Bombing of Derby, 11 July 1940

[john p]

My uncle a Sapper in the Royal Engineers was killed by a bomb dropped I am told by a lone German bomber around 8 am on the 11 July 1940. The bomb hit a billet at the Royal Engineers Head Quarters in Melbourne, Derby, England. Does any one have information on this raid or the aircraft involved.

[Peter Cornwell]

HQ of the RE at Melbourne was badly damaged in this attack and eight men killed, and another eight wounded. I have a single He111 of II./KG53 reportedly attacking Burton-on-Trent that morning and returning without incident. This may well be the aircraft concerned but I have nothing further I'm afraid.

[john p]

Hi Peter
Many thanks for your quick reply and information. This is a start for me. I contacted the Imperial War Museum but they had no information. I also contacted the German equivalent without success. Do you have any idea as to where I could look next. Your claim is probably correct but my grandmother was told by the authorities at the time the offending plane was downed before it returned home. I have always believed this was said to comfort a mother who had just lost her son, but would like to confirm the truth. Again I would like to thank you for your time and effort.

Regards

John

[Peter Cornwell]

John,

I regret that you may have followed this line of enquiry about as far as it goes. Though they have most of whatever documentation survives, official sources do not have the resources available to pursue such enquiries I'm afraid, so it is left to researchers like myself and others on this forum to try and make some sense of it all. II./KG53 suffered no losses on July 11, 1940, so if the He111 responsible for the attack reported on Burton-on-Trent was involved in the death of your uncle, which seems likely to me, then it was not brought down. Sorry but that is all there is.