Swansea Blitz

The Swansea Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of Swansea by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany on 19 February-21 February 1941.

Swansea was selected as a legitimate target due to its importance as a port and docks and its destruction was key to Nazi German war efforts as part of their strategic bombing campaign aimed at crippling coal export and demoralising civilians and emergency services.

The first air raid on Swansea was early on the morning of 27 June 1940, at 3.30 am. On the last night the air raid sirens sounded at 7.50 pm - the start of a raid that lasted for five hours.

Incendiary bombs were dropped over Swansea and the town centre was engulfed in a firestorm of flames. The grammar school that had stood on Mount Pleasant Hill since 1851 took a direct hit and was completely destroyed. 270 city residents died and 409 were injured.

The bombing of the town by the Luftwaffe - which brought a hell on earth to all its inhabitants - began on that cold, snowy night of 19 February 1941 when just after 7.30pm a shower of bombs fell on the quiet streets - 'Causing houses to dissolve like heated butter'. Fires raged around the town as incendiaries rained from the sky and the call for help went out to all the emergency services. The first response attended by the Fire Service was to 91 Rhondda Street, where it was recorded that only slight damage was done to a first floor landing. By the third night over 170 incidents had been attended.