Yahoo News 
On This Day: Coventry obliterated by worst Nazi air raid of WWII
NOVEMBER 14, 1940: Coventry was almost completely obliterated by the most devastating air raid of World War II on this day in 1940.
Two thirds of its buildings were damaged after 515 German bombers dropped their deadly cargo on the West Midlands city during the 11-hour nighttime attack.
In the centre, only the 295ft spire of St Michael’s Cathedral survived the onslaught by 500 tonnes of high explosives and 36,000 incendiary bombs.
The industrial city, which had previously suffered 17 small raids, saw a third of its factories destroyed along with 4,300 homes during a massive firestorm.
But, incredibly, only 568 people died – from a population of 238,000 - after few public shelters were destroyed during the attack, which began at 7pm.
Yet the scale of destruction astonished many Britons, who had been suffering air raids – albeit predominantly in London – for two months at that time.
A British Pathé newsreel described Coventry as the “martyred city” destroyed by German “butchery” as it filmed its smouldering ruins.
Some residents are seen scrambling over rubble, while other stand open-mouthed in shock and a few more help to sweep up the destruction wrought on their hometown.
King George VI and Home Secretary Herbert Morrison are also filmed visiting the levelled city that once boasted a number of 13th and 14th century buildings.
Appalled at the damage, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the RAF to carry out a devastating air raid on a German city.
Two nights later, 200 British planes rained bombs on the northern port of Hamburg, which sparked 60 fires and caused extensive damage.
Coventry’s near total destruction came just days after the Luftwaffe began heavily bombing cities outside London for the first time.
The capital had been attacked for 57 consecutive nights from September 7 to November 2 by the time it finally got some respite.
A total of 16 cities were hit by major raids where more than 100 tonnes of bombs were dropped in a single night.
Outside London, Liverpool – the main cargo port during the war - was the worst hit, with a death toll of more than 4,000.
[On This Day: Germany invades Poland]
Birmingham and Plymouth also suffered eight major air raids, with Bristol heavily targeted on six nights, Glasgow five, Southampton four and Portsmouth three.
In a bid to reduce the death toll, 3.5million children – including 1.4million from London – were evacuated to the countryside.
The Blitz ended in May 1941 after the Luftwaffe withdrew all but one of its squadrons as the Germans prepared to invade Russia instead.
But bombing continued throughout the war, albeit on a smaller scale and even today unexploded bombs are still routinely found in Britain’s cities.
[On This Day: WW2 Blitz begins over London]
Although, by 1943, it was Germany who was suffering by far the heaviest bombing of the war.
Between the RAF and U.S. 8th Air Force, 1.6million tons of bombs were jettisoned on Germany, compared with the 65,000 tons the Luftwaffe dropped on Britain.
There was also a wide discrepancy between the number of lives lost between the two countries – with almost half a million Germans being killed in air raids.
The total British civilian death toll of 43,000 was less than the number who died in Hamburg alone, where 45,000 had perished by the end of the war.
[OnThis Day: Britain invades uninhabited Island in bizarre Cold War drama ]
The bombing of Dresden, where at least 35,000 died on one night, was later described as revenge for Coventry.
However, there was little British sympathy for the citizens of the Nazi state, which was the first to use heavy bombing during the war.
Sir Arthur Harris, the head of RAF Bomber Command, said at the start of the 1943 campaign:
“They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.”
