Why did the Nazis bomb exeter and what other cities did they bomb and why?

Question

I can understand them bombing Plymouth because it was and is a major naval centre similiar to Portsmouth but why did they bomb exeter which i imagine was a beautiful medievel city. Did they bomb Norwich? where else?

Answer 1

Much of the bombing that Germany did was based on "disinformation" given to their spy's by MI-5. This was done to stop Germany from bombing strategic sites and/or large populated areas. After the Battle of Britain, Germany relied on inaccurate V-1's "buzz-bombs" and the more accurate V-2's to inflict damage to the U.K. to do what their Air Force could not do. False reports of major strikes against sites were reported by the BBC in order to get the targeting of "true" hits changed by the Nazis.

Let us also not forget the great job that the British Air Command did in fending off the Nazi forces in the air. It forced the Germans to unload their bomb payloads on what ever target they could make it to and get back out. The radar early warning system was a huge advantage and saved untold thousands of lives.

Madman the Hitler was, he ordered Goring to conduct several of the bombings of Cathedral City's in revenge for the bombing of Lubeck. It was a childish "you pinched me so I'll pinch you back" action. The difference was that Lubeck did offer a bit of strategic value to the Allied forces at that time, where as Exeter did not for the Axis.

But much of the targeting of such places as those mentioned by others here were just "collateral" damage.

Answer 2

In the U.K. all cities are called such because they have a Cathedral. These are beautiful and many are ancient, and were built at a time when the church governed peoples` lives. So there is a thick link to the people from the Cathedral, knowing this the Germans bombed the cities hoping to flatten the Cathedrals to the ground, and thoroughly demoralise the people. Although they did hit some of them ( St. Paul's` in London for example) The only one which had any significant damage was Coventry. Their plan mis-fired though, instead of demoralising the people it made them stronger and band to-gether with a re-newed strength; consequently the `blitz` of our cities ceased.

Answer 3

Because it was easy to find. I think the raids of some of the more picturesque of our towns (is Exeter picturesque? I don't know, maybe not after the ing anyway) were part of the 'baedeker raids'. These were named after the eponymous tourist guides, which presumably were available in pre-war Germany. I guess they just picked up a few guides, saw which towns were nice and had a go at them for that reason. Canterbury was another town which fell into this category.
Being from Coventry this is a sensitive subject but I'm glad people are acknowledging the ing which provincial towns suffered, and not just confining it to the London blitz, horrendous though that no doubt was.

Answer 4

Clydebank was destroyed when they mistook it for Glasgow - it was to be bombed because of the ship building. Coventry was bombed in the beleif that there was a munitions factory close by ( there had been previously but it was closed down)

Bristol Hartlepool Liverpool London Southampton were all bombed because they were major ports. Hitler imagined if he closed down the ports navy wouldn't get in and out, and we would run out of food (no merchant ships would be able to get in) Others wer bombed because they were major population centres

Answer 5

In 1942, Hitler was enraged by the RAF's bombing of the ancient German cathedral city of Lubeck, on the night of 28/29 March 1942, which was chosen as a target for supplying the Russian front. He decided to launch a series of reprisal raids on some of Englands most beautiful but strategically unimportant towns. He used the Baedeker tourist guide to select the targets and on 23rd and 25th April, Exeter was the first to be hit.

Answer 6

ALL CITIES,had a taste,coventry,manchester birmingham,they did bomb the naval yards, industry,or science centers. they also overshot a lot of the targets assigned ,flying through flak,fighting planes plus a blacked out country,it must have been difficult to find the exact target, if a plane was attacking your plane you would want to unload and get the hell out of there regardless of where it was.indiscriminate bombing took place using the doodlebug, and v1 rockets so anywhere could have been hit they targetted centers of the highest population for the region. LF

Answer 7

Coventry was very badly bombed and quite a lot of times, my Mother and Farther worked at the SS ( Now Jaguar ) making parts for the Spitfire, my Father was later drafted to Belgium, But there were a lot of industries in Coventry and around who were doing war work so it was a prime target.

Answer 8

Clydebank (not itself a city but near Glasgow).

They bombed it because a lot of shipbuilding happened on the clyde and also tyres were made in that area for aircraft. Place was blitzed - something like only 11 houses left standing

Answer 9

Swansea. Liverpool , Coventry Southampton

Answer 10

They bombed Exeter too :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/85/a5335085.shtml
and Norwich

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/norwich/local/TRA27970.html?ixsid=NanV8S8lWmy