How much was your city destroyed during the blitz?

[louder]

plymouth was one of the worst bombed cities in the blitz. i win.

Plymouth was affected so badly because most of the blitz was at night. The war came and no-one seemed to believe it had really happened and that it would not last long, but in the first few months a substantial amount of shipping was sunk and quite a few people knew someone or lost someone, this brought the reality of the situation to the surface quickly. The first bomb to drop on Plymouth dropped on the North Prospect area. It was a shock to everyone and no-one could really believe it, crowds of people turned up outside the bombed houses, but it was a forerunner of what was to come. It was really surprising how people can cope in times of trouble.
The Anderson Shelters were earthy and damp but whether they liked it or not people had to leave their beds and stay in the shelter for as long as it lasted. They got quite used to the gunfire and the planes above. The morning after the raid you would see alot of people wandering around, but help was always at hand - community centres were set up with rows of beds and hot drinks and refreshments were offered.
The night that Milehouse Cemetery got bombed there was no warning; just an explosion that put a lot of people into a state of confusion. The worst time for Stoke and Devonport was 1941, this was when Fore Street was bombed, houses were left abandoned, the people who lived in them had had enough, some houses that were standing had been damaged by blast from the high explosives, but in Stoke and
Devonport some families left for good. The dockyard had taken on women workers to do mens jobs, a lot of them really enjoyed their work, you would see them with head scarves and turbans. There was something very lively about it all, even today those that are around will tell you about their stint in the dockyard, and they are very proud to have done their part.
It was with great relief when the war came to an end, but nothing was the same again but even so the matter was made much worse because Devonport was sliced up and cut off. The re-building for Devonport was badly planned, the area around Pembroke Street should have been preserved. Much has changed, so much so, that no-one stops to think about the buildings which are left.
But some are still there, and these deserve a mention, so that the future generations will take more than an interest in the past history of Plymouth. To begin with Devonport Column was built in 1842 to commemorate the new name of Devonport which was formally dock, the Guildhall, and St Andrews church stand, and many buildings on the Barbican, which can be noted as the "oldest" part of Plymouth and still the most historic.

it's kind of weird, because north prospect is about a 5-10 minute walk from me.
it's also a **** hole. quite right it got bombed first

and my nan lives on fore street in devonport.

wish i'd actually looked into how badly plymouth got bombed in school.
i knew we got it harsh, but never actually read up about it.

[Oleh]

Sheffield was bombed and with 560,000 inhabitants only 660 died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Blitz

[lTraditional]

Birmingham was bombed quite abit. It was funny in the 1970s (Yes I got told by my great auntie!) that they found a bomb in somebody garden and they held it and put it in the house - how stupid was that? Anyway back on subject, I don't know much of my history

[Blinger$]

It wasn't... Melbourne is just awesome?

[Neversoft]

Unfortunately not much.