Newcastle Blitz

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The Newcastle Blitz refers to the strategic bombing of

Following the declaration of war against Germany in September 1939, over 30,000 people, mainly children, were evacuated from the city to areas including the Lake District and rural Northumberland.

Bombing raids

1940

The first major raid on Newcastle and neighbouring Gateshead came on 2 July 1940. The target was the High Level Bridge and 13 people were killed with further 123 injured.

Another raid on Newcastle came on 15 August 1940, when German bombers flew from bases in Norway and Denmark (heading for airfields). Though much of the attacking force was intercepted by British fighters a number of bombers dropped bombs on Newcastle and Sunderland.

1941

On 25 April 1941, a force of German bombers attacked Newcastle and dropped high explosive bombs, incendiaries and a parachute mine. 47 were killed and dozens of homes were left uninhabitable.

A raid on 1 September 1941 caused a major fire New Bridge Street Goods Station which burned for a week. The raid left 50 dead, 71 seriously injured, 140 slightly injured and over a thousand people homeless.

The last substantial raid on Newcastle came on 29 December 1941 with nine people killed in the Byker area. Smaller scale 'tip and run' raids by small groups or single bombers continued for the next two years.

Another air raid came for North Shields as W.A. Wilkinsons (used as an air raid shelter) was hit.

Newcastle, like other English cities and large towns at the time, had been expanding rapidly throughout the 1920s and 1930s with new housing being built in the private sector, as well as new

• In pictures: The Blitz in North Shields and Jarrow
• World War II air raid damage in Newcastle
• Rare film footage of Newcastle taken during World War II

References