Any quick way of identifying who was bombing Hull

[Ancient~Geek]

Hi

I am working on a book at the moment and the issue of the parachute mine which was dropped on Bean Street, in Hull, on the night of 14th 15th March 1941 has come up.

I just wondered if anyone knows of any quick way of finding out which Luftwaffe units would have been bombing Hull that night?

I'm assuming the Luftwaffe kept log books and target records just the same as Bomber Command did of their raids, but have these German records all vanished or do they still exist somewhere? I've found an excellent site on Abandoned and Little Known Airfields, and I am tipping that the Luftwaffe raiders would have flown to bomb Hull from bases in maybe Denmark or Holland? Or is this a false assumption?

Thanks for any help in advance

[hucks216]

According to The Blitz Then & Now Vol 2, the primary targets for the Luftwaffe that night were Glasgow, Sheffield & Plymouth (the last one may be incorrect as I'm recalling from memory) but a number of crews aborted &/or dropped their bombs (35 aircraft) on alternate targets. It does list all the units that took part in the raids that night but being able to narrow it down to a specific aircraft (or unit) that bombed an alternate target from what it was planned may be difficult. You might wish to try 12 O'Clock High Forum.

[Ancient~Geek]

Thanks. It's quite possible that it was a random dumping of bombs on an alternative target because they used to bomb the West Riding then dump anything they had left on Hull on the way home, apparently

[RudiS]

I am tipping that the Luftwaffe raiders would have flown to bomb Hull from bases in maybe Denmark or Holland? Or is this a false assumption?

There is no reason why they shouldn't have been coming from bases from Belgium or France. KG 54 for instance took part at the raids against Glasgow, Sheffield & Southampton that night. They took off from St.-André en Evreux in France. On the night of March 18-19th they took off from these same base to attack Hull.

Regards,
Rudi.

[Ancient~Geek]

I was thinking of the range of the aircraft involved - would they have been Heinkel 111s?

[hucks216]

By March 1941 KG-54 operated Ju-88's.

[Ancient~Geek]

I found St Andre en Eure wich I assume is the same air base and I was surprised to see how far inland in France it was, and also, if they had flown "as the crow flies" to bomb Sheffield, for instance, from that base, it would have taken them over the South Coast and over London, which I assume would have been bristling with ack-ack, and then on over another 150 miles or so of enemy territory. I'm assuming therefore that they skirted round the Kent coast instead, and flew up the North sea, parallel with the East coast, only turning inland on their "final approach".

[RudiS]

Saint-André-de-l'Eure was indeed where II./KG54 was based. As far the exact flight plan: I have no idea.

Regards,
Rudi.

[Ancient~Geek]

Cheers Rudi. It would make no sense at all for them to spend more time than they would have had to in flying over hostile territory so I am assuming they hugged the coast instead. Interesting stuff, though, and thanks for your input. I have a lot of detail in my notes about the civilians affected by this (one of whom was my Grandmother, whose house was blown to smithereens by it) but very little info about KG54. I'll have to investigate the Luftwaffe records and see if there are any extant lists of personnel - presumably they kept log books in the same way as the British pilots did, and if these still exist, it may be possible to pinpoint the exact plane/crew who bombed my Grandmother's house.

I must admit I was surprised by the distance flown, one tends to think of the Luftwaffe bombers as having a relatively short range but clearly even a twin-motor job such as the JU88 could make it all the way from Evreux to Sheffield to Hull and then back to Evreux on one mission.

By the way, if I forgot to say it earlier I am extremely grateful for your kind, patient and valuable help

[RudiS]

As far as I know the Luftwaffe would fly over the North Sea as much as possible to avoid ground fire & fire from enemy fighters.

it may be possible to pinpoint the exact plane/crew who bombed my Grandmother's house.

Impossible The different Gruppe of a KG (Bombardement Wing) did keep war diaries (KTB or Kriegstagebuch) but I'm not sure that all of these survived. Even then it will only record how many planes for instance did drop their bombs on the alternate target (Hull) without mentioning which a/c or crew. It also won't say exactly where in Hull they dropped their bombs because the crew simply didn't know this.

Each member of an aircrew kept also a Personal Log (Flugbuch or FB). But here it was only mentionned that they dropped their bombs at Hull that night. As probably did several other a/c the same night.

As far as I know different KG's took part in the raid that night so it isn't certain that the bombs on your grandmother's house came from a KG 54 plane.

As hucks216 suggested you might want to ask your questions at this forum here:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/
If anyone can help you, these guys can.

Regards,
Rudi.

[Ancient~Geek]

Thanks Rudi, I will do that