Manchester Took It, Too

No original newsreel or other footage from World War 2 can or should be ignored, and this film about the impact of December 1940 German bombing raids on Manchester also has its share of interest, and certainly presents a scene of greater devastation than one might expect. It's also intriguing to look at the means and words deployed in the propaganda presentation. Mostly this is not shrill, with the lid in the main kept on the vitriol directed at Germany. Given recent revelations in David Edgerton's superb book "Britain's War Machine", it is interesting to note the film content suggesting that British manufacturing was not being dented by the bombing (true enough), as well as calmly-voiced (between-the-lines) reference to the inevitability of rebuilding following our inevitable victory. There is no crowing here, just a quiet certainty of conviction that the War would be won, of the kind Edgerton also describes and documents. An interesting moment in the film is the visit by American politician (by then Republican) Wendell Willkie, who ironically died of a heart attack while the War was still being fought. Of course, those watching "Manchester Took It, Too" cannot be unaware that much of the commentary might equally (or even more appropriately) be applied in describing Allied bombing of German cities. In truth, a little RAF bombing of Germany had taken place even before December 1940. However, the 1000-bomber raids on Cologne took place in 1942, while the Dresden firestorm was a 1945 matter. On that basis, there is a not-unreasonable contention (no more than hinted at in the film) that "they started it", just as "they" savagely started the whole protracted conflict, at much cost to the fabric of a great many cities. Indeed, the film scores most strongly when its commentator notes, with a degree of saddish resignation, the waste - pure and simple - that the burnt-out buildings, ultimately demolished for the benefit of the cameras, can be seen to represent. Goebbels never worked like this...