Wartime Blitz in Wales

Wartime Blitz in Wales

Wartime Blitz in Wales

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the World War Two blitz on Swansea when high explosive and incendiary bombs rained down on the town, reducing large areas of the town centre to rubble and killing 369 people.

The short breaks in Wales visitor will have little idea what pre-war Swansea looked like as its City centre has been redeveloped over the years since the war. But photographs in the town museum and in archives show that it rivalled Cardiff for its historic buildings and wide streets.

There were more than 44 air raids, but most of the damage was done between February 19th and 21st 1941 when the Luftwaffe targeted the town because of its importance as a coal and oil port with the BP Llandarcy refinery nearby. Short breaks in Wales tourists will have heard that it was a relentless blitz which erupted suddenly at 3.30am and during the three days and nights thousands of bombs were dropped, the first raid lasting over five hours. The town centre, with its Norman castle, which short breaks in Wales visitors see today, was engulfed in flames and left in ruins, a devastation comparable to that in Coventry, although on a slightly smaller scale. Shops, offices, homes, schools and St Mary's Church were left in ruins and the glow of the flames could be seen 75 miles away in Fishguard and in Cardiff and Bristol.

Short breaks in Wales patrons can imagine the demoralising effect of such a battering, coming in the dead hours of the night, but the people of Swansea reacted with great resilience and courage and many acts of heroism were performed in the fire fighting and rescue operation.

Streets of houses near the docks, particularly at Brynhyfryd and St Thomas, where Harry Secombe was born, were hit and many civilians killed.

Dylan Thomas's Alma Mater, the Grammar School on Penlan Hill where his father also taught, was extensively damaged and the children moved to other buildings. Signs of the blitz still survive for short breaks in Wales visitors to see today, the brickwork of the old Police Station pocked with shrapnel holes.

Cardiff was also badly blitzed throughout the war, again because of its industrial importance, and 355 people were killed and more than 500 injured, Llandaff Cathedral left severly damaged.

And Pembroke Dock, another important industrial and harbour area, was heavily attacked in 1940 and 1941, buildings left in ruins and over 70 people killed, oil storage tanks left blazing for three weeks.

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