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We see views inside the new Coventry Cathedral. Maps and archive film are used to describe events in the Second World War prior to the raid of November 1940. These include films of Adolf Hitler in Berlin and Stuka dive bombers. This is followed by pre raid amateur film of Coventry including the cathedral, Owen Owen, and the New Hippodrome (c1940). We also see the production of aircraft and tanks in factories on the outskirts of the city. Early indication of a raid was detected at Bletchley Park using codes broken from the Enigma machine (stills of the site and code machine are shown). Interview with Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham who worked at Bletchley Park. We then see clips from a German newsreel showing the Luftwaffe preparing for a mission and a reconstruction of families entering a garden bomb shelter. Former Luftwaffe pilots Guenther Unger and Diether Lukesch are interviewed whilst flying over Coventry in a helicopter. We then cut from the modern aerial views of Coventry to archive of a bombing raid over a city and more reconstructions of a family in a shelter. Several local people are interviewed, and they describe first-hand what the raid was like: Winifred Peacock; Margaret Ashley; Gwen Carter; Ray Corn; George Sanders; Charles Bullock; and James Harris. We also see clips from a German propaganda newsreel about the attack on Coventry. Colonel Frank Lawrence who was Commander of 95 Birmingham HAA during the raid describes talking to Winston Churchill on the telephone during the night. More archive film of burning buildings is used with continuing eyewitness accounts: Peggy Richards; Alderman George Hodgkinson; Barbara Field; and Elsie Brooks. Part one ends with stills of the aftermath of the attack.
Part two starts with German aerial photographs after the raid and interviews with more Coventry people (as well as those already named) about the devastation they witnessed: Jean Gibbs; George Noel; Stella Franklin; and Evelyn O’Connor. There is also archive film of a city following a heavy bombing raid (some of this material is of London) and clips from a film made in Coventry as a propaganda tool showing fresh water being distributed on the streets, rubble being removed, and factory workers going back to work. We then see archive film of a mass burial at the London Road cemetery in Coventry and views of the memorial today followed by views of the modern Coventry including the precinct as the commentary continues to talk about the city’s remembrance and turns to examine if the city could have been warned of the raid. This is followed by a graphic indicating the timeline of events and archive film of Winston Churchill visiting Coventry after the bombing. The film ends with modern views of a service taking place in the ruined cathedral and interviews with young German visitors to the city, Gottfried Bay, and Martina Eisinecker, about their feelings mixed with comments from those already named.
Cameraman: John Varnish
Sound Recordist: Frank Minton
Research: Francis Dobbs
Research: Malcolm Frazer
Rostrum Cameraman: Ken Morse
Graphics: Jim Chalmers
Dubbing Mixer: Mike Billing
Assistant Film Editor: Ian Hutchinson
Production Assistant: Annette Cunningham
Design: John Layeu
Music: Stephen Oliver
Conductor: Marcus Dods
Film Editor: Andrew Denny
Executive Producer: Brian Lewis
Producer/Director: John Pett
[credited at start: Narrator: Alan Badel]
Production number 8249/80.