Fact Wizard wrote:

Throughout 1943 raids were carried out on a variety of targets, some strategic like Southampton and Sunderland, with others such as Bournemouth and Lincoln, described as soft targets.

I always thought that Lincoln was largely spared because the Luftwaffe deemed the cathedral to be an important navigational aid for their aircraft. The medieval cathedral is huge and being situated on top of a hill is clearly visible from many miles away, and so it was one of the first easily-identifiable places German bombers encountered once they'd crossed the featureless North Sea and so gave them an opportunity to literally get their bearings, before heading on towards the industrial cities of the midlands. For the same reason it was important to allied bombers returning to the many airfields around Lincolnshire.

My research does not indicate that Lincoln was spared by the Luftwaffe because of the cathedral landmark, Lincoln was not considered a priority target, there were only two significant raids on the city, on 8-9 May 1941, and the "Baedeker" type raid on 15-16 January 1943.

As you say Lincoln was unlikely to be a priority target from any military point of view, however your post is all about the Baedeker raids targeting cultural sites and Lincoln cathedral is undeniably one of the jewels of Britain's architectural heritage. That said, the story that 'the Germans spared Lincoln cathedral because they used it for navigation' I concede might very well be a myth and indeed I've struggled to find anything much to support it. Nevertheless it was something I was told at school (1970s) and the theory does still persist to this day.

Bath does not give the impression of having been as badly damaged as other cities that were the target of the Baedaker raids.  It is a World Heritage Site in its totality.

Tim

It is 82 years since the Baedeker raids on Bath, so there is little evidence today. You will note however that my post gives ample evidence of the severe death and destruction Bath suffered.

Fact Wizard

I am not sure how familiar you are with Bath, Exeter and Canterbury?  While there is obviously a lack of evidence in terms of ruins in comparing the impact of Baedeker raids on Bath to that on Exeter and Canterbury.  One can compare the extent that prewar buildings in Bath have survived compared to the other two.  As far as I am aware, the UK did not go in for the reconstruction of historic building that were destroyed during the war in the way that, for example, Poland did.  The 'Old Town' and 'New Town' of Warsaw were both totally destroyed during the war and reconstructed after it.  

Tim

You seem to be missing the point, the destruction during bombing raids was somewhat random during WW2, finding specific targets, virtually impossible, the 19,000 buildings damaged in the Bath raids on two nights in April 1942, would have required significant restoration, many not being historical sites.

My original comment was 'Bath does not give the impression of having been as badly damaged as other cities that were the target of the Baedaker raids.'  

Do you dispute my comment, and if so on what basis?

Tim

My final comment on your observations, current impression has little relationship to the reality that occurred in April 1942.

The reconstruction of Canterbury was a bizarre affair. The raid of the 1st of June 1942 destroyed much of Burgate, Longmarket, St George’s Street (including most of the mediaeval St George’s church), Rose Lane and Whitefriars Street. Burgate is only 100 yards south of the Cathedral precincts, yet mercifully the Cathedral church itself escaped damage although the Cathedral library building was gutted.

Many plans and suggestions were put forward almost immediately regarding the reconstruction of the city such as scrapping the ancient roadways in favour of a grid system. This was resisted by the citizenry although the austerity years which followed the Second World War meant that reconstruction was delayed and haphazard. St George’s Church itself was demolished save for its tower and virtually none of the mediaeval buildings were rebuilt in their original image. That corner of the city ended up having the worst of both worlds - a mediaeval street plan with rather uninspired mid-20th century architecture. In the 1960s these were replaced with arguably even duller edifices and it looked as though this was the set look for that part of the city for the foreseeable future. In the 1990s, however, a restoration plan was embarked upon which transformed Longmarket etc and attempted to restore the mediaeval feel of the architecture. The decision by the citizens in the 1940s to keep the old street plan seemed vindicated. There are, however, some who mourn the passing of the ‘old’ i.e. post-war Longmarket suggesting that it was more real.  

Canterbury and its cathedral suffered considerably less aerial bomb damage than did Cologne that same week or throughout the rest of the Second World War. That said, Cologne is a much larger city with significant industrial sectors. The bombing of Naples in 1943 and the destruction of Monte Cassino in 1944 raised great concern among many in Allied countries regarding the cultural devastation the war was wreaking. In her memoirs Lady Diana Cooper, wife of one of Winston Churchill’s cabinet ministers, stated that among those in power the prognosis at that time for the likes of Rome, Florence, Venice and Vienna etc was bleak indeed. Fortunately, things didn’t turn out quite that bad although the bombing of Dresden in 1945 remains controversial.