It is over 80 years since the Three Nights’ Blitz, the heavy and prolonged bombing of Swansea by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. The bombing took place on the 19, 20 and 21 February 1941. A total of 230 people were killed and 397 were injured.
The attacks on Swansea made a deep impression on local artist Will Evans (1888-1957), who lived in Stanley Terrace in Mount Pleasant where he had a bird’s-eye view over the city from his home. He documented the aftermath in a series of paintings showing the devastation rendered in Swansea by the continuous bombing by the German Luftwaffe.
These works are of great historical importance to Swansea, a precious record captured in paint, and the Glynn Vivian has several examples in the collection.
The attacks also made a deep impression on a five year old Mike Lewis. He remembers the planes flying over the city and the bombs exploding on Kilvey Hill:
‘I was about five-year-old…So when we came out the air raid shelter then, and everybody went out on Danygraig Road, and Kilvey Hill was like a gigantic Christmas tree, it was thousands of incendiary bombs, and you see when incendiary bombs deflate and they go off, they throw up a chemical and it causes all different colors, red, yellow, blue’. Mike Lewis
Mike’s memories of the time offer a unique context for the paintings. We invited him to recount his experiences in a public talk and audio recording for the exhibition, Out of This World by Heather Phillipson.
We asked Mike to take a closer look at the paintings and to reflect on this short but significant period in the life of the city. The following film documents this encounter.
