Birmingham Blitz

Birmingham Blitz
Part of the Strategic bombing campaign of World War II
High Street, looking towards the Bull Ring area after heavy bombing, on 10 April 1941.
Date 9 August 1940 (1940-08-09) – 23 April 1943 (1943-04-23) Location Birmingham, England 52°28′48″N 1°54′09″W / 52.48°N 1.9025°W / 52.48; -1.9025 (bombing area) Result Heavy damage to city by German air raids
Combatants
Germany	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Adolf Hitler Hermann Göring	Winston Churchill
Units involved
Luftwaffe Kampfgeschwader 55 Kampfgeschwader 51	Civil Defence Service  British Army Home Guard
Casualties and losses
Unknown	2,241 civilians killed and 6,692 injured. 12,391 houses, 302 factories and 239 other buildings were destroyed.
class=notpageimage| Location of the city of Birmingham

The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater Blitz, which was part of the Battle of Britain; and ending on 23 April 1943. Situated in the Midlands, Birmingham, the most populous British city outside London, was considered an important industrial and manufacturing location. Around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom in the Second World War, behind London and Liverpool.^[1]

There was also significant bombing of towns in the neighbouring Black Country, particularly in Dudley, Tipton, Smethwick and West Bromwich, where there were hundreds of casualties.

As with most provincial cities bombed during the Blitz, reports of the bombing were kept low key. Wartime censorship meant that Birmingham was not mentioned by name in contemporary news reports about the bombing, being referred to instead as a "Midland Town". This was done in order to keep the Germans from knowing the outcome of their raids.^[2]