The Clydebank Blitz were a pair of air raids conducted by 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-Fliegerabt ...

'' on the shipbuilding and munition-making town of

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling and Milton beyond) to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel ...

in Scotland. The bombings took place in March 1941. The air raids were part of a bombing program known today as

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 ...

The air raids

As a result of the raids on the nights of 13 and 14 March 1941, the town was largely destroyed and it suffered the worst destruction and civilian loss of life in all of Scotland. 1,200 people died, 1,000 people were seriously injured, and hundreds more were injured by blast debris. Over the course of the two nights, a total of 439 Luftwaffe bombers dropped in excess of 1,650 incendiary containers and 272 tonnes of bombs. Out of approximately 12,000 houses, only eight remained undamaged — with 4,000 completely destroyed and 4,500 severely damaged. Over 35,000 people were made homeless. Clydebank's production of ships and

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

for the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

made it a target (similar to the

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 1 ...

). Major targets included the

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its height, from 1900 to the 1950s, it was one of ...

shipyard, ROF Dalmuir and the

Singer Corporation Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Singer, Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward Cabot Clark, Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing mac ...

factory.

RAF 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 ...

fighters managed to shoot down two aircraft during the raid, but none were brought down by anti-aircraft fire. Tenements on Kilbowie Road, Clydebank - geograph

Tenements on Kilbowie Road, Clydebank - geograph

In his book ''Luftwaffe over Scotland: A History of German Air Attacks on Scotland, 1939-45'', amateur historian Les Taylor characterised the Clydebank Blitz as "the most cataclysmic event" in wartime Scotland. He claims that while the raid on 13 March was not intended as a terror attack, it caused extensive damage because there was a lot of housing near the specific targets but the bombings the following night were indeed a terror attack as it "was intended to crack morale and force the people to call for an end to the war. However, it had quite the opposite effect, strengthening resolve for the war in Scotland."

Effectiveness of the raids

To the immediate west of the town was situated Clydeside's main Admiralty Oil Storage facility, covering . ''Luftwaffe'' target maps categorised this area as the primary target. Post-raid surveys counted 96 bomb craters. 11 tanks were destroyed and 7 were severely damaged. The resulting inferno blazed for over four weeks. Clydebank, to the immediate East, suffered badly as a result of being in close proximity. Clydebank in 1941 was a small industrial town, approximately long with an occupied townscape space of just over . Target discrimination was made difficult by the close mix of industry and housing resulting in a catastrophic housing loss. Many industrial targets were severely damaged. Singer's wood yard was destroyed and Singer's main building was badly damaged. Rothesay Dock and John Browns Shipyards suffered severe incendiary damage. William Beardmore & Co lost furnaces and related industrial infrastructure. Schools, churches and built-up town areas became victims of incendiaries.

War memorials

The main Blitz memorial is located in Dalnottar Cemetery above Clydebank. It is composed of a substantial granite memorial with bronze cast plates at its base designed by the artis
Tom McKendrick
The castings name the 528 casualties. The memorial sits over the remains of Clydebank's unclaimed dead. An additional memorial is dedicated to the crew of a Polish destroyer, , which helped defend the town from the docks of the

shipyard. It is located directly opposite from the Town Hall, which has itself a shrine dedicated to those in Clydebank who died during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. There is another war memorial on Graham Avenue. A recording made in May 1941 by bombed-out civilian Tom Wright features on ''The Blitz'', an archive audiobook CD issued in 2007.

References

Bibliography

*Macleod, John: "River of Fire: The Clydebank Blitz", Birlinn Ltd, 2010, 256 pages. . *Macphail, I.M.M.: "The Clydebank Blitz", ''West Dunbartonshire Libraries & Museums'', 2007, 118 pages. *McCloskey, Keith. ''From the Blitz to University Flying: Essays on Glasgow's Aviation History''. Published on Amazon., 2019. . *Taylor Les: "Luftwaffe over Scotland: a history of German air attacks on Scotland, 1939-45", Whittles Publishing, 2010, 160 pages.

External links

Post-Blitz Clydebank — a documentary about Clydebank, Scotland from 1947 to 1952
* ttp://www.ltmrecordings.com/blitz1notes.html ''The Blitz'' audiobook featuring Tom Wright {{WWII city bombing, state=autocollapse 1941 in Scotland The Blitz History of West Dunbartonshire Clydebank 20th century in West Dunbartonshire Scotland in World War II