Tag: Newport

Eye of the Eagle: Luftwaffe Intelligence and the South Wales Ports 1939-1941 ISBN 978-1-7393533-3-9

This has now been reissued as a 2025 Second Edition. I’ve also updated the copyright and EU product compliance details.

The first version of Eye of the Eagle was published in 1993. At that time, the research was to look at local landscape history, and British government aerial photographs were prohibitively expensive for such research, whereas, with a bit of effort, the Luftwaffe aerial surveys were freely available albeit via the record offices of the USA. As a geographer, my first instinct was to look for photographs and maps that give a first impression of a landscape before experiencing the land by walking. Since those days, a revolution in information sciences has changed so much. British record offices are far easier to engage with, and online and digital sources provide a wealth of resources and historical riches that were undreamed of in the 1990s. Combining the images with appropriate GIS/GPS systems has provided spectacular insights into ancient woodland and post-industrial recovery of land.

However, what has not changed is the research and writing techniques that underpin our discipline. This book has been written several times, only to be rewritten when new sources become available or are revealed in the improved access or digitisation of various records. Some of the many images and sources you will see here were rescued from rubbish dumps as organisations sought to ‘become digital’ in the early 2000s by throwing away ‘old’ records. Which explains their rather ‘worn’ looks.

Llandarcy showing destroyed oil tanks and near misses after the 1940 bombing raids.
One of the GWR plans of Cardiff used by thew Luftwaffe to plan their air attacks in September 1939.

Newport as a Luftwaffe target in 1939

Newport’s port is old, and its original town centre dock was a busy port from medieval times. The take-off point for Newport’s prosperity was the creation of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, allowing coal to come down straight into the port. The fact that Monmouthshire did not have much of a large-scale iron industry meant that coal was exported straight out of Newport instead of being channelled off into other industries as happened at Swansea and Cardiff. The canal and its associated network of tramways meant that Newport was a vigorous coal exporter, rivalling nearby Cardiff for annual tonnage until the 1850s. Some of the best Welsh steam coal collieries were within ten miles of the port, which provided a lucrative trade up to 1945.

The high level of metalworking and engineering skills in the local population made Newport attractive for ship repair businesses. Newport had five dry docks, two of them (the Tredegar and Eastern No. 2) being particularly large. These larger dry docks were big enough to handle Royal Navy Light Cruisers, particularly effective vessels with large calibre guns. The Luftwaffe was particularly interested in these docks.

The story of Newport’s importance to the Luftwaffe and the reasons why it was bombed are explained in Eye of the Eagle: Luftwaffe Intelligence and the South Wales Ports 1939-1941.

Above: A German intelligence image of Newport Docks from the 1938 research into the bombing targets of South Wales.
Above: A translated extract from a Luftwaffe Target Map of the docks at Newport. 1941.

Understanding Luftwaffe bombing in South Wales: The GWR Ports

The Great Western Railway (GWR) ports of Souh Wales were vitally important in both world wars for the defence of Britain and hadling imports to support the war effort. Although the ports were mostly designed to export coal before World War One, the GWR invested a lot of money in the 1920s to redevelop some of the ports into general cargo import and export. So, Cardiff, Swansea, and Newport were all given better cranes and storage facilities which enabled a mioxed economy develop as coal exports slowly declined. Eventually, Penarth closed as it was too heavily engineered for coal handling to be of much use. Swansea ans Cardiff became important food import ports with good rail links and plenty of power for large grain and frozen food storage. The full story is covered in Eye of the Eagle: Luftwaffe Intelligence and the South Wales ports 1939-1941.

Below: A GWR plan from 1933 showing the improvements made to Cardiff Docks before the war.

Below: The GWR coal export rail network in 1933. An incredibly dense network of railways allowing bulk transport of coal from every part of the Glamorgan coalfield.

Eye of the Eagle: Luftwaffe Intelligence and the South Wales Ports 1939-1941

My new book on the history of the Blitz bombing of Swansea and the other South Wales ports is now available from me.

This is the second edition of Eye of the Eagle, the first edition was published in 1993!

I’ve completely rewritten the history based on years of research in German Air Force sources and I’ve looked at the other ports the Luftwaffe attacked in 1940 and 1941. Over the years I’ve collected a large range of intelligence materials which are rarely seen because they were often destroyed at the end of the war.

In this history I have concentrated on Luftwaffe intelligence maps, photographs and other sources to give the real reasons why Swansea and the other ports were attacked and dispell some of the rumours from the past. I’ve also looked at the U-boat campaign against Swansea and Cardiff and included translations of key German war diaries and Luftwaffe intelligence records. I’ve described in detail the U-boat mining of the Scarweather lightship and the U-boat attack on Swansea.

Intelligence records are often difficult to understand so I’ve added a detailed examination of how photographs were taken in the preparation for invasion and the Blitz attacks on the ports.

I’ve made this book a big A4 size to take full advantage of the many maps and images that show Swansea and the ports as seen from the German point of view. Over 130 illustrations, many in colour.

Chapters: 1. Understanding Intelligence and Reconnaissance (The Munich Crisis, The decision to bomb Swansea, the bombs and the aftermath as seen by the Luftwaffe cameramen), 2. The history of the South Wales ports between 1933 and 1941 (The ports as targets, how they were selected, and how they fought their war). 3. Reconnaissance over Wales (the Units and aircraft), Detailed illustrated chapters on 4. Newport, 5. Cardiff, 6. Penarth, 7. Barry, 8. Port Talbot, 9. Llandarcy Oil Refineries, 10. Briton Ferry, and 11. Swansea, With Annexes on the U-boat mining of the Scarweather Lightship, Descriptions of the Luftwaffe intelligence records, and other information on the bombs that were dropped on the ports.

Eye of the Eagle: Luftwaffe Intelligence and the South Wales Ports 1939-1941, Nigel A. Robins, Size: A4, Paperback, 170 pages. Price £16.99.

Available from Nyddfwch Publishing, Swansea, or contact the author on nrcontact30@gmail.com. Or you can contact me here.

Available online in mid May.

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