WWII Bombs on Scotland

[Currie]

Hello Maureen,

The only online UK WW2 list that comes to mind is the list of the dead.

Here’s a bit of a guide on National Archives “Home Front” records. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/reco ... 9-1945.htm

The snow story should narrow down the date the bomb fell near the nursing home. In what months does it snow in Glasgow? I doubt that snow would stop a bomb from exploding, perhaps it was just a run of the mill Dud Bomb.

All the best,
Alan

[Montrose Budie]

I'm another who would like to know about that topic ,as I was told a bomb fell outside the Nursing Home where I was born and that it landed in the SNOW and didn't explode but the Nursing Home was evacuated to safety .This was in Glasgow's Great Western Road and wonder if any reports went in the newspapers .

Hi Maureen

Whether or not there was a contemporaneous newspaper report all depends on the attitude of the authorities at the time.

Very often, any such report would be delayed by weeks or months to avoid frightening the lieges !; never mind providing valuable info to the Luftwaffe; in this case that the bomb-aiming of at least one bomber had been defective ...........

I've no really detailed experience re the air war, but as regards the Royal Navy, it was very often weeks or months before the loss of a ship was reported in the media; one of the oft quoted examples involving the months later report of loss of the battleship HMS Barham in the Mediteranean, - torpedoed by U-331; likewise the loss north of Singapore of the battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, sunk by the Japanese Air Force, there being no escorting anti-aircraft cruisers !, in fact, no escort at all ............

mb

[Rockford]

In what months does it snow in Glasgow?

Any month with an 'r' in it. It's only raining for the other four......

Best wishes

Rockford

[LesleyB]

Any month with an 'r' in it.

I remember seeing snow in June once - I don't remember the year, but it made a big impression as it there was a line about a "snowflake in June" in a song I knew back to front as a teenager and it was something I thought would never happen!

Best wishes
Lesley

[Montrose Budie]

Book received and read.

It's very informative.

It includes places that were bombed due to 'creep-back' on the two major raids in the West of Scotland, Clydebank and Greenock.

'Creep-back' is the well known phenomenon where bomb aimers tended to press the button further and further away from the target, due to a wish to get the h**k out of there, and, sometimes, interpreting fires started by earlier bombers dropping short as where they should aim.

In terms of numbers of raids the greatest number were in the NE, centred on Aberdeen.

mb

[Adam Brown]

The SMRG Blog had a post back in October about the 70th anniversary of Luftwaffe attacks on RAF Montrose and RAF Arbroath

http://scottishmilitary.blogspot.com/20 ... ry_26.html

And an article from five years ago from the Edinburgh 'Evening News' reports on the effects of several raids on Leith.

http://living.scotsman.com/features/The ... 2642816.jp

An online resource which may be able to help is Secret Scotland...

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/

I can't find anything on their wiki or forum but this sort of thing seems to be right up their street so it may be worth posting on their forum.

Thanks

Adam

[Hibee]

Thanks, Adam.

That Edinburgh Evening News article contains the information I was looking for.

I remember playing in a bomb crater at the top of Kaimes Road/Cairnmuir Road, Corstorphine, in the mid 1950s. It must have been caused by one of the two bombs "dropped on Edinburgh Zoo" (about 20 yards away) on 4 Nov 1940. No doubt aiming at the radar towers, rather than the penguins.

In the 1960s, the crater was filled in and a house was built there, but I see that the house has now gone, and it's a block of flats. The price of land, eh?

Hibee

Just found some more on this....
Nov 5, 8.10 pm
Corstorphine area: Pinkhill House, Zoo aviary,
Corstorphine Hill quarry, grounds of Clermiston House
- six 250 lb bombs

[Currie]

Hello Hibee,

The bombing of the 4th November, 1940, was reported in the Glasgow Herald of the 5th (page 5) but, due to censorship, there were only hints as to the actual locations. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=G ... =frontpage


All the best,
Alan

[Hibee]

Thanks. I wish the Edinburgh Evening News archives were as readily available.

Hibee

[Currie]

Hello Hibee,

Edinburgh is a black hole as far as online newspaper archives are concerned. In the 19C British Library Newspapers there’s nothing after 1868. That was when the Scotsman bought its main competitor, the Caledonian Mercury, and scrapped it. There’s a plethora of London Newspapers in the 19C BL newspapers.

In Google News Archive there’s the Glasgow Herald from 1800 to 1990 and the Glasgow Evening Times from 1950 to 1990, and sure to be expanded. There’s nothing in GNA for Edinburgh.

Ancestry claims to have a Scottish Newspaper collection, with Edinburgh newspapers, but the coverage is ridiculously patchy and pretty well useless. http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/ ... 257&p=3252

There’s the Scotsman 1817 to 1950, on its pay-site, but it is more than twice the price and isn’t nearly as good as the London Times site which is 1785 to 1985.

The Edinburgh Evening News has been around since 1873 and replaced the Edinburgh Evening Courant which came into existence in the 1700s. It is currently owned by the same people who own the Scotsman.

All the best,
Alan