Barrow Blitz
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The Barrow Blitz is the name given to the ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' bombings of
Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. They took place primarily during April and May 1941, although the earliest ''Luftwaffe'' bombing occurred in September 1940.Barrow-in-Furness the Fortunes of War
VSEL shipyard was the main target for bombing alongside Barrow's
steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...
which were formerly the largest in the world.


Prelude

Many Barrovians believe the first sign of German interest of the town was in May 1936, when the
zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
LZ-129 '' Hindenburg'' flew very low and slowly over Barrow, which locals and government officialsForeign Aircraft (Low Flying)
/ref> alike believed was spying on the shipyard, although it claimed to be simply carrying passengers on a luxury trip. The town, with a population of around 75,000 in 1941, was targeted by the ''Luftwaffe'' mainly for its shipbuilding industry (similar to the
Clydebank Blitz The Clydebank Blitz were a pair of air raids conducted by the ''Luftwaffe'' on the shipbuilding and munition-making town of Clydebank in Scotland. The bombings took place in March 1941. The air raids were part of a bombing program known today as ...
) which was one of the most sophisticated in the world and built many submarines and ships for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
.


Artillery and defences

During the Second World War,
Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...
was home to two of the country's many coastal artillery installations (Hilpsford Fort and Fort Walney), and numerous pillboxes can to this day be found littered across the Walney coastline. They were used as lookouts and contained rifles and light machine guns that could be used to defend Barrow against the ''Luftwaffe''.Walney Island coastal artillery
/ref> The entrance to a large underground
air-raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...
that was used by shipyard workers can be found in the car park of the Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness development.WWII Air-raid shelter
/ref> A large unit of the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
was based at
Barrow/Walney Island Airport Barrow/Walney Island Airport (formerly RAF Walney Island) is located on Walney Island, northwest of the centre of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The airport is owned by BAE Systems, who operate private communication flights to location ...
which was expanded during the war in an effort to aid Britain's air defences.A history of Walney Airfield
/ref>


1941 raids

The difficulty of solely targeting Barrow's shipyard meant that many residential neighbourhoods were bombed instead; 83 civilians were killed, 330 injured, and over 10,000 houses were damaged or destroyed during the Blitz, about 25 percent of the town's housing stock.War Diaries
/ref> Surrounding towns and villages were often mistaken for Barrow and were attacked instead, while many streets in Barrow were severely damaged. Bombing during mid-April 1941 caused significant damage to a central portion of
Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly re ...
, completely destroying the Waverley Hotel as well as Christ Church and the Abbey Road Baptist Church. The town's main public baths and Essoldo Theatre were also severely damaged, however they were repaired within years. Hawcoat Lane is a street that is most noted for taking a direct destructive hit in early May 1941. Barrow has been described as somewhat unprepared for the Blitz, as there were only enough public shelters for 5 percent of the town's population; some people who lived in the
town centre A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...
were even forced to seek refuge in hedgerows on the outskirts of Barrow. This shortage of shelters was believed to have led to excessively high casualties. Two fire watchers were killed in May 1941 when the hammer head crane they were stationed in at Vickers Shipyard was bombed by the ''Luftwaffe''.Farewell to iconic crane
The headquarters of Barrow's anti-aircraft defences was in the
Furness Abbey Hotel The Furness Abbey Hotel was demolished in 1953, having been bombed in May 1941. Its site now forms the car park to Furness Abbey and the museum. The station at Furness Abbey also suffered bomb damage and was demolished in the early 1950s. The o ...
, a sandstone building next to the former railway station by the ruins of the
abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...
, in a valley screened by trees, it would seem to have been an unlikely target. In May 1941 it was attacked and badly damaged by the ''Luftwaffe''. Most of the hotel was subsequently demolished and the remaining part became a public house/restaurant known as 'The Abbey Tavern'. Barrow Central Station was heavily damaged on 7 May 1941; a First World War memorial located within it still bears the holes and gashes caused by the World War II bombings.


Aftermath

A local housewife,
Nella Last Nella Last (née Nellie Lord; 4 October 1889 – 22 June 1968) was an English homemaker, housewife who lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England. She wrote a diary for the Mass Observation Archive from 1939 until 1966 making it one of t ...
wrote a diary of her everyday experiences on the home front during the war for the
Mass-Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...
project. Her memoirs were later adapted for television. Barrow's main war memorial is a
cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...
located in Barrow Park. It bears the names of hundreds of Barrovians who died in combat during various wars, including 616 in the First World War, 268 in the Second World War, and 6 in the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. The
Dock Museum The Dock Museum is situated in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Most of its exhibits concern the history of the town, focusing on the shipbuilding industry at VSEL (now BAE Systems), the steelworks industry — of which Barrow once had th ...
in
Hindpool Hindpool is an area and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. It is bordered by Barrow Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Barrow Island, Central Barrow, Ormsgill, Parkside, Barrow-in-Furness, Parkside and the ...
contains an exhibit about the Barrow Blitz.
Stella Rimington Dame Stella Rimington (born 13 May 1935) is a British author and former Director General of MI5, a position she held from 1992 to 1996. She was the first female DG of MI5, and the first DG whose name was publicised on appointment. In 1993, Rimi ...
, later head of
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...
, moved out of London to Barrow at the age of four when the war started, and lived there during the Blitz there. She described hiding under the stairs, windows being blown out, and ceilings falling down. On a very bad night, walking through the bombs to an air raid shelter.


Documentary

In 2016, filmmaker and Barrow Sixth Form student Matthew Dodd created a documentary to commemorate the Barrow Blitz's 75th anniversary, entitled ''The Barrow Blitz: 75 Years On''.


Timeline

Timeline of events during the Barrow Blitz.Timeline
* September 1940 **The first compulsory blackout in Barrow. **300 incendiaries are dropped on
Salthouse Salthouse is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the salt marshes of North Norfolk. It is north of Holt, west of Sheringham and north of Norwich. The village is on the A149 coast road between ...
, and a 5-year-old child becomes the first victim of the Barrow Blitz. * May 1941 **Bombing intensifies as the ''Luftwaffe'' drops land-mines, incendiaries, and high explosives. ** Barrow Central railway station is completely destroyed by bombing. **Some 2,250 children are evacuated from the town. * June 1941 **A further 4,000 children are evacuated as the death toll from bombing exceeds 80. * January 1942 **The last bombs of the Blitz are dropped on Barrow, with no recorded casualties. * March 1942 **The last air-raid siren in Barrow was recorded on 25 March.


See also

*
The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
*
Barrow Park Cenotaph The Barrow Park Cenotaph is the main war memorial in the UK town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, North West England. Located in Barrow's main public park, the structure is grade II listed. It is made from Portland limestone and is pillar like ...
* Timeline of Barrow-in-Furness *
Housewife, 49 ''Housewife, 49'' is a 2006 television film based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last. Written by and starring English actress and comedian Victoria Wood, it follows the experiences of an ordinary housewife and mother in the Northern English t ...
* Vickers Ltd. Shipbuilding *
Barrow/Walney Island Airport Barrow/Walney Island Airport (formerly RAF Walney Island) is located on Walney Island, northwest of the centre of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The airport is owned by BAE Systems, who operate private communication flights to location ...


References

{{WWII city bombing, state=autocollapse The Blitz
Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
Barrow Blitz The Barrow Blitz is the name given to the ''Luftwaffe'' bombings of Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom during World War II. They took place primarily during April and May 1941, although the earliest ''Luftwaffe'' bombing occurred in September 19 ...
1940s in Lancashire 20th century in Cumbria