In 1940-41 the cities of Cardiff and Swansea suffered extensive damage during the Blitz - especially Swansea, which suffered the most of all British cities in terms of the sheer intensity of the damage.
Seventy-five years later John Humphrys revisits the cities and talks to those survivors who are still around to tell their stories. He also flies up in the air to see precisely where the bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe pilots, and sees the precisely detailed maps compiled by the Germans, pointing out the targets to be bombed.
Inevitably we hear some harrowing stories of youngsters seeing the sight of friends and family blown to bits, of ARP wardens trying to rescue survivors, of other helpers trying to tend to the dead and wounded while trying to escape death themselves. None of the stories are pleasant ones; but they serve to remind us of just how precarious life was for most citizens at that time.
Born in 1943, Humphrys had first-hand experience of the Blitz, as the house he grew up in Cardiff narrowly missed a direct hit. While still a child, he played on the bomb-sites; most of them have gone now, but the memories came vividly back to him as he walked the quiet streets of Cardiff and Swansea, telling the story.
Perhaps the most memorable moment came right at the end when a recording of Dylan Thomas reading "Return Journey" was played. Based on his own first-hand memories of seeing his home town of Swansea destroyed, the piece is not only an elegy for the dead but a reminiscence of lifestyles brought to a savage end by the Blitz.
In the end Hitler's Blitzkrieg failed to have the desired effect of breaking British morale, but it left a lot of citizens bereft of family, friends and homes. Those who survived seemed ready to forgive, but the harrowing memories remain with them to their graves.
Seventy-five years later John Humphrys revisits the cities and talks to those survivors who are still around to tell their stories. He also flies up in the air to see precisely where the bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe pilots, and sees the precisely detailed maps compiled by the Germans, pointing out the targets to be bombed.
Inevitably we hear some harrowing stories of youngsters seeing the sight of friends and family blown to bits, of ARP wardens trying to rescue survivors, of other helpers trying to tend to the dead and wounded while trying to escape death themselves. None of the stories are pleasant ones; but they serve to remind us of just how precarious life was for most citizens at that time.
Born in 1943, Humphrys had first-hand experience of the Blitz, as the house he grew up in Cardiff narrowly missed a direct hit. While still a child, he played on the bomb-sites; most of them have gone now, but the memories came vividly back to him as he walked the quiet streets of Cardiff and Swansea, telling the story.
Perhaps the most memorable moment came right at the end when a recording of Dylan Thomas reading "Return Journey" was played. Based on his own first-hand memories of seeing his home town of Swansea destroyed, the piece is not only an elegy for the dead but a reminiscence of lifestyles brought to a savage end by the Blitz.
In the end Hitler's Blitzkrieg failed to have the desired effect of breaking British morale, but it left a lot of citizens bereft of family, friends and homes. Those who survived seemed ready to forgive, but the harrowing memories remain with them to their graves.
