David Hearst The Luftwaffe regarded the blitz on Coventry on 14 November 1940 as an astonishing technological achievement. German propaganda broadcasts hailed the raid as “the most severe in the whole history of the war”. The chief Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, was so delighted with the raid, that he coined a new term in its honour: “to Coventrate”. It was not long, however, before the taste of total victory turned sour. The production of aero engines and aircraft parts was quickly shifted to shadow factories. Capacity had only been dented, not destroyed; within months, factories were…
