bombing

Jan

13

1942

Daylight raid on Lowestoft kills 63

Clearing up the remains of Wallers department store in Lowestoft on the morning after a lone bomber had attacked the east coast town.

One of the worst raids on Lowestoft took place on the afternoon of 13 January 1942 the day before we were to return to school after the Christmas holiday. Some of our pupils were having tea in a café when four explosive bombs were dropped on the main shopping centre. Three of our pupils were killed including a friend from my class. It was a sad beginning to the term.

Dec

18

1941

Daylight raid on the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau

Halifax bombers from No. 35 Squadron over Brest on 18th December 1941 in an attempt to knock out the two German 'pocket battleships', the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau

Heavy flak burst observed under port wing by other aircraft in formation. Aircraft repeatedly hit. Port inner engine failed immediately after leaving target, feathered with difficulty. Shortly afterwards starboard outer engine failed and at 1241 hrs a Glycol leak developed in the same eingine, followed by a small fire and flames were observed in the cowling. The same engine totally failed about 1250 hrs.

Oct

12

1941

Only a few incidents of bombing this week

Clearing up after a relatively random bombing raid hit Bolton on the 12th october 1941.

Apart from slight interference with railway and utility services, damage has been confined to private property. The most serious incidents occurred on the night of the 12th/13th, when several houses were demolished in Manchester, Clayton, Denton and Oldham. Casualties for the week ending 0600 the 15th October are estimated at 61 killed and 69 seriously injured.

Oct

2

1941

South Shields bombed

The remains of the Woolworths Store, South Shields bombed on 2nd October 1941

Last night’s do was much worse than Tuesday’s. St Bede’s junior school (South Shields) got a direct hit, Laygate school is also wrecked, Croftons, Woolworths and Black’s Regal are done for and Binns is badly damaged. The patrons of Black’s Regal rushed to the public shelter in the market place and shortly afterwards the shelter got a direct hit. I was told there were 80 killed in there alone….. One of the jerries shot down three barrage balloons. He got the three in line and pumped tracer bullets into them.

Sep

18

1941

Siege of Leningrad consolidated

Nurses helping people hit during the first bombardment of Leningrad.

Petersburg — the poisonous nest from which, for so long, Asiatic venom has spewed forth into the Baltic — must vanish from the earth’s surface. The city is already cut off. It only remains for us to bomb and bombard it, destroy its sources of water and power and then deny the population everything it needs to survive.

Aug

30

1941

Optimism over RAF Bomber Offensive

The RAF had stepped up attacks on the continent. But accurate daylight bombing came at a cost - the attack on Rotterdam on the 28th saw seven out of eighteen Bleinheims shot down.

For the last three months our bombing offensive has been mainly directed against transportation and morale in Western Germany. Some of the most important objectives in the system of communications serving the Ruhr and Rhineland are precision targets which can only be attacked under favourable weather conditions on moonlight nights, and, since the offensive started, the number of suitable nights has been very small indeed.

Aug

12

1941

Intense RAF daylight bombing raids on Germany

The view from a Blenheim bomber as it finishes its bomb run over the other Cologne power station with bombs exploding on target.

Blenheims, flying close to the ground, located and attacked, under favourable weather conditions, the two power stations at Cologne. From reports received, both power stations appear to have been severely damaged in most determined attacks ; 24 tons of bombs were dropped on the turbine and boiler houses and the targets were left with fires blazing.

Aug

1

1941

RAF bombers intensify attacks on Libya

An RAF raid on a German ammunition dump in the desert. Each of the dots in the sand is a pile of around 50 bombs.

During the week under review, our bombers made two successful daylight raids. On the 1st August, nine Blenheims, escorted by Hurricanes, attacked a concentration of enemy M.T. vehicles at Sidi Omar and inflicted severe damage and, on the 3rd, twenty-one Marylands bombed enemy gun positions in the Tobruk area, while our fighters carried out a covering sweep over enemy forward aerodromes.

Jul

26

1941

The Kremlin bombed

One of the iconic images of the war, captured by Margaret Bourke-White on 26th July 1941.

She had arrived in Moscow at the outbreak of war with Germany. On the 26th she took these striking images of the German air attack on the Kremlin, pictures that were soon received world wide attention.

Jul

21

1941

First German Air Raid on Moscow

A Russian Anti Aircraft position in Moscow, July 1941.

The main objectives were apparently the railway station, industrial areas and aerodromes. Several large fires were caused by enemy aircraft which flew over at a medium height. The Soviet A.A. defences, of which a large proportion were light anti – aircraft guns, put up what was described as ” an impressive show.”

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