Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service March 1940.
Date Time Location Damage
02/03/1940 14.44 Vange Drifting Barrage Balloon shot down by RAF caught
in a tree at Clay Hill
19/03/1940 19.50 Rochford Two drifting Barrage Balloons shot down in the sea
by RAF 1 1/2 miles South East of Burnham.
THE SECOND WORLD WAR March 1940
Adolf Hitler directed his generals, on the 1st March 1940, to plan the invasion of Denmark and Norway.
On the 3rd March 1940, the Soviet army attacked Viipuri in Finland which was a suburb of Vyburg and established a beachhead on the Western Gulf of Vyburg. The Soviets declined the offer of the Finnish proposal for an armistice on the 5th March 1940. The Soviets wished to keep the pressure on the Finnish government and a peace delegation was hastily dispatched to Moscow via Stockholm arriving in Moscow on the 7th March 1940. As the Soviet military was in a strong and improving position the Soviet government made further demands to which the Finns had little choice but to accept the terms. The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed on the 12th March 1940 in Moscow. The ceasefire took effect the following day.
With a large proportion of food imported into Britain from across the world, on the 11th March 1940 the British Ministry of Food extended their rationing system. The extension went on to include meat, cheese, milk and eggs in addition to the rationing of basic foods from the 7th January 1940.
During an air raid on the 16th March 1940, thirty-two German Junkers Ju 88 dive bombers attacked the Royal Naval Base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. One of the bombs hit HMS Norfolk and blew a hole below the water line. There were 6 sailors killed and James Isbister was the first British civilian killed in the nearby village of Bridge of Waithe when a German bomb hit his house.
On the 18th March 1940, the fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass on the Austrian border. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss when Italy would join in the war against Britain and France. Hitler gave details of his planned invasion of Europe but did not disclose his intension with regard to Denmark and Norway. Mussolini promised, once it became obvious the German offensive proved to be victorious, that Italy would enter the war “at an appropriate moment”.
When Édouard Daladier lost the position of prime minister of France on the 21st March 1940, Paul Reynaud was elected as the new Prime Minister. As an opponent of appeasement Reynaud became a strong supporter of the military ideas of Charles De Gaulle. At a meeting with the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain a week later in London on the 28th March 1940, both men signed a joint declaration that the two countries would not sign a separate peace Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
On the 30th March 1940 the Reorganised National Government of the Republic of China was formed. In reality it was only a puppet regime of Japan whose advisors had extensive powers following the Second Sino-Japanese War.
On the 30th March 1940, Britain undertook secret reconnaissance flights inside the Soviet Union to photograph the Soviet Oil Industry. The photographs were to assist the bombing plan which would destroy the Soviet oil industry, causing the collapse of the economy thus depriving Germany of Soviet oil resources. The plan was devised after the Anglo-French alliance came to the conclusion that the Nazi-Soviet pact signed in Moscow would make the Soviet Union the ally of Hitler.
THE SECOND WORLD WAR February 1940
Japan’s military had a strong influence on Japanese society since the days of the Samurai. On the 1st February 1940 the Japanese government announced that over half of its record high expenditure would be on the military. Before the Second World War, as Japan possessed very few natural resources, the Japanese had built an extensive empire in order to import raw materials essential to its economy. They regarded the military as essential to the empire’s defence.
Norway had favourable trade agreements with Britain and France, as well as with Germany. Both Norway and Finland were neutral countries with Norway having a long western coastline giving access to the North Sea and North Atlantic. On the 5th February 1940, Britain and France decided to intervene in Norway in order to cut off the iron ore in anticipation of the expected German occupation. They were also keen to keep the route open for access to Finland. The operation was scheduled to commence about the 20th March 1940. On the 21st February 1940, German General Nicolaus von Falkenhorst was informed by Adolf Hitler he would be the ground commander for the German invasion of Norway. He would need a basic plan for the invasion which Hitler approved when submitted.
Erich von Manstein was a German General who was given command of the German 38th Army Corp, on the 9th February 1940. Manstein had devised an invasion into France through the Ardennes Forest but the German High Command disagreed with his plan. They wished to implement their own proposals, which was a modified version of the Great War’s Schlieffen Plan. This disagreement was followed by his transfer from the High Command’s Headquarters. Adolf Hitler however, was seeking a more aggressive plan and Manstein presented his proposals for the invasion of France on the 17th February 1940.
The German – Soviet Commercial Agreement was signed on the 10th February 1940. The agreement was an economic arrangement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union agreed to sell and deliver to Germany such commoditize as oil, raw materials and grain.
On the 15th February 1940, the Soviet Army broke through the Mannerheim Line and captured Summa, an important defence point in Finland. The Mannerheim Line was a defensive border fortification built by Finland against the Soviet Union, and on the 17th February 1940 the Finns continued to retreat from the Mannerheim Line.
World opinion supported the Finnish cause in the struggle against the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1940. British civilians were asked to volunteer, on the 14th February 1940, to provide material aid such as medical supplies. Britain and France sold aircraft to the Finnish air force and the British government provided small arms and ammunition.
On the 15th February 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered unrestricted U-boat warfare in an effort to blockade England of the supplies transported across the Atlantic from America. It was hoped that Germany could sink sufficient ships and starve the British nation into suing for peace.
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SPIES, SPYING AND RESISTANCE
WOMEN OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Andrée Borrel was a French heroine of the Second World War who served in the French Resistance and Britain’s SOE. Having joined the Red Cross at the beginning of the Second World War she enrolled in a crash course in nursing. She was qualified to serve as a nurse in the Association des Dames Francais on the 20th January 1940. After fifteen days working at Hospital Complimétaire at Nimes in February 1940 she was rejected as she was not 21 until July 1940 and nurses were not allowed to work in hospitals until they were 21. This decree was revoked soon after and she was sent to the Hospital de Beaucaire. When the hospital was closed she and one of her co-workers, Lieutenant Maurice Dufour, were sent to Hospital Complimétaire. The hospital was closed at the end of July 1940. She resigned from the military based hospitals system and as Dufour was involved in the underground organisation she went to work with him. In the beginning of August 1944 Andrée and Dufour established a villa which was a safe house on the Mediterranean coast near the Spanish border. This formed part of an escape network whereby shot down British airmen and others avoided capture through German controlled France. Finding this venue too small they acquired larger premises in October 1941 and by the end of December 1941 the escape network had been compromised and closed down. Andrée and Dufour escaped to Britain through the Pyrenees to Spain and Portugal and flew into England in early 1942. Andrée was approached by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and joined in May 1942. After training she was sent to France as a field agent. She was captured by the Gestapo and executed on the 6th July 1944 aged 24 years old.
Charlotte Delbo was a French writer who sent to Auschwitz for her activities as a member of the French resistance. She was born near Paris on the 10th August 1913, and in her youth she became involved in theatre and politics and joined the French Young Communist Women’s League in 1932. She met and married George Dudach two years later. In the late 1930s she was working in Buenos Aires for theatrical producer Louis Jouvet and when Nazi-Germany invaded and occupied France in 1940 she returned home. Her husband had been a courier in Paris for the resistance movement and the couple spent the winter of 1940 printing and disturbing anti-Nazi Germany leaflets. They became part of a group who took an active role in publishing the underground journal Lettres Francaises. They were arrested in March 1942 by police who had followed a courier to their apartment. George Dudach was executed in May 1942 and Charlotte was held in transit camps near Paris until January 1943. She was put on a train to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp along with 229 Frenchwomen who had been imprisoned for their resistance activities. They entered the gates of Auschwitz by singing the “La Marsellaise”. Right from the beginning the women worked as a team, one example being when standing for hours in freezing conditions they would huddle together and rotate their positions every 15 minutes so that no one person was on the outside for too long. Of the 240 women who entered Auschwitz only 49 survived. One of whom was Charlotte who later wrote about her experience in Auschwitz. Charlotte never remarried and died in 1985 of lung cancer.
Christine Granville OBE, whose real name was Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, was born in Poland in May 1908. Christine was the daughter of an impoverished Count and Jewish mother who grew up on a country estate. She enjoyed the active sporting outdoor life of a tomboy until the 1920s when the family moved to Warsaw caused by financial problems. In April 1930 she married a young business man but the marriage ended in divorce. Christine met her second husband at a ski resort in Poland and after they married in 1938 they set off for Kenya in Africa. Her new husband was a globetrotter and diplomat who had been offered a post of consul in Kenya, but before they actually arrived the Second World War began. Upon arrival at Cape Town they boarded another ship and headed for England. She volunteered to help the British secret services by proposing an occupied-Polish/Hungarian escape route for Polish volunteers to fight in the west together with any other available information. She was then recruited into Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and given instructions to pass on any information to SOE. In February 1940 she made her first trip over the border and by early 1941 her contact in the resistance group had been infiltrated and she was ordered to leave for Belgrade. The British provided her a new passport naming her as Christine Granville enabling her to escape. The Polish resistance distrusted her because of the circumstances of her escape from the Gestapo. She transferred to Cairo but prevented from getting involved in any of SOE’s further major missions. She spent nearly three years taking part in second-rate missions until 1943 when she was officially introduced into SOE. As she had experience operating in enemy territory she only needed a refresher course before being dropped into Southern France in July 1944.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch is a surviving member ‘Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz and was born on the 25th July 1925 to a Jewish family from Breslau in Germany. Her father was a lawyer, her mother a violinist and Anita was an accomplished cello player. Her father had fought for Germany in the Great War and gained an Iron Cross therefore he received some degree of immunity from Nazi persecution. They were aware of the Jewish persecution and her eldest sister Marianne fled to England in 1941. In 1942 her parents were taken away by the Nazis and Anita never saw them again. Anita and her other sister Renate were not deported, and their work in a paper factory enabled them to start forging papers enabling the French forced labourers to cross back into France. She is reported to have said that she would give the Germans a reason to kill her rather than being killed for just being Jewish. In September 1942, whilst attempting to escape Germany, they were arrested by the Gestapo for forgery at Breslau station. Anita and Renata were sent to Auschwitz in December 1943 and Anita was selected to play the cello in the ’Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz’. The orchestra played marches for the slave labourers as the left and returned to the camp after each day’s work. They also gave concerts to the S.S. In October 1944 the Russian Red Army was approaching Auschwitz and the inmates were evacuated to Bergen-Belsen. At the end of the war they were liberated by the British Army and Renata was employed as an interpreter as she could speak English. Anita was transferred to a ‘displaced person’s camp’. In 1946 the sisters moved to Britain where Anita married Peter Wallfisch and they had two children. She joined the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) and toured internationally both as a member of the orchestra and solo artist. She returned with the ECO on tour to Germany in 1994 and has been back since to give talks about her experiences in the camps.
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NURSES AND NURSING IN THE EUROPEAN THEATRE
WOMEN OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
They didn’t fire a shot or fight on the front line, but nurses of all the Allied nations contributed to defeating the Germans and Japanese by their behind-the-scene efforts. Many British aristocratic young women wanted to do their bit by volunteering for nursing. Nurse Ann Reid was so cossetted that when she was asked to sweep the floor in the hospital, she didn’t know how to do it and had to be shown. Girls from grander backgrounds were often given the most disagreeable jobs. A senior nurse told Penny Woosnam, on her first day on the ward to bandage up a soldiers private parts where glass had been embedded. These young ladies survived their ordeals. But many of the privileged young ladies found themselves in the thick of the horrors of war. Sheila Parish drove an ambulance during the evacuation of Dunkirk. During the blitz Nurse Virginia Forbes Adam recalled times when the ambulance bells never stopped ringing. However, most of these privileged young ladies survived the war.
When the Second World War began, American heiress Mary Borden returned to nursing, running a mobile ambulance unit in France, North Africa and the Middle East. During the Great War, Mary had financed a field hospital for the French soldiers with herself serving as a nurse. She was a prolific writer who wrote novels and poetry based on her experiences as a war nurse during the Great War. Her work also included many sketches and short stories. Following the breakup of her first marriage in 1918, she married General Edward Louis Speers with her ex-husband taking custody of her three children. After the Great War Mary and Speers were living in Britain and when the Second World War began she was hoping to provide a similar facility as before. She received additional funding from the British War Relief Society in New York whilst setting up the facility. With funds also donated by Sir Robert Hadfield, she set up the Hadfield-Speers Ambulance Unit which was based in Lorraine. The unit was forced to retreat from France after the German Blitzkrieg in June 1940 and the unit evacuated France. In May 1941, the Hadfield-Speers Ambulance Unit was attached to the Free French in the Middle East, before accompanying their forces across North Africa, Italy and France. When the Second World War ended Mary continued her writing, of which she was a life-long contributor, until just before her death. She died on the 2nd December 1968 with her husband by her side.
Where most privileged European nurses survived the war three American nurses were not so fortunate. Lt. Lucille Hendricks, Ensign Helen Mary Ruehler and Ensign Ruby Toquarm worked at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Norco, California. Ensigns are junior officers in the U.S. navy. Lucille had been assigned chief nurse at Norco in December 1941 and helped to set up the hospital and establish a ground breaking medical treatment centre. She was a pioneer in the nursing field, and often travelled to other naval hospitals to teach new techniques in plastic surgery, spinal cord operations and brain injury treatment to medical personnel. In March 1944 Lucille was assigned head nurse at the naval base in Dutch Harbour, Alaska. The three handpicked nurses for this post were killed instantly, on 23rd April 1944, when their plane crashed into a mountain as they were flying to the new hospital. The nurse’s names have been engraved on the Norco City’s George Ingalls Veteran Memorial Plaque.
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THE SECOND WORLD WAR January 1940
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Finland with a Soviet invasion beginning on the 30th November 1939. The Soviet offensive was halted on the 2nd January 1940 with the Finnish army achieving several victories and destroying many Soviet tanks. One whole Soviet division was eliminated and a large number of military vehicles were captured following the Finnish victory at Soumussalmi on the 7th January 1940. On the same day General Semyon Timoshenko took command of the Soviet armies in Finland from the previous disastrous commander, Kliment Voroshilov. By the 17th January 1940 the Soviets had been driven back but retaliated with heavy air attacks.
On the 7th January 1940, basic foodstuff rationing was introduced in the U.K. in response to German attacks on shipping bound for Britain. As the U.K. imported more than 50% of the food consumed, the Ministry of Food instituted a system of rationing.
An event occurred in Belgium on the 10th January 1940 that was known as the Mechelen Incident. A German officer was carrying the plans for Fall Geib (Case Yellow) when the aircraft being flown crash landed. Fall Geib were the plans for the German attack on the Low Countries which caused an immediate crisis in the countries involved. Once the dates mentioned in the plans had passed the crisis abated. However, documents captured on the 16th January 1940 revealed Hitler’s plans for the invasion of Scandinavia and a postponement of the invasion of France and the Low Countries. The revised plans were for the spring when the weather was more favourable.
HMS Exmouth was an E-class destroyer acting as patrol and escort vessel in the North Sea. From her base in Rosyth, Exmouth was escorting merchant ship Cyprian Prince, north of Scotland on the 20th January 1940 when she was spotted by German U-boat U22. She was torpedoed at 05.35 am and sank with the loss of all hands The Cyprian Prince sailed away without picking up seamen left in the water in order to get clear of the U-boat.
West of Portugal at 04.15 hours on the 21st January 1940 the unescorted Greek steam merchant ship Ekatontarchos Dracoulis was hit by torpedo fired from German U-boat U-44. The U-boat had chased the Greek vessel since 20.05 hours the previous day. The crew had abandoned ship and U-44 left the area before the vessel sank.
Reinhard Heydrich, a high ranking German Nazi official, was appointed by Hermann Göring on the 24th January 1940 to oversee the Jewish question. He was one of the main architects of the Final Solution. Heydrich was answerable to Hitler, Göring and Himmler only with everything connected to the deportation, imprisonment and extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust.
On the 27th January 1940, Germany finalised their plans for the invasion of Denmark and Norway which was carried out on the 9th April 1940.
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SUBJECT. INSPECTION OF KIT AND EQUIPMENT. Capt Benham
TO Troop Commanders.
TROOP COMMANDERS WILL CARRY OUT AN INSPECTION OF ALL N.C.O.s AND MENS KIT. ATTENTION MUST BE PAID TO THE FOLLOWING
ANTI GAS Equipment &Clothing, All Ranks to be in Possession of –
Respirator Mk 5…..1 Wallets A/G ……1
Container Type “A” 1 Flannelette……..2 pieces
Mk VI Cotton Waste…..4 ozs
Eyeshields A/G……6 Capes A/G………1
Gloves A/G Prs ……1 Detectors Individual 1 Pair.
Detectors Gas Ground… All Officers and N.C.O.’s … 1 Pad.
Detectors Paper Arthur……. Pads of 25…. 100 G.P.C.’s & G.P.O.’s.
Outfits A/Dimming…… 1 per Man.
Ointment A/G No 2……2 per Man.
Ointment A/G No 2……10 per Troop for Bren & A/T Rifle.
Discs Identity.
One Red & One Green Per Officer and other Rank.
Officers – Personal No. Rank Initials, Name & Religious denomination.
Other Ranks – No Initials, Name & Religious denomination.
Ear stoppers.
ON NO ACCOUNT WILL THE UNIT BE STAMPED ON DISCS.
Kit, Home Scale.
All Ranks should be in possession of full Kit-Home Scale.
Tropical Kit – All Ranks will be issued with –
Trousers Tropical Drill…..1 prs. Buttons G.S…………..9
Shorts “ “ ……1 prs Hooks G.S…………….2
Shirts “ “ ……2. Buckles (shorts) ..……2
Hose Tops prs……………1. Helmets (Tropical)……1
Putties short prs………….1. Chin Straps…………..1
Jackets Drill………………1. Sea Kit Bag…………..1
Marking of Baggage.
All Kit Bags will be Marked with 3 YELLOW BAR with Serial No 1433.
Vehicles –
In white on the Offside Front Wing in front of the Side Lamp M/Cs on extension of the Front Mudguard.
Gun Stores etc –
All U/S articles and articles Deficient, will be issued as soon as these articles are drawn from the R.Q.M.S.
Suits A/G.
Dr and Fitters etc, All Troops should be in possession of 6 suits of protective Clothing H.G.24. These have been Issued.
Check Rifle Oil Bottles – Fill With oil Bren & A/T Rifles.
All Men for Over Sea Service must be in possession of One New Pair of Boots and one good repair pair.
Signed C.A. Shirley Capt R.A.
10th Field Bty R.A.
| Rank and Name | Kit | A/Gas | Inspections | A.B. 64 | Identity discs | ||
| Medical | Rifle | Equipment | |||||
| B.S.M. Bax | |||||||
| Sgt Hipwell | |||||||
| Sgt Fowles | |||||||
| Sgt Grey | |||||||
| Sgt Fox | |||||||
| Sgt Cook | |||||||
| Bdr Bugler | |||||||
| Bdr Brannan | |||||||
| Bdr Brannagan | |||||||
| Bdr Onions | |||||||
| Bdr Ellis | |||||||
| Bdr Murray | |||||||
| Bdr Avery | |||||||
| L/Bdr Head | |||||||
| L/Bdr Bell | |||||||
| L/Bdr Watson | |||||||
| Gnr Appleton | |||||||
| Gnr Bruce | |||||||
| Gnr Baker Gnr Beechy | |||||||
| Gnr Burlong | |||||||
| Gnr Conroy | |||||||
| Gnr Connelly | |||||||
| Gnr Clare Gnr Crilly | |||||||
| Gnr Carmichael | |||||||
| Gnr Davies | |||||||
| Gnr Foster | |||||||
| Gnr Forrest | |||||||
| Gnr Green | |||||||
| Gnr Graves | |||||||
| Gnr Heys | |||||||
| Gnr Harris | |||||||
| Gnr Nunn | |||||||
| Gnr Offer A | |||||||
| Gnr Offer S | |||||||
| Gnr Southern | |||||||
| Gnr Hammond | |||||||
| Gnr Askew | |||||||
| Gnr Milliard | |||||||
| Dvr Chatfield | |||||||
| Dvr Deabill | |||||||
| Dvr Evans | |||||||
| Dvr Elliot | |||||||
| Dvr Hutchinson | |||||||
| Dvr Head | |||||||
| Dvr Lythgoe | |||||||
| Dvr Sleigh | |||||||
| Dvr Sutton | |||||||
| Dvr Wilson | |||||||
| L/Bdr Few | |||||||
| Bdr Cathcart |
THE BLITZ
The Battle of Britain lasted from 10th July 1940 until the 30th October 1940 which was overlapped by the period of The Blitz. From the 7th September 1940 bombing raids on London, known as “The Blitz” began. With German invasion plans on hold, German Dictator Adolf Hitler turned his attention to destroying London in an attempt to force the British to come to peace terms. London was bombed systematically for 56 out of the following 57 days or nights. Whereas the Battle of Britain targeted mainly the airfields of fighter command on the south coast, the Blitz concentrated on London and other cities of Britain. The Blitz was an attack of continued night-time bombing operations on Britain when daylight attacks proved to be unsustainable. The Blitz ended on the 11th May 1941 as Germany shifted its focus toward the Soviet Union and the East. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz marked the first major defeat of Germany’ military forces when their operations failed to give Germany air superiority over Britain.
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(1940)
On the 15th September 1940 a large-scale raid was launched against London but the Luftwaffe suffered significant losses for very little gain. Gradually, by October 1940 the Luftwaffe began to attack with night-time raids to avoid defending RAF fighters.
The invasion of Britain was an uncoordinated venture by the German Luftwaffe, navy and infantry and consequently Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion indefinitely on the 17th September 1940.
On the 24th September 1940 King George VI inaugurated the George Cross in recognition of the bravery of his citizens during the Blitz. The King and Queen Elizabeth felt justified to face the people of the East End of London after Buckingham Palace had been bombed on the 10th and 13th September 1940. To boost the morale of their citizens the King and Queen continued to live in London during the Blitz and throughout the war. Because of the Queen’s morale boosting abilities Hitler considered her ‘to be the most dangerous woman in Europe’.
On the 14th October 1940 Balham underground station was hit by a 1400kg bomb causing the northbound tunnel to collapse. The station was one of many designated air raid shelters for civilians and this disaster resulted in the deaths of 65 people but over 400 civilians managed to escape to safety. In the blackout a double decker bus crashed into the crater caused on the road above, fortunately without any loss of life.
On the 21st October 1940 the city of Liverpool was raided by the Luftwaffe. The docks and ports of Liverpool and Birkenhead were the largest on the west coast of England and therefore attracted German bombing raids second only to raids on London.
On the night of the 24/25th October 1940 the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) conducted its first raid on Britain when their aircraft attacked Harwich and Felixstowe. Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini had insisted that the Regia Aeronautica be involved in the raids on Britain. Of the eighteen bombers involved in the raid, one crashed on take-off and three were lost on the return journey. Not all of the bombers found their targets but ten crews reported they were successful. The next major operation was on the 29th October 1940 when fifteen bombers escorted by fighters bombed Ramsgate. Five Italian aircraft suffered damage due to local anti-aircraft fire.
The most severe Luftwaffe raid was on the city of Coventry occurred on the 14th November 1940 when 13 German aircraft fitted with electronic navigational aids accurately dropped marker flares at 7.20 pm. Following bombers dropped high explosive and incendiary bombs and many fires spread out of control. With many utilities destroyed, the fire brigade were unable to control the fires. At approximately 8.00 pm Coventry Cathedral had been bombed and was on fire. The raid climaxed around midnight and by the time the all clear sounded at 6.15 pm over 4,000 homes were destroyed and approximately two thirds of the city’s building damaged. 568 people lost their lives with another 1,200 people injured.
On the 29th November 1940 the Luftwaffe launched a massive bombing raid on Liverpool. The worst single incident was when a building above an underground shelter in Durning Road, Edge Hill received a direct hit. The building collapsed killing 166 people and injuring many more who were sheltering in the basement.
On the following night, the 30th November 1940, the Luftwaffe launched a bombing raid on Southampton where the docks and the Supermarine factory at Woolston were the main targets. The Woolston factory was where the Supermarine Spitfire fighter was manufactured.
During the month of December 1940 bombing raids were exchanged between Britain and Germany. On the night of the 4th December 1940 approximately sixty German bombers attacked Birmingham. A week later, on the night of the 11th December 1940, two hundred and seventy eight German bombers launched the largest raid of the war on Birmingham. Apart from explosives, 2,500 incendiary bombs were dropped causing widespread fires in both the residential and industrial areas. Over five hundred people were either killed or seriously injured.
Manchester Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and the Free Trade Hall were among the many large buildings damaged when the Luftwaffe bombed Manchester on the 22nd/23rd and the 23rd/24th December 1940. A total of approximately 450 tons of high explosive bombs were dropped and approximately two thousand seven hundred people were killed or seriously injured on the two nights.
London sustained another large German air raid on the 29th/30th December 1940 with the bombing in the St. Paul’s Cathedral area of the city. Twenty nine incendiary bombs fell on the dome of the Cathedral and one burnt through the lead covered wooden dome. The bombs fell outward and landed on the stone gallery below and the fire was soon extinguished as was the fire in the dome. The scene was captured on the iconic photograph where the Cathedral was shown surrounded by thick black smoke which was called “St. Paul’s Survives”. Approximately six hundred and fifty people were killed or injured that night.
(1941)
On the 1st January 1941 the previous night’s bombing raid on London revealed damage or destruction to the Old Bailey, the Guildhall and eight of Christopher Wren’ churches.
19th, 20th and 21st February 1941 was when the German Luftwaffe attacked Swansea in their “Three Night’s Blitz”. Seeing Swansea as a legitimate target the bombers were aiming for the docks, the port and the oil refinery. A large part of the city centre was severely damaged with the loss of 230 civilians and a further 409 being injured. The Germans were hoping to cripple coal supplies and to destroy the civilian and emergency service morale. To boost the morale of the citizens the King, Queen and Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Swansea.
London was bombed on the 8th March 1941 and Buckingham Palace was hit but did not sustain any major damage. Thousands of incendiary and hundreds of high explosive bombs were dropped on Portsmouth on the 10th March 1941. Glasgow was attacked on the 13th & 14th March 1941 and Portsmouth Docks and Devonport were subjected to a series of devastating raids from the 19th March 1941. Over 4,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were engaged in the bombing raids of March 1941.
April 1941 was the month when the Blitz was concentrated on British Cities.
Bristol and Avonmouth suffered heavy German air attacks on the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 11th April 1941. Effectively the Blitz of Bristol had ended on the 11th April 1941. Coventry also suffered two heavy raids by German bombers on the 8th/9th and the 10th/11th April 1941. Major damage and destruction was caused to some factories, central police station, Coventry Hospital and churches. Birmingham had Luftwaffe raids on the 9th and 10th April 1941 where the Bull Ring, the Prince of Wales Theatre and the Midlands Arcade were badly damaged or destroyed. The surrounding areas also received considerable damage. Belfast had two separate raids on the night of 7th/8th April 1941 and the 16th April 1941. The first raid was to test Belfast’s defences but the second was a large scale raid on the dockyard area where aircraft carrier HMS Furious was slightly damaged while having a refit. With the exception of London the raid was the cause of the greatest loss of life in any one night. The Luftwaffe returned to London on the 19th April 1941 and many major public buildings were hit and damaged. The raid on London proved to be one of the heaviest of the war with regards to the loss of civilians and homes. On the 24th April 1941 the communal air-raid shelter at the Portland Square in the city of Plymouth took a direct hit. Seventy-six people were killed and just three people survived. However, the Royal Dockyards at HMNB Devonport was the main target for the Luftwaffe.
Liverpool was subjected to a seven night bombing campaign from the 1st/7th May 1941. Sixty nine berths in the docks out of one hundred and forty four were put out of action and Liverpool Cathedral damaged. Thousands of houses were destroyed or damaged making Liverpool the most heavily bombed area of Britain with the exception of London. There were four separate raids by the Luftwaffe on Belfast. Two in April 1941 and the next two in May 1941. The raids in May took place on the 4th/5th May 1941 and the 5th /6th May 1941. Over the four separate raids 6,300 homes were demolished or badly damaged and another 50,000 required repairing. Nottingham was attacked on the 7th/8th May 1941 but the attack was intended for the Rolls-Royce Plant at Derby. The British had produced a counter-measure for the German radio navigation system known as the “X-Gerät Beam”. Damage to Nottingham was minimal with many bombs falling on open farmland. The final large raid on London was on the 10th/11th May 1941 and the House of Commons was damaged. However, Hull, Liverpool Belfast and Glasgow were also targeted. The Blitz of Britain ended as Germany shifted its focus toward the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Luftwaffe lost 2,400 aircraft without achieving any of its objectives during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz combined. The casualties were over 86,000 people killed or seriously injured during the Blitz and over one million homes destroyed or damaged. Finally British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when visiting Liverpool at the end of the Blitz stated, “I see the damage done by the enemy attacks but I also see the spirit of an unconquered nation”. A child of the Liverpool Blitz Mrs. Dorothy Laycock, at a later date, summed it up by saying: – “They tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. They nearly did but didn’t quite, did they?”
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Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service April 1941.
Date Time Location Damage
02/04/1941 13.55 Rochford An aeroplane taking off from Rochford Aerodrome
Crashed into a hanger severely injuring 2 men. A/C Dennis Fear No 642065, age 19 and A/C2 Wilkingson. No 922795. Both conveyed to Southend General Hospital where Dennis Fear died 4.4.41. Cause of accident unknown.
04/04/1941 10.45 Grays Hill 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a field adjoining
Harding Elms Road. Time and date of falling not known. No damage or casualties. B.D.S. 5.6.41.
04/04/1941 15.45 Wickford 1 – H.E unexploded found in a field 300 yards East
of Wickford Hall Southend Road. No damage or casualties.
08/04/1941 13.35 Paglesham 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found 400 yards North
East of East Hall. No damage or casualties.
08/04/1941 23.15 Foulness I.Bs (a number) burnt out at Small Gains Farm.
Island No damage or casualties.
10/04/1941 13.00 Dunton 1 – H.E unexploded was found in a field East of
Berry Lane. No damage or casualties. (disposed of by B.D.S. 10.5.41).
11/04/1941 Mountnessing 1 – A.A. Shell exploded in a field West of St
Anns Cottages, St Anns Lane. No damage or casualties.
13/04/1941 21.00 South Weald 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a field 200
yards from cow shed at Gilstead Hall. No damage or casualties.
14/04/1941 South Weald 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a field 300
yards West of Spital Lane and 500 yards North of A.12. No damage or casualties. (disposed of by B.D.S. 28.4.41).
14/04/1941 15.50 Wickford 3 – H.Es exploded on open ground 100 yards East
of junction of Sugden Avenue and London Road. No damage or casualties.
15/04/1941 Ingrave 1 – H.E exploded found in Forty-five field, 30
yards South East of pond at Clemoes Farm, Thorndon Park. No damage or casualties.
16/04/1941 21.30 Childerditch 10 – H.Es exploded in fields between the Village
Hall and Hall Lane. 1 cow injured. Slight damage to property.
16/04/1941 21.30 Little 1 – H.E exploded in Dunton Road, 200 yards East
Burstead of Calvers Farm. Road blocked. No casualties.
16/04/1941 21.50 Canvey 3 – H.Es exploded near Beech House Promenade
Island East, 2 on foreshore and 1 100 yards North of sea wall. Considerable damage to jetty, overhead electric cables and to property. No casualties.
16/04/1941 Little Warley 3 – A.A. unexploded Shells, 1 100 yards East of
Hall Lane and 100 yards North of L.M.S. railway, 1 150 yards East of Hall Lane and 40 yards North East of pond in field and 1 300 yards West of Hall Lane and 400 yards North on L.M.S. railway (all disposed of by B.D.S. 9.5.41).
16/04/1941 21.60 Mountnessing 2 – H.Es exploded, 1/4 mile South of
Mountnessing Hall Farm and 100 yards North of Railway and 1 on Sewerage Farm. Extensive damage to sewer main and sprinklers. No casualties.
17/04/1941 02.10 Wickford I.Bs (about 100) burnt out between the junction of
Nevendon Road and Park Drive. Slight damage to property. No casualties.
17/04/1941 02.15 Wickford 1 – H.E. exploded in a field 100 yards North of
Railway Arch and South of Third Avenue, Shotgate. No damage or casualties.
17/04/1941 02.25 Hockley I.Bs (a number) burnt out in Great Bullwood, 1
mile South of Wardens Post N.4. No damage or casualties.
18/04/1941 05.00 Canewdon 3 – H.Es exploded in fields 1/4 mile North West of
Bolt Hall. No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 21.30 Vange I.Bs (about 50) burnt out at Gales Corner
Timberlog Lane. Damage by fire to a small factory, a house and sheds. Telephone wires down at junction of Gordon Road. 1 slight casualty.
19/04/1941 21.30 Brentwood I.Bs (a number) at the Barracks, Gt. Warley and
Mental Hospital grounds. No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 21.30 Thundersley 1 – H.E. exploded at Longfords Crescent, 1
unoccupied bungalow wrecked. No casualties.
19/04/1941 21.35 South 1 – Paramine unexploded 500 yards from East end
Benfleet of Highcliffe Road. Parachute at Canvey Island. Police Station (exploded 22.4.41 by B.D.S.). No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 21.40 Laindon 2 – H.Es exploded at Albert Drive, 4 bungalows
badly damaged and several slightly damaged. 1 slight casualty. Several persons suffering from shock.
19/04/1941 21.40 Wallasea 11 – H.Es exploded in fields 200 yards South of
Grass Farm. No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 21.45 Laindon 4 – H.Es exploded 2 between Victoria and Milton
Avenues and 2 at Dunton Drive. Extensive damage to Rose Cottage. Slight damage to Belvedere and other property. Water main fractured. Several persons suffering from shock.
19/04/1941 21.45 Pilgrims 1 – H.E. exploded in Lower Crow Green Road. No
Hatch damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 21.48 Laindon 1 – H.E. exploded in Elmore Crescent (unclassified
road closed). Gas main fractured. No casualties. (road open 16.4.41).
19/04/1941 21.55 Mountnessing 2 – Parachute mines exploded 1 in mid-air
at Swallows Cross. No casualties. Severe damage to property and telephone wires. Parachute and tail cap found painted green with No 3226 in yellow.
19/04/1941 22.00 Childerditch 2 – Para mines, 1 exploded in meadow on Jury Hill
and 1 unexploded on North side of Arterial Road. A.127. 10 yards from road, 300 yards East of Little Warley cross roads (exploded 21.4.41). No damage or casualties. (road open 23.5.41).
19/04/1941 22.10 Brentwood 2 – Para mines exploded, 1 in Sawyers Hall Lane
and 1 at Cocoran’s Farm, Bishops Hall Estate. Extensive damage to unoccupied farm property and other property. No casualties. Tail caps found.
19/04/1941 22.14 Rochford 2 – Para mines exploded near Costed Hall.
Damage to property. No casualties. Tail caps found marked with green lettering Nos 3241 and 3231 both 2 1/2 miles from water-ways.
19/04/1941 22.15 Great 2 – Para mines exploded West of Vicarage Lane
Wakering and 400 yards North of High St. 2 slight casualties. Slight damage to property. Tail caps and parachutes in possession of the Police. Tail caps black with figures 19 in green stencil and the word NARVI in chalk.
19/04/1941 22.30 Laindon 1 – H.E. unexploded in a field 400 yards East of
Partridge Farm and 300 yards South of Dry Street. No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 22.30 Billericay 2 – H.Es exploded in field 200 yards West of Acors
Farm Kennel Lane. No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 Hutton 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in a field adjoining
Challacombe Close. No damage or casualties. (dealt with by BDS 5.5.41).
19/04/1941 22.40 Pitsea I.Bs (about 50) between Glenhurst Avenue and
Rosetown Drive. Damage by fire at “Corborie” Rectory Road and 19 Chelvedon Avenue. No casualties.
19/04/1941 22.40 South 2 – Para mines exploded on open ground North
Fambridge West of pumping station, Fambridge Road. Slight damage to property. No casualties.
19/04/1941 22.45 Basildon 2 – H.Es exploded 1 in Cleveland Road and 1 in
Marlborough Road. 2 houses demolished and extensive damage to other property. Gas main damaged. No casualties.
19/04/1941 22.48 Canvey 1 – H.E. exploded on Scar Elbow Farm between
Island the gas compressor and Kynoch’s Hotel. No damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 23.05 Nevendon I.Bs (a number) in field near Felmore’s Farm. No
damage or casualties.
19/04/1941 23.10 Great Warley 1 – H.E. exploded in field between Thatchers Arms
P.H. and Warley Lodge. Slight damage to property. No casualties.
19/04/1941 Raweth 1 – H.E. exploded in Pear Tree Meadow, Fox’s
Farm. No damage or casualties.
20/04/1941 03.15 Canvey Roof and doors of “Redferne Lodge” damaged by
Island shrapnel. No casualties.
20/04/1941 03.15 Canvey 2 – H.Es exploded in fields between Winter
Island Gardens and Waterside Farm. No damage or casualties.
20/04/1941 03.15 Wickford 6 – H.Es exploded in line from East end of Brown’s
Ave, to Senfield Drive. 1 fatal casualty (Frederick Brickdell 33 years.) 4 serious and 3 slight casualties. Several persons suffering from shock, 6 houses wrecked and a number badly damaged. Brown’s Avenue blocked. Fire broke out but was extinguished. Electric and telephone wires down. A number of persons rendered homeless.
20/04/1941 04.10 Shenfield 2 – H.Es exploded in Hall Lane 1/4 mile North East
of Searchlight Station. No damage or casualties.
20/04/1941 04.10 South Weald 1 – Para mine exploded in field adjoining the
Poplars Farm, Brook Street. Extensive damage to property. Several persons rendered homeless. 2 lambs killed. Parachute at Brentwood Police Station.
20/04/1941 04.10 Brentwood 4 – H.Es, 1 exploded and 3 unexploded. The
unexploded near L.N.E.R. between Kavanaghs and Mascalls Bridges, 1 16 yards South of track, 1 150 yards South and 1 25 yards North of track about 250 yards East of Mascalls Bridge. The exploded H.E. 400 yards West of Kavanaghs Bridge and 200 yards South of track. (disposed of B.D.S. 29.4.41). No damage or casualties.
20/04/1941 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in ploughed field 25
yards West of L.M.S.R. and 50 yards North of Orchard Cottage, Hall Lane. No damage or casualties. (disposed of B.D.S. 9.5.41).
20/04/1941 Wickford 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell 50 yards from Railway
Arch at Fanton Hall. No damage or casualties. (dealt with by B.D.S. 8.5.41).
21/04/1941 Langdon 1 – H.E unexploded 20 yards North of junction on
Hills Park and Nightingale Avenues. No damage or casualties. (Disposed of by B.D.S. 30.4.41).
21/04/1941 Great 1 – H.E. unexploded near sewer beds at Barlylands
Burstead Farm. No damage or casualties. (dealt with B.D.S. 9.5.41).
21/04/1941 Barling 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in garden at Bolts Farm
Cottage. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 30.4.41).
24/04/1941 Great Warley 1 – H.E. exploded in field behind Mangrove
Cottages Warley Road. No damage or casualties.
25/04/1941 East 1 – H.E. unexploded in field 50 yards South of
Horndon Station Road. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 10.5.41).
25/04/1941 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in field adjoining Hall
Lane opposite Rectory Chase. No damage or casualties. (Disposed of B.D.S. 17.5.41).
28/04/1941 Raweth 1 – H.E unexploded in field 1/4 mile South East of
Dallymans Farm. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 5.5.41).
28/04/1941 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell in a ploughed field East
of Hall Lane. 100 yards from Hall Lane and 20 yards from North side of field. No damage or casualties.
SECOND WORLD WAR December 1940
(British)
Throughout the month beginning the 1st December 1940 bombing raids were exchanged between Britain and Germany. First Germany bombed Britain then Britain retaliated by bombing Germany. These raids were a continuation of the raids on the Midlands and the North West of England during November 1940.
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On the night of the 4th December 1940 around sixty German bombers attacked Birmingham in which the Wilton tram depot was damaged in the raid. On the night of the 11th December 1940 the largest raid lasting thirteen hours was launched against the city involving 278 bombers. Apart from explosives, 2,500 incendiaries were dropped causing widespread fires in both the residential and industrial areas. Two hundred and sixty people were killed and another two hundred and forty three were seriously injured.
Simultaneously, the German city of Düsseldorf and the Italian city of Turin were bombed by the RAF on the 5th December 1940.
On the 16th December 1940 the first RAF night raid on Mannheim was launched in revenge for the German attack on Coventry. One hundred and eight tons of high explosives and over 13,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the industrial centre of the city. Countless fires were started and were fairly widespread but casualties were low with only 34 people killed.
The heaviest raids on Manchester by the German Luftwaffe occurred on the 22nd /23rd and the 23rd /24th December 1940 killing an estimated six hundred and eighty four people and injuring a further two thousand. On the 22nd/23rd December 1940 two hundred and seventy two tons of high explosives were dropped followed by two hundred and seventy two tons the following night. Manchester Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and the Free Trade Hall were among the large buildings damaged.
London sustained another large German air raid on the 29th/30th December1940 when the area around St. Paul’s Cathedral was attacked. Almost every building in the area had been burned down with the Cathedral surviving in a wasteland of destruction. To protect the Cathedral Prime Minister Winston Churchill had urged the special group of firemen to ensure its survival. Twenty nine incendiary bombs fell on and around the Cathedral. One burned through the lead dome but the bomb fell outward from the roof onto the stone gallery below and was quickly extinguished. The photograph, taken by the Daily Mail’s photographer Herbert Mason, and called “St. Paul’s Survives” shows the Cathedral surrounded by thick black smoke. This iconic photograph became the symbol of London’s stand against the enemy. The survival of St. Paul’s came at a cost when more than one hundred and sixty people died in that night’s raid including sixteen firemen with five hundred more being injured.
Operation Compass was the first large scale Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign and was fought between 6th and 9th December 1940. The Italian 10th Army had advanced into Egypt in September 1940 and set up a defensive position at Sidi Barrani 95 km (59 miles) from the Egyptian/Libya border. The British Western Desert Force advanced from their defensive position in Mersa Matruh with approximately 36,000 men against 150,000 men stronghold of the Italian 10th Army. The British swiftly defeated the Italians and pursued the remnants of the army to El Agheila. For the loss of 1,900 British men killed or wounded they took over 138,000 Italian prisoners, hundreds of tanks and more than 1000 guns and aircraft on the 12th December 1940. By the 16th December 1940, the British were in command at Sollum and had taken Fort Capuzza in Libya.
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(Germany)
On the 18th December 1940 German Dictator Adolf Hitler issued a directive to begin preparing for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Germany was already committed to the invasion and was ready for any re-action the Soviet Union may undertake. Hitler did not want the Soviet Union participating in the Tripartite Pact, although they had been invited to join on the 18th November 1940, as Germany had their own plans for the division of Europe.
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(Italy)
Between the 1st and 8th December 1940, in the Greco-Italian War, the Greek Army continued to push the Italians further back into Albania. The Greeks captured the Albanian cities of Pogradoc, Sarande and Gjirokasser. The war continued to go badly for Italy and by the 28th December 1940 the Greeks occupied roughly 25% of Albania. On the same day Italy requested military assistance from Germany against Greece.
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(Other Theatres)
On the 1st December 1940 the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph P. Kennedy, was asked by President Roosevelt to resign after he gave a newspaper interview expressing his view that “Democracy is finished in England”.
On the 8th December 1940 following Hitler’s meeting with Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco, Spain ruled out the countries’ entry into the war. As a consequence Hitler was forced to cancel the proposed attack on Gibraltar. Franco had considered joining the war and invading Gibraltar but he knew his armed forces would not be able to defend Spanish Morocco and the Canary Islands from a British attack.
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The Bay Museum & Research Facility 