Churchill dismayed by BBC broadcast

18th November 1940: A realistic approach to recording reactions to the bombing of Coventry does not fit the government's narrative

People making their way to work after the raid on Coventry on 14th/15th November.

Hitler’s objective in launching his ‘terrorangriff’ bombing raids on Britain was to intimidate the country into submission. The bombing raids were, of course, terrifying. It was scarcely credible that people who had just had their home destroyed and seen their friends and neighbours killed were cheerfully waving flags as an act of defiance. Yet the government was skillfully building a narrative of defiance - perhaps best seen in the film ‘London Can Take It’, now showing in American cinemas and around the world.

If the German objective was to terrorise Britain, then the British objective was to show they were not flinching. It was just as much a war objective as shooting down German bombers.