![]() | Guest Historian Chris Oakley says, this thread is a variant from a Sky News article of February 23rd which reads ~ Blackpool was off-limits to the Luftwaffe during World War Two because Hitler wanted the seaside town as a "playground", uncovered documents reportedly reveal. The Fuhrer apparently wanted to hoist the Nazi flag up Blackpool Tower and base the headquarters for his paratroopers there.
Uncovered intelligence maps reportedly reveal Hitler's intention to spare the Lancashire resort during his planned invasion of Great Britain.
York-based publisher Michael Cole brought the documents back from Germany about a year ago, he said.
The papers go toward explaining why the resort escaped unscathed during the Blitz - especially considering there were major British aircraft manufacturing factories situated there.
"These maps will be the source of much interest particularly to those who lived here through the Second World War," said Elaine Smith, chairman of Blackpool's Civic Trust.
"It had been known that Hitler intended to use Blackpool as his personal playground after what he hoped to be a successful invasion and the war ended.
"He probably wanted to keep the resort as it was so he could enjoy it as Chancellor of Britain."
The maps also detail the Nazi leader's invasion plans - which included marching soldiers along the coastline.
The Italian Gardens in Stanley Park was to be used as a guide for paratroopers because the paths formed a perfect compass. If you're interested in viewing samples of my other work why not visit the Changing the Times web site. |
| Blackpool 1940 |
| October 18 | ![]() |
In 1940, on this day the Red Army presented Joseph Stalin with contingency plans for an invasion of German-occupied territory in eastern Europe; it was hoped that the campaign could be started by mid-May of 1941 at the latest. | |
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| Joseph Stalin |
August 5
In 1940, on this day the Soviet embassy in London sent Joseph Stalin a 26-page report on the failed Nazi airborne raid against Blackpool. | |
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| Joseph Stalin |
August 1
| Seaside Resort | In 1940, on this day the last remnants of the German airborne landing force near Blackpool were captured by Canadian troops. The Blackpool raid's failure by itself would have been a bitter enough pill for Hitler to swallow, but to add insult to injury British prime minister Winston Churchill gleefully announced the next day that Kurt Student -- founder of the Luftwaffe paratroop corps and architect of the Blackpool assault plan ? was among the prisoners. |
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| of Blackpool |
Hitler never forgave Student for the Blackpool defeat-- and neither did Luftwaffe commander-in-chief Hermann Goering, who promptly cashiered Student in absentia and ordered that he be arrested and court-martialed for incompetence the moment he returned to Germany. At one point Goering even considered abolishing the Luftwaffe's paratrooper branch altogether. |
July 29
In 1940, on this day Canadian troops attacked the beleaguered remnants of the German airborne landing force near Blackpool.                                                                                     | Seaside Resort |
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| of Blackpool |
July 28
| Seaside Resort | In 1940, on this day German paratroops were sent to seize the British resort town of Blackpool (pictured) in a covert operation aimed at forcing the Churchill government to sue for peace. |
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| of Blackpool |
May 22
In 1941, on this day Soviet bombers leveled Dresden. | |
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May 16
In 1941, on this day Red Army advance units crossed the Polish-German border. | |
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May 7
| Radio Moscow | In 1941, on this day Radio Moscow announced the surrender of the last remaining German troops in Warsaw. |
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| Logo |
May 5
In 1941, on this day Soviet troops in Poland began advancing on the final pockets of German resistance inside Warsaw.                                                                                                 | Red Army |
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| Logo |
May 2
| SS | In 1941, on this day British carrier planes equipped with armor-piercing bombs attacked and sank the German battleship Bismarck at her anchorage in Norway. |
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| Bismarck |
April 30
In 1941, on this day NKVD hit squads assassinated Hans Frank, the Nazi governor-general of German-occupied western Poland.                                                                                       | |
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| Hans Frank |
April 27
| Red Army | In 1941, on this day Soviet ground forces advanced to within twenty miles of Warsaw. |
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| Logo |
April 18
In 1941, on this day three British fascists were hanged after being convicted by a military tribunal of treason for aiding and abetted the thwarted German attempt to capture Blackpool. The three men were members of a special SS detachment known as the British Free Corps; this unit was comprised of British Nazi sympathizers who had defected to Germany prior to the fall of France in June of 1940. | Uniform |
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| British Free Corps |
April 16
| Field Marshall | In 1941, on this day Wehrmacht general Erwin Rommel, nicknamed "the Desert Fox" by virtue of having won a number of battles against numerically superior British forces in North Africa, was recalled to Berlin and placed in overall command of German armoured forces on the Soviet front. |
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| Erwin Rommel |
April 13
In 1941, on this day Soviet bombers leveled parts of Warsaw in the first of the so-called "fire raids" against German-held cities in Poland.                               | |
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April 6
In 1941, on this day Adolf Hitler formally declared war on the Soviet Union. | |
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| Adolf Hitler |
April 5
In 1941, the largest military land campaign the world had seen to date was launched as the Red Army began Operation Guillotine, Stalin's long-planned invasion of the German occupation zone in western Poland; the attack involved nearly four million troops. | |
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| Joseph Stalin |
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