Norwich, in common with most English cities, suffered enemy air attack and during a period of almost three and a half years bombs were dropped in every part of the city. The first German raid occurred on Tuesday 8 July 1940; the last on 6 November 1943. The total number of Alerts during 1943 was 95 with a total duration of 54 hours. The Crash Warning was sounded 50 times with a total duration of 19 hours 8 minutes. There was no large devastated area but throughout the city considerable damage was caused. All sections of life were affected and factories, railway stations, shops, schools, hospitals and churches sustained damage and many buildings were totally ruined. Of the citys 35,569 houses in 1939, 2,082 were destroyed entirely, 2,651 were seriously damaged and 25,621 were moderately damaged. In human toll 340 people were killed and 1,092 injured, over three-quarters of these casualties occurring in 1942 when the enemy carried out what became known as the Baedeker Raids upon Cathedral cities and historic and administrative capitals of the provinces.

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The period in question began quietly with the Luftwaffe busy elsewhere, yet the increasing attacks on Germany by the Royal Air Foce provoked a response in the form of the so-called Baedeker offensive of 1942. And it is against this background of the hammer blows dealt out to German towns and cities that the Blitz on Britain during 1942 - 1944 period must be viewed.

Norwich in the Second World War is the story of the city and its people, both civilian and military, from the construction of the first air raid shelters in 1938 through to VE Day in 1945 and the return of Far Eastern prisoners of war in 1946. Featuring first-hand accounts of what happened when enemy bombers raided the city, notably during the notorious Baedeker Blitz of 1942, rare photographs and documents make this book a must for anyone who knows and loves the city of Norwich.

The Lady Lord Mayors of Norwich 1923 - 2017 offers an entertaining and revealing insight into the diverse lives, both personal and civic, of seventeen remarkable women, who between 1923 and 2017, has each held the honor of being First Citizen of the City of Norwich in Norfolk England. Moreover, the pioneer Ethel Colman, daughter of the mustard giant, simultaneously became the first female Lord Mayor of both Norwich and of Great Britain.Amongst others, meet the war refugee from Czechoslovakia; the Ten Pound Pom; the Manageress of C&A; the keen amateur actress; the Trade Unionist; the Scot from the Glasgow shipyards; the Hairdresser Lord Mayor; the Prison Governors wife and the first known official consort with Downs syndrome. Discover the Civic Coach, priceless regalia, traditional robes, Whifflers, Snap the Dragon and the magnificent Art Deco Norwich City Hall, opened in 1938 by King George VI, allegedly coveted by Adolf Hitler as his regional HQ if the Nazis should win WW2.Using in-depth personal interviews with surviving female Lord Mayors, their colleagues, friends and family members, supported by research material from local archival sources, author Phyllida Scrivens has uncovered fascinating anecdotal stories, both joyous and tragic, many involving royalty and national figures. This book, including original photographs, delves behind the scenes of public office, discovering inspiring women determined to rise above the constraints of a hitherto patriarchal world.

Originally a town that was built of wood by the Anglo-Saxons, it was later burned down and then rebuilt as Englands second city, after London, by William the Conqueror. Riots between the church and the citizens saw Norwich at war with the Pope in 1272 when a gate was constructed as a penance. The Norfolk Regiment has seen its men in combat from the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Boer War and both World Wars. The more recent conflicts in the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan have also witnessed the bravery of the Norfolks. A comprehensive list of military personnel who gave their lives is examined, including Norwich-born Second Lieutenant Wilfred Edwards VC, as well as an account of 9694 Private John Henry Abigail of the Norfolk Regiment who, on 12 September 1917, aged 21, was executed for being AWOL. It would not be until November 2006 that Private Abigail was pardoned by the British government.

During the latter half of the 1930s, the fear of a possible aerial knock-out on Great Britain became a dominating factor in the formulation of national policy. This text examines how justified these pre-war fears were in light of the Luftwaffe's capabilities in 1939 and describes the bombing attacks on Britain during the years that followed, together with the operations of the defences to parry them. From the start, the air defences proved able to take a heavy toll on the bombers attacking Britain by day. By night it was a different matter. Initially, the fighter and gun defences were lucky if between them they were able to knock out one or two bombers out of three or four hundred involved in a night attack. From this poor beginning the defences improved out of all recognition and when the Germans launched a series of attacks on London early in 1944, it cost them one bomber and four trained crewmen for every five British civilians killed. Blitz on Britain makes compelling reading for anyone interested in the Luftwaffe's wartime raids on Britain, and how the air defences ultimately succeeded in defeating this long running aerial onslaught.

Meticulous research provides the fullest insight yet into the impact of this bombing campaign on Britain’s home front during the Second World War. “We shall go out and bomb every building in Britain marked with three stars in the Baedeker Guide,” the German Foreign Office announced in April 1942 as the Luftwaffe attacked Exeter, Bath, Norwich, York and Canterbury. Over a thousand people died. These raids were direct retaliation for RAF raids on equally historic German cities. Hitler had ordered that “Preference is to be given . . . where attacks are likely to have the greatest possible effect on civilian life,” and in this narrow aim—as Jan Gore shows in the first full history of the raids to be published for over twenty years—they certainly succeeded. She explains the Luftwaffe’s tactics, the types of bombs that were used—high explosive, parachute mines and incendiaries—and records the devastating damage they caused. Her main focus is on the effect of the bombing on the ground. In graphic detail she describes the air raid precautions, the role of the various civil defense organizations and the direct experience of the civilians. Their recollections—many of which have not been published before—as well as newspaper articles and official reports give us a vivid impression of the raids themselves and their immediate aftermath. “One can never understand what either side hoped to achieve by destroying historic cities and killing and maiming their citizens during a conflict such as the second world war. Jan Gore attempts to explain the thinking behind it, and the awful consequences . . . A terrific account.” —Books Monthly

A true story of two women speaking from self-imposed exile. Separated by seven centuries and an ocean, their stories intersect when Marie Laure makes a solo pilgrimage. She wants to understand why Julian of Norwich lived from age fifty in a cell, an anchorage, attached to a church during the Black Death plague. Her own so-called anchorage is a river porch attached to a Florida townhouse. How had she ended up in quasi-exile? Trying to make sense of it, she writes, just as Julian wrote to understand what had happened in a near-death experience. Alone in Julian’s anchorage, Marie confronts words etched in stone: “Thou art enough for me.” The words nag at her. Truth is, she could not say those words. Why had she come? Her handwritten words, “For my heart to heal,” speak across time when read aloud in the anchorage by a priest. Upon returning home, a global pandemic shutters the world, throwing everyone into exile, creating distance and longing for reunion. This second book in Marie Laure’s Serendipity Series continues to follow explorers of serendipitous moments on the continuum of shared spiritual stories.

No one in Shoreland knows that Liz Plant had been one of the two hundred and fifty thousand young children stolen in occupied countries, part of the Himmler plan for nazification of a select breed of "racially valuable blondes." In 1986 Liz is finally writing about her Hitler School and her escape as the mascot of a troop of elite children. But facts are not enough. In her heart she would always remain a child on the side of a dusty road waving to strangers. A stolen child. She is probing for the truth. In Hitler School she had to forget her first language and her name and became Liese. In Vienna, after the war, nuns in the children's shelter called her little Angel. She turned into Liz, when American Gramp acquired her for his lonely orphan grandson, Chris. She was told to forget German and speak only English. Chris sometimes called her Sis after his dead twin. They became inseparable as they grew up in Shoreland, but Gramp did not live to see them marry. He left Liz the old house by the sea; Chris inherited almost all the money; and Mike, their son, inherited the Plant good looks and a gift as a prankster. She had been lucky, very lucky. Why not leave well enough alone? Chris is enraged when she writes about him. Could writing to find out who she really is be asking for trouble? Mike is at risk. Chapters vanish. Arthur, a helper, intrudes on the landscape of her life as his great house intrudes on the panorama of Shoreland. Mike is assaulted on campus. The violence of the past seems to be catching up with the writer. So does the future when her book comes out. An amazing interview. An escape from Arthur's great news. Mike and his friends have a ticket for her to the Grateful Dead concert. Once more she is swept into a scene teeming with endangered kids in flight from the adult world.