After a recent visit to Coventry, Angela Merkel said she was 'shocked and saddened' by the devastation wrought on the city by 1960s town planners, and offered the Luftwaffe's services to reduce it to rubble again.
Sources close to the German premier said she was 'visibly shaken' at the sight of the destruction and misery visited on the city.
This is the first time the Germans have acted unilaterally to offer aid to a foreign country since the war, and Ms. Merkel said that the need for action was 'exceptional'. She committed Germany's full resources to the effort, even though it might take far longer now they have rather fewer planes than in WW2.
