Brighton Blitz

The Brighton Blitz was the bombing of Brighton by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Brighton was attacked from the air on 56 recorded occasions between July 1940 and February 1944. Casualties in the area were 198 killed and 357 seriously injured, with 433 receiving minor injures.[1]

To prepare the coastline against possible sea-borne invasion by German troops, the beaches were closed at 5.00 pm on 2 July 1940 and were mined and guarded with barbed wire. Both the Palace Pier and West Pier had sections of their decking removed to prevent their use as landing stages. The town was declared to be no longer a "safe area", and 30,000 people were evacuated.

Bombing raids

1940

On the evening of 14 September 1940[2] a lone Dornier Do 17 bomber, which had become separated from its main group, dropped twenty 50 kg bombs across Edward Street and the Upper Rock Gardens area. Two bombs hit the Odeon cinema[3] in Kemp Town killing four children and two adults along with a further 48 people killed in the surrounding area.[4] This would prove to be the worst raid on Brighton for casualties inflicted during the war.[5]

1943

At 12:25 p.m. on 25 May 1943 the town was attacked by 25 to 30 German Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft. Twenty-two bombs of 500 kg were dropped and the streets were machine-gunned during the five-minute raid. Fatalities included ten men, twelve women and two children. An additional 58 people were seriously injured and a further 69 people were slightly injured. One of the central piers in the 20-metre-high (66 ft) London Road railway viaduct was demolished. There was severe damage to railway workshops and rolling stock. This was the worst raid for damage inflicted on the town during the war with 150 houses made uninhabitable, more than 500 people made homeless, and the Black Rock Gasworks being set on fire.[1]

1944

In 1944 Brighton was hit by V-1 flying bombs.

References
  1. Graham Spicer (29 April 2005). "In The Line Of Fire - Brighton in World War Two | Culture24". www.culture24.org.uk.
  2. Farmer, Richard (24 June 2016). Cinemas and cinemagoing in wartime Britain, 1939-45: The utility dream palace. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781784997809 – via Google Books.
  3. "Surviving the Odeon bombing | Wartime Memories" March 14, 2009
  4. "Looking back at the Kemp Town Odeon bombing | The Argus". www.theargus.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  5. "The Blitz Years". The Argus.
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