The 'Blitz on Birmingham' was the German heavy bombing campaign against Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England as part of 'The Blitz' (9 August 1940/23 April 1943).

Situated in the Midlands of England, Birmingham is the most populous British city outside London, and in World War II was an important industrial and manufacturing location. Some 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the UK after London and Liverpool. There was also significant bombing of towns in the neighbouring Black Country, particularly in Dudley, Tipton, Smethwick and West Bromwich, where there were hundreds of casualties.

As with most provincial cities bombed during 'The Blitz', reports of the bombing were kept at a low key. Wartime censorship meant that Birmingham was not mentioned by name in contemporary news reports about the bombing, being referred to instead as a 'Midland town', which was intended to keep the Germans from knowing the outcome of their raids.

In overall terms, there were 365 air raid alerts, and 77 actual air raids on Birmingham, eight of which were classified as major, i.e. raids in which at least 100 tons of bombs were dropped. Official figures indicate that 5,129 high explosive bombs and 48 parachute mines landed on the city, along with many thousands of incendiary bombs. Of the high explosive bombs, around one-fifth failed to detonate, and one-third of the parachute mines were left suspended after their parachute cords became caught in various obstacles such as trees. In total, 2,241 people were killed and 3,010 seriously injured, while another 3,682 sustained lesser injuries. Some 12,391 houses, 302 factories and 239 other buildings were destroyed, and very large numbers of other buildings were damaged.

The first raid on Birmingham took place on 9 August 1940, carried out by a single aeroplane which dropped its bombs on Erdington, where one person was killed and six injured. On 13 August the aircraft factory in Castle Bromwich, which was manufacturing Supermarine Spitfire single-engined fighters, was attacked: 11 bombs hit the main target causing significant damage, seven people were killed and another 41 were injured. The first raid on the city centre occurred on 25/26 August, an in this attack 25 people were killed, and the roof and interior of the old Market Hall in the Bull Ring were destroyed after being set ablaze by incendiary bombs. The Birmingham Small Arms factory at Small Heath, the sole producer of barrels for service rifles and also the primary manufacturer of barrels for aircraft machine guns, was first bombed on the same day: one high explosive bomb and a shower of incendiaries hit the main barrel mill.

Regular small raids followed during August, September, October and early November. The city centre was badly hit between 25 and 30 October. Among the buildings hit were Birmingham University, the Art Gallery and the Town Hall. The roof of the Council House was damaged by fire, and on 29 October St Philip’s Cathedral suffered serious fire damage after being hit by an incendiary.

In November 1940 there was a series of heavy air raids on Birmingham, and between 19 and 28 November some 800 people were killed and 2,345 injured, and 20,000 civilians were rendered homeless. On the first evening of the bombing, just five days after the devastating 'Mondscheinsonate' attack on nearby Coventry, the first major air raid was launched against Birmingham, when around 440 bombers attacked the city, killing 450 people and badly injuring 540. About 400 tons of high explosives were dropped during the raid, the total including 18 parachute mines. This was the most severe attack on Birmingham in the course of the war. A number of factories were badly damaged in the raid, including the Lucas Industries and GEC works. The Birmingham Small Arms factory was badly damaged, causing loss of production and trapping hundreds of workers: 53 employees were killed, 89 were injured, 30 of them seriously, and rifle production was halted for three months. The resulting delays in production reportedly caused most concern to the prime minister, Winston Churchill, of all the industrial damage during 'The Blitz', so the ministry of supply and the company immediately began a process of production dispersal throughout the UK within the shadow factory scheme.

On the following night 200 bombers returned for another heavy raid, dropping 118 tons of explosives and 9,500 incendiaries, which caused widespread damage. The main bus depot in Hockley was among the buildings hit, destroying or damaging 100 vehicles.

A third consecutive major raid followed on 21/22 November. During this 11-hour raid, large numbers of incendiaries were dropped, starting more than 600 fires. The water supply system was badly damaged by bombs, causing three-fifths of the city to lose their mains water supply, and firefighters therefore had to draw the water they needed from the city’s canals. Supporting fire brigades from across the country were summoned to support the local teams, and the fires were eventually brought under control. Nevertheless, Birmingham’s water supply remained in a critical state, and only one-fifth of the normal quantity would have been available if there had been another raid, leading the regional commissioner to comment that 'Birmingham will burn down if the Luftwaffe comes again tonight.' However, there was no other raid that night, and this gave engineers time to repair the water mains.

Some 60 bombers attacked Birmingham on 4 December, and the Witton tram depot was badly damaged in this raid. One week later, on the night of 11 December, another major raid involving 278 bombers was launched against the city. This lasted for 13 hours and was thus the longest raid on the city. Apart from explosives, around 25,000 incendiaries were dropped during the raid, causing widespread fires in both residential and industrial areas, and 263 people were killed and 243 badly injured. All but the tower and classical west portico of St Thomas' Church on Bath Row was destroyed in the raid.

More heavy raids followed in 1941. On 11 March, 135 bombers attacked the city, and on 9 and 10 April Birmingham was subjected to two heavy raids. In the first of these, 235 bombers dropped 280 tons of explosives and 40,000 incendiaries, concentrated on the city centre. The Bull Ring, New Street, High Street and Dale End all suffered heavy damage, St Martin in the Bull Ring was damaged, and the Prince of Wales Theatre and Midland Arcade were destroyed. Other areas, including Small Heath, Aston and Nechells, also suffered heavy damage. On the second night, 245 bombers dropped 245 tons of explosives and 43,000 incendiaries, causing major damage in Solihull, Hall Green and Erdington. The two April raids caused 1,121 casualties. On the night of 16 May, another large raid caused damage to the Wolseley Motors factory and the Imperial Chemical Industries factory, although a navigation error meant that most of the bombers dropped their bombs on nearby Nuneaton by mistake.

The last significant raid on Birmingham came on 27 July 1942, when around 60 to 70 bombers attacked the city. The very last raid on the city came on 23 April 1943 when just two bombs fell on Bordesley Green, causing slight injury, and the last air raid siren sounded on 15 May 1944.

The Black Country area also suffered from air raids from the Luftwaffe aiming for targets there and in Birmingham, although there was less damage and fewer casualties in the Black Country than in Birmingham. There was a succession of air raids on Wolverhampton in 1941 and 1942. Despite its position as a large town with heavy industry, Wolverhampton suffered relatively little air raid damage, with eight fatalities in air raids between 1940 and 1944.

There was an air raid on Darlaston on 5 June 1941, when a bomb aimed at the town’s Rubery Owen factory struck a nearby housing estate and killed 11 people. Another air raid on the town on 31 July 1942 reduced All Saints Church to rubble.

West Bromwich suffered its heaviest raid on 19 November 1940, when Birmingham also suffered a heavy raid, with more than 50 fatalities, mainly around the town centre. Several houses were wrecked by bombs in the Tantany and Stone Cross areas of the town, but there were no deaths.

Dudley was bombed on the same night as West Bromwich, with the 10 fatalities, all of them in the Oakham area of the town, when a land mine ripped into a section of council houses. Another bomb in the town centre demolished a public house and caused damage to buildings including a church and a department store, but nobody was injured. Another bombing nine months later resulted in five deaths. During the following year, five other people were killed when a land mine was dropped on a new housing estate near the border with Tipton, demolishing two houses and damaging several others.

There were also a number of fatalities in nearby Tipton in that same night, with several more deaths occurring in the Great Bridge area of the town in May 1941 when a bomb demolished a public house and several surrounding houses.

Smethwick was bombed on several occasions between 1940 and 1942, resulting in a total of 80 deaths.

Oldbury was bombed on several occasions, being one of the towns struck during the region’s air raid of 19 November 1940, killing three people. The only other fatal air raid in the town took place five months later, resulting in one death when a house near the border with Rowley Regis was hit by a bomb.

Some 36 people in Solihull were killed in air raids between 1940 and 1942.

Some 17 persons died as a result of air raids on Willenhall on 21 November 1940 and 31 July 1942.

There was one civilian fatality in Brierley Hill. On 11 January 1941, a raid struck the town’s railway goods station, seriously injuring a worker who died more than a year later, having never recovered from his injuries.

There were two fatal air raids in Coseley. The first on 26 June 1940 resulted in one death, and the second on 20 August 1940 resulted in four deaths. Both of these air raids took place near the border with Bilston.

The only fatal air raid on Bilston occurred on 30 August 1940, when a steel worker was seriously injured in an air raid on a factory and died shortly after reaching hospital.

Wednesbury suffered its only civilian casualty on 31 July 1942 when housing near the border with Darlaston was bombed.

Not in the Black Country, Sutton Coldfield was bombed four times between August 1940 and August 1942, with one fatality each time.

The massive bomb damage on civilian housing in Birmingham contributed to the development of many large council estates across the city for some 20 years after World War II. These neighbourhoods included Castle Vale and Chelmsley Wood. Another major factor in the construction of these new properties was the desire to replace the 19^th century slums in the inner city areas. Some of the bomb-damaged inner city areas such as Ladywood and Highgate were redeveloped with modern housing after the war, although these were mostly less densely populated than before.