November 14, 1940
German bombers devastate the English city of Coventry, demolishing tens of thousands of buildings and killing hundreds of men, women, and children. The verb “Koventrieren” passed into the German language, meaning “to annihilate or reduce to rubble.” Almost 500 German bombers unleashed some 150,000 incendiary bombs and more than 500 tons of high explosives on the British industrial city. Of the 568 people killed, more than 400 were burned so badly they could not be identified.
