden to Hiroshima.
The trouble is, something in human nature makes us forget this after only a few years, and you'll always get leaders thinking it's a sensible option.

As was pointed out in the documentary, the destruction wrought upon these two cities put the Coventry raid into perspective. Other things need to be borne in mind - the Luftwaffe bombed for twelve hours. The RAF raids rarely lasted more than an hour, such was their staggering intensity. And what happened to Coventry was a mere scratch compared to what happened to nearly every German city within bombing range; by late 1944 the tactics had been so refined that Harris and Portal had a terribly efficient urban destruction machine at their disposal. They used it, night after night, to eviscerate German centres of population. Was it a was crime? I don't know. I have yet to read Grayling's book, although I have read many others on the subject but I think it is fair to say that history is written by the victors.

History is indeed written by the victors. I suppose it also stands to reason that the victors will usually have committed the greatest acts of annihilation - that's how you win, after all, by becoming the most efficient at killing people.

but the historians amongst you might pause to consider that Plymouth also got a pounding, yet rarely gets mentioned in this context.

Plymouth also has a skeletal church (Charles Church, sitting proud in the middle of a roundabout, still boasting its Goering redesign to this day), and when I was a little lad (it's my home town) we constantly played on 'bombsites' as there were still so many of them, even decades after the events.

Swansea was regularly bombed between 1940 and 1943. It was blitzed six times. My father was brought up near a very industrial area and was evacuated during the heaviest bombing.

1st September 1940.
First blitz on Swansea, oil tanks at Llandarcy hit.
Swansea's town centre was targeted with a blitz which lasted several hours. (251 High Explosive bombs and over 1000 incendiaries dropped covering the region during the largest raid in Swansea to date). A deadly mixture of High Explosive and incendiary bombs fell on the shopping centre causing a red glare in the sky as a number of buildings burnt to destruction. One shopping street in particular was badly damaged and other buildings were totally gutted by the fires, whilst Parachute Flares silently and menacingly hung in the area lighting the devastation for miles around. Rescue efforts were carried out using torchlight only to avoid the area from further targeting. 33 people were killed and 115 were injured.

17 January 1941 Swansea Blitzed (No. 2)
Extensive damage as 178 High Explosive bombs and 7000 incendiaries landed on a snow-covered Swansea during its heaviest raid to date. St Thomas was easily the most affected region with other significant damage being recorded at Hafod and Bonymaen. This blitz started soon after dark and lasted for several hours. Undoubtedly, a sustained attack on the docks and industrial sector were the intentions of the enemy this night, but the surrounding residential areas of Bonymaen, Hafod and St. Thomas suffered the brunt of the bombs which missed their prime targets. Starting with a large number of incendiaries, which fell both sides of the River Tawe, a continuous bombardment of flares and High Explosive bombs followed from 8.00pm until 12.50am. This caused severe fires that damaged houses, shops and commercial buildings and resulted in 55 deaths and 97 casualties. One of the legitimate targets of the raid was the ICI works complex at Landore which was, as part of the war effort, heavily involved in war production. Around 20 incendiary bombs and some High Explosives hit the area but only caused damage to some building roofs, with the plant itself escaping unscathed. There were only three minor casualties and no deaths at the plant resulting from the enemy's onslaught.

19th February 1941. Swansea Blitzed (No. 3)
The "Three Nights' Blitz" (19th,20th,21st). Over these three night's of intensive bombing, which lasted a total of 13 hours and 48 minutes, Swansea town centre was almost completely obliterated by the 896 High Explosive bombs employed by the Luftwaffe. A total of 397 casualties and 230 deaths were reported.

20th February 1941. Swansea Blitzed (No. 4)
The worst single incident during the war in Swansea happened on the second night of 'The Three Nights' Blitz'. A whole stick of bombs hit a row of houses in Teilo Crescent, which was already in flames. The lives of the street's residents, as well as fire fighters and wardens who were battling the fires, were tragically wiped out, amounting to a total of 46 deaths and many more injuries.

21st February 1941. Swansea Blitzed (No. 5)
The basement of Wesleyan Chapel, situated at the top of Swansea's old Goat Street, was one of the many that had been requisitioned as a public shelter to cover the neighbouring populace. The shelter had become, much to the deep consternation of the Civil Defense authorities, a place where people would congregate socially each evening. Many locals would bring blankets, pillows and deckchairs to the shelter, which had become well-known for its use as a "Fish and Chip Bar". But it was during the less congenial circumstances of the third night of 'The Three Nights' Blitz' that wartime drama removed every last ounce of meagre merrymaking. Around 150 people had seeked shelter here during the very worst bombardment the Luftwaffe wreaked upon Swansea. The town centre was in the midst of being burnt to the ground during the relentless onslaught of mostly incendiary bombs. The vast majority of buildings here were ablaze and raging out of control due to the intensity of the attack and the lack of fighting ability remaining in both the exhausted defense force and bomb-damaged water hydrants and hoses. The flames had been so intense in Goat Street that it was obvious that the people sheltering in the Wesleyan Chapel shelter were at serious risk. Taking a decisive step, two or three policemen efficiently evacuated the shelter and guided the people down Welcome Lane to the arches beneath The Strand, where they sheltered until the 'all clear' was sounded at 12.40am. However, as was common during this time of misinformation and rumour in the absence of real fact and authoritative announcements, it was believed by a substantial number of locals that over a hundred people had met their deaths within this shelter.

16th February 1943. Sixth blitz on Swansea and its last raid suffered. Swansea's last air raid was a another blitz on the town. A few bombers dropped flares some time after 10.00pm, before circling the town to release their load of 32 High Explosive bombs and a substantial amount of incendiary bombs. The raid lasted a relatively short 30 minutes, but killed 34 people, injured 110 and caused considerable damage to residential houses and shops in the areas of Neath Road, Hafod, St. Thomas and Brynmill. In addition, Swansea General Hospital needed to evacuate 300 patients to neighbouring hospitals after a ward was completely demolished by a blast.

My current home-town got a pasting. Cutty & pasty time..

"Three of these attacks were regarded as major, 24-August-1940, 10-January-1941, 10-March-1941, with the rest being on a slightly smaller scale.

It is estimated that approximately 1,320 high explosive bombs, 38,000 incendiary devices and 38 land mines were dropped onto Portsmouth during this period.

930 civilians were killed, 1,216 people were hospitalised and 1,621 more people were injured less seriously.

There were additional casualties in the Dockyard and other naval or military establishments.

The damage recorded to residential properties was massive, over 80,000 properties sustained air raid damage, some being hit 3 or 4 times. In total 6,625 residential properties were destroyed completely, 6,459 were seriously damaged and 69,886 were damaged slightly !"

The total load from those three attacks is about the same as the load dropped on Dresden by the RAF on the 13th Feb 1945. In the first, and smaller, wave of bombing. Which lasted a shade over eight minutes.

Sort of puts it into perspective.