Operation Moonlight Sonata: The German Raid on Coventry

The personal impact of this massive raid on many of the residents who were in Coventry that night was understandably traumatic. One such individual was a Miss Gladys A. Hollingsworth who captured the drama of that tragic night so graphically in her diary when she recorded the following observations: ¹

MEMORANDA

Do I really need this appropriate heading to describe my experiences after the night of Nov. 14, 1940 something which I hope I shall never have the terror of enduring again or anyone else. THE CITY OF COVENTRY smashed to destruction in a single night by the stride of German air attack. Can anyone imagine such a prosperous thriving industrial centre + 10 hr later such a graveyard & rubbish heap!

After spending 10 hr in a hole beneath ground, hearing noises never heard by human beings before in the history of mankind. Guns, bombs, machine guns, aeroplanes, buildings collapsing; fire engines, ambulances, rescue parties all filling the air with peculiar sounds.

Then to arise to view a second "Pompeii." Death & poverty overshadow the piles of rubble + smoldering remains of once world famous buildings. Firemen, doctors, nurses, civil defense, L.D.V. rescue parties, demolition & bomb disposal squads fighting to not alone save human life but to start & make our city (without a cathedral) not again prosperous but after debris have been cleared nothing but a barren wilderness. Bombs lie buried beneath wreckage to renew this eruption. Shall we ever see our city anything like it was before or are we to be thrilled with a modern, new, clean, well planned city, we wonder. Our first thoughts are for water, gas, light & heat. Does this seem possible. IT IS.

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