La ville éventrée: or, how bombing turned the city inside out

Such was the aftermath of a blitz, witnessed by Canon Detrez, in the workers’ housing estate next to the freight station LilleDélivrance in the north of France on 11 April 1944. From 1940, France was bombed, steadily or sporadically depending on location, receiving just over a quarter of the Allies’ European bombing effort.3 After the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 and the French capitulation in June, bombing became the sole means for Britain to continue offensive warfare on the European continent. The first French targets were German barges amassing on the Channel coast preparing to invade Britain, and airfields in northern France. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command bombed a range of French targets in line with the requirements of campaigns elsewhere. The ongoing Battle of the Atlantic led to attacks on German surface raiders docked at Brest until February 1942, and then heavy raids on the Atlantic ports in early 1943 intending to destroy U-Boat bases there. The RAF and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) attacked industrial plants across France, including the southern zone from November 1942.