Today, 19th November 1940 was an awful day for many civilians in Birmingham as there was a devastating WW2 bombing raid.
During a recent project, to discover those often in unmarked graves, the Friends have added close to 50 names and grave sites to their Poppy Placing project. Many of them were whole families lost in the raid. Lest we Forget.
The Friends are lucky enough to be able to call upon Matt Felkin who holds many of the records for Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance Association. He has posted this additional information.
Code for Birmingham ….Regenschirm (Umbrella)
Tuesday November 19th 20th 1940
Weather -clear sky with some fog at first, rain spreading in from the east
Minor activity during the day
Birmingham was attacked by Luftflotte 2 and 3, two primary divisions of the Luftwaffe
439 long range bomber’s dispatched
Luftflotte 2 -142 aircraft to Birmingham,107 reached the target area .
Luftflotte 3- 297 to Birmingham,249 reached the target area
Bombs dropped –
6x SD1800
9x SD1400
17x SC1000
32x LMB (para mine) small
16x LMA (para mine) large
816 x BSK (Bomben SchaltKasten) incendiary container. theoretically, a He 111 could carry 1,152 of them. In practice, it would carry a mixed load:-
105x SC500
22x Flam 500 (oil bomb) The original large incendiary device, the so called Oil Bomb which was known to the Germans as the flam or flammenbombe.
22x LZZ (long delay fuse bomb)
292x SC250
45x flam 250
2139 x SC50
Areas Affected
West Midlands Police Records Raid 43 -19th /20th November 1940 Air Raid Warning Red was received at 6.50 p.m. on Tuesday 19th November and White at 4.29 a.m. on Wednesday 20th November. During this period an intense raid was made on all districts of the City. (C District – Gerrard Street, George Street Garage, ICI Witton;, D-Division – Nechells Gas Company, GEC, Hughes, BBC, Queen Street, Aston Hall Road; E-Division – Coventry Road, Stratford Road)
The areas least affected were Kingstanding, Harborne, Northfield, Kings Norton, Stechford, Kings Heath. 18 Parachute mines (4 unexploded), 677 High Explosive, including about 42 Delayed Action type, 243 Incendiary Bomb incidents have been reported.17 of the incendiary bombs were of the oil type. The first report of a bomb being dropped was at 7.25.