Hope someone can help... I am trying to research a bombing on Warrington (then in Lancashire) on the 14th September 1940. I have several eye witness reports that state a lone bomber (German plane but displaying Allied, possibly Free French markings) circled over the town for some time, before dropping 2 HE bombs. They landed on a Sports Day / Childrens party, close to Thames Board paper mill, and there were many casualties. One theory is that the bomber had become separated from the rest of the group and had got lost, dropping its bombs on a likely target before heading out to sea. However, it was seen circling for up to 30 minutes, which doesn't make sense. I know that on the Bomber Command pages of the internet, there are copious records of all the bombing missions during the war, the designated targets, number of planes, casualties etc. What I want to try and find is the Luftwaffe equivalent - to try and figure out what the British targets were that day, and to verify whether or not it was a German plane, or something else entirely. Can anyone suggest where I might start looking for this information? I have tried browsing the web, looking at various Luftwaffe references, but I feel it is like searching for a needle in a haystack, and there MUST be a better way. Thanks, I'm keeping my fingers crossed... JaneAS
RAF Home Security report ""General Summary Date: 14th September 1940 With the exception of a bombing incident at Warrington, Lancashire, where 57 casualties were caused daylight raiding was again confined to the London area, and various towns in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent and East Anglia. "" The incident I note was Warrington FC were playing Broughton Rangers at Wilderspool and a German Aircraft bombed Thames Board Mills, where the sports field was. Its more liekly the aircraft was trying to locate the factory/mill. There may be some information in Luftwaffe archives at the Bindesarchiv in germnay, try a web search for their pages. regards MG
The Narrow Margin, by Wood and Dempster, is a pretty comprehensive chronicle of the Battle of Britain. This raid in question took place during that time period, so it'll be in the book. Excellent work.
Kiwiwriter, Does this book contain all riads on the UK, small and large as in the RAF daily bulletins? If so I might just have to find a copy, sounds a great book. Kind regards MG
(Colonel Gubbins @ Dec 2 2005, 11:33 AM) [post=42466]Kiwiwriter, Does this book contain all riads on the UK, small and large as in the RAF daily bulletins? If so I might just have to find a copy, sounds a great book. Kind regards MG [/b] It's pretty much a "Universal Problem Solver" for the Battle of Britain. Admittedly it was done before the Ultra revelations came out, but for everything else, it's fairly definitive...dates, times, casualties, specifications, and a complete list of BoB British pilots in the index.
