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World War Two Air Raids on Nottingham
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Of the eleven attacks on Nottingham, only one was serious. On the night of the 8th and 9th of May, the Luftwaffe launched assault against Sheffield, Hull, Nottingham and Derby but No. 80 Wing successfully jammed their radio beams and bombs fell to the north of the town. Simultaneously, 95 aircraft attacked Nottingham but some of the raiders were confused by the lighting of a Starfish Site at Cropwell Butler. Starfish Sites were areas of waste ground away from habitation on which fires were deliberately started in the hope of fooling the enemy into dropping their bombs on them. Because Cropwell Butler is on the same navigational bearing and distance from Nottingham, as Nottingham is from Derby, some mistook the flames for Derby, took a visual navigational fix, and proceeded to bomb the Vale of Belvior, killing two comes and several chickens..
Bomb damage to the Shakespeare Street Buildings, Nottingham University College, 1941 Ref: UMP 2/1/42/2
Wilford Hill Cemetery: Memorial to the 49 employees who were killed at the Co-op Bakery in Meadow Lane on the night of the 8th and 9th of May, 1941.
Several churches suffered. St Christopher’s Church, Colwick Road and St. John the Baptist Leenside was destroyed. Other were damaged including the King’s Hall St. Ann’s Well Road, Shakespeare Road, and St. Matthias Church off Carlton Road.
The West Bridgford area was hit with 62 HE (High Explosive) bombs, and Beeston and Stapleford between them were hit with 28 HE bombs. In Bingham Rural District, 92 bombs fell and incendiaries were dropped on Langar-cum-Barstone and Granby-cum-Sutton.
The emergency services dealt with twelve serious fires, 40 major and 42 medium fires and three small fires. In all some 424 HE bombs had landed on the city destroying 200 houses and making another 250 unfit for habitation. A further 200 houses were badly damaged and 4,000 slightly damaged. Six rest centres were in operation and they dealt with 1,286 people who had been bombed-out.
In the eleven attacks on Nottingham, 181 people were killed and 350 injured, most of them on the night of the blitz. The total number of air raid alerts to the 29th February 1944, was Nottingham 223, Worksop 129, East Retford 163, Eastwood 168, Newark 271, Finningley and Harworth 165.
Nottingham at War: A Pictorial Account 1939-45
Clive Hardy and Nigel Arthur 1986, page 53
Starfish Decoy Target https://phys.org
Not all the raiders were fooled. In Nottingham the destruction extended from the edge of Mapperley Park across Woodborough Road and St. Ann’s Well Road areas of the Lace Market, Sneinton and Sneinton Dale. Leenside, Station Street, Carlton Road, Carlton Hill, and the Meadows were hit. So too were Colwick Road, Meadow Lane and Trentside Districts.
In the central areas of the City, bombs fell in Shakespeare Street destroying part of the University College (Nottingham Trent University) and the Esplanade (a small commercial hotel). The Poor Law offices were also damaged. Armitage’s stores at the corner of Victoria Street and High Street, the Moot Hall and shops at the corner of Friar Lane were badly damaged, and a new office of Friar Lane were badly damaged, and a new office block in Castle Gate was wrecked. Bombs also fell on the LMS station destroying 26 passenger coaches and damaging 70 others.
London Road Sneinton, Colwick Road and Carlton Road suffered the most. Boots printing department in Station Street was destroyed, by the heaviest casualties were at the Co-op bakery in Meadow Lane where 49 employees and members of the Home Guard were killed and another twenty injured. There was also a direct hit on a shelter in Dakeyne Street, Sneinton.