Leeds Blitz | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Strategic bombing campaign of World War II | |||||||
Directions to an ARP shelter at the University of Leeds | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom | Germany |
The Leeds Blitz comprised nine air raids on the city of Leeds by the Nazi German Luftwaffe . The heaviest raid took place on the night of 14/15 March 1941, affecting the city centre, Beeston, [1] Bramley [2] and Armley. [1] [3] The city was subjected to other raids during the Second World War, but they were relatively minor; only the March 1941 raid caused widespread damage, including to the city's museum and its artefacts.
Leeds is a large city in the industrial heartland of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The county's largest city, much of the region's economic, administrative and industrial activities were centred on Leeds which was also an important rail hub. Many industrial manufacturers around the city such as Avro at RAF Yeadon (now Leeds Bradford Airport) which produced Lancaster bombers, [4] Kirkstall Forge, [5] Barnbow munitions works [6] and ROF Thorp Arch near Wetherby [7] adapted their output for war work providing likely raid targets. Leeds had taken precautions, including building many public air raid shelters and large water tanks to be used for fire-fighting in the event of incendiary devices being dropped. [8]
Beginning just after 9 pm on Friday 14 March 1941, around 40 bombers took part in the raid on Leeds; in all 451 were over Britain that night. [9] Incendiary bombs were first dropped onto the city on the Friday night, later high explosive bombs were dropped on the Saturday. [10] [11] [12] Targets hit in the city centre included the Town Hall, the city's museum (then on Park Row), Leeds New station (now Leeds City station), the Kirkgate Markets, the Central Post Office, the Quarry Hill flats, the Hotel Metropole and the area now occupied by the Inner Ring Road. [13] Around 100 houses were destroyed, 4,600 sustained damage, and around 65 people were killed. [14] [15]
Other nearby towns were also damaged in this raid. Huddersfield was damaged by bombers seeking the David Brown factory at Crosland Moor (at the time making parts for the Supermarine Spitfire), while central Castleford was also damaged by bombers seeking the Hickson and Welch chemical works and Ferrybridge power station. [16] In total 25 tons of bombs fell on Leeds during the raid, a quarter of the 100 tons often used as the threshold for a "major raid". [11] [17] By comparison, that night in Glasgow 203 aircraft dropped 231 tons of high explosives, nearly ten times the amount dropped on Leeds, and 1,650 incendiary canisters, while in nearby Sheffield 117 aircraft dropped 83 tons of high explosives and 328 incendiary canisters. [18]
Owing to the censorship and secrecy during the war, the press did not mention Leeds by name after the raid, instead referring to it as a "North East Inland Town"; the frequent raids on Hull were often referred to as a raid on a "North East Coastal Town". [19] German sources from the time claim raids on Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Tilbury Docks, Plymouth and Southampton. [20]
The bombing of the Leeds City Museum resulted in the losses of historic civic possessions [21] including the destruction of a mummy and a taxidermed tiger. Curator Herbert Ricketts described salvaging artefacts after the bombing as having "a dig in our own museum". [22] [23] The museum's front, dating from 1821, was also damaged and had to be taken down. [24] [25] A concrete front was built replacing the destroyed Victorian facade. The museum closed in 1965 and was moved to the central library on the Headrow. The museum was demolished in 1966 and the site is now occupied by the HSBC bank. [26] In 1999, the museum was moved from the library, and is now housed in the former Mechanics Institute on Millennium Square.
Other historic buildings were superficially damaged. At certain sites, such as the town hall, shrapnel damage is still evident. [27]
31st (North Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was responsible for anti-aircraft defence of West Yorkshire, [28] and throughout the war years Leeds had anti-aircraft guns positioned throughout the city. [29] There were many RAF airfields to the east of the city in the Vale of York, while most were home to bomber command units, RAF Church Fenton was the base of a fighter squadron. [30] [31] On the night of the main Leeds raid Junkers Ju 88 and Dornier Do 17 aircraft were shot down over Northern England, indicating these could have been the bombers used over Leeds. [32]
Following the raids, unexploded bombs have been found in the city [33] including one in Potternewton Park in 2012. [34] Unexploded anti-aircraft shells have also been found to the south and east of the city. [35] Starting in September 1940, all unexploded bombs were to be logged in a detailed 'bomb diary', although the scheme was not at first initiated in Leeds. [36]
The Tony Harrison poem "Shrapnel" relates to the raid on Beeston and the possibility of an act of heroism on the part of the bomber crews given the number of bombs falling on Cross Flats Park in Beeston as well as comparing the bombing to the bombings of 7 July in London, of which two of the perpetrators came from Leeds. [37] [38] Harrison, at the time a child, was sheltering in the cellar of a house on Tempest Road in Beeston. [39]
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s and 30s, with the Raid Wardens' Service set up in 1937 to report on bombing incidents. Every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties, and liaison with police and fire brigades.
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of aerial attacks in April and May 1942 by the German Luftwaffe on English cities during the Second World War. The name derives from Baedeker, a series of German tourist guide books, including detailed maps, which were used to select targets for bombing.
The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial centre, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war.
Beeston is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England located on a hill about 2 miles (3 km) south of the city centre.
Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War. It was bombed by the RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945, the United States Army Air Forces' Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945, and the French Air Force in 1940 and between 1944 and 1945 as part of the Allied campaign of strategic bombing of Germany. It was also attacked by aircraft of the Red Air Force in 1941 and particularly in 1945, as Soviet forces closed on the city. British bombers dropped 45,517 tons of bombs, while American aircraft dropped 22,090.3 tons. As the bombings continued, more and more people fled the city. By May 1945, 1.7 million people had fled.
The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, all by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A total of 34,711 long tons of bombs were dropped on the city by the RAF. 20,000 civilians died during the war in Cologne due to aerial bombardments.
The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the English city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.
The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe. It was one of three major raids on Manchester, an important inland port and industrial city; Trafford Park in neighbouring Stretford was a major centre of war production.
The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater Blitz, which was part of the Battle of Britain; and ending on 23 April 1943. Situated in the Midlands, Birmingham, the most populous British city outside London, was considered an important industrial and manufacturing location. Around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom in the Second World War, behind London and Liverpool.
The Coventry Blitz, or Coventration of the city, was a series of bombing raids that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 14 November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15 November.
The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easily found as enemy bombers were able to trace a course up the River Avon from Avonmouth using reflected moonlight on the waters, into the heart of the city. Bristol was the fifth-most heavily-bombed British city of the war.
The Clydebank Blitz was a pair of air raids conducted by the Luftwaffe on the shipbuilding and munition-making town of Clydebank in Scotland. The bombings took place in March 1941.
The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.
The Cardiff Blitz ; refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II. Between 1940 and the final raid on the city in March 1944 approximately 2,100 bombs fell, killing 355 people.
The Swansea Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of Swansea by the German Luftwaffe from 19 to 21 February 1941. A total of 230 people were killed and 397 were injured. Swansea was selected by the Germans as a legitimate strategic target due to its importance as a port and docks and the oil refinery just beyond, and its destruction was key to Nazi German war efforts as part of their strategic bombing campaign aimed at crippling coal export and demoralizing civilians and emergency services.
The term Exeter Blitz refers to the air raids by the German Luftwaffe on the British city of Exeter, Devon, during the Second World War. The city was bombed in April and May 1942 as part of the so-called "Baedeker raids", in which targets were chosen for their cultural and historical, rather than their strategic or military, value.
The bombing of Gorky by the German Luftwaffe was the most destructive attack on Soviet war production on the Eastern Front in World War II. It lasted intermittently from October 1941 - June 1943, with 43 raids carried out.
On the night of 9/10 March 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) conducted a devastating firebombing raid on Tokyo, the Japanese capital city. This attack was code-named Operation Meetinghouse by the USAAF and is known as the Great Tokyo Air Raid in Japan. Bombs dropped from 279 Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers burned out much of eastern Tokyo. More than 90,000 and possibly over 100,000 Japanese people were killed, mostly civilians, and one million were left homeless, making it the most destructive single air attack in human history. The Japanese air and civil defenses proved largely inadequate; 14 American aircraft and 96 airmen were lost.