In message , Mike Andrews
writes
Mike Knudsen wrote:

It's a pretty well known story (maybe even true) that the Brits knew
the German
air raid was coming to Coventry (by breaking the code and/or watching the
bombers on radar), several hours in advance, but deliberately did not
warn any
civil defense or firefighters in Coventry, for fear of tipping the
Krauts that
we were reading their mail.

So apparently Churchill was willing to sacrifce Brit lives, and not jsut US
sailors, to hide the code breaking. --Mike K.

It may be "a pretty well known story", but it may also be an urban
legend". There are indications each way, and I seem to recall having
seen it exposed as an urban legend.

It is an urban legend. RV Jones explained that a mistake was made in the
measurement of the modulation frequency on the beams (1500 c/s instead
of 2000 c/s IIRC). So that the modulation frequency on the jammers was
set incorrectly. The airborne equipment used very sharp filters so that
the jammers were not audible. So Coventry was bombed.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell