Air Raid: Scotland 06/08/1942

[Snozzle]

Aiir Raid on St. Andrews.
Thursday, 6th August 1942.

At 2325 hours on Thursday, 6th August 1942, AIR RAID WARNING RED was recieved, and the Siren was sounded immediately.
At 2335 hours explosions were plainly heard, apparently very close , in the Area Report Centre. At 23.44 hours RAIDERS PASSED -ALL CLEAR ON SIREN.
(Extract from ARP report)

I've been researching this air raid for a schools project for BBC Scotland Learning. I've now got quite a good picture of what happened on the ground in relation to damage, injuries and fatalities.

However I'd like to find out more about the attacking aircraft and the response from our own air defences. From newspaper reports of the raid it's believed that the four bombs 100lbs were dropped by a single plane. Would the target have been St Andrews - an extention of the Baedeker raids - or is it more likely to have been an attack on an airfield like Leuchars or Dunino that went wrong? I guess this kind of hit and run night raid would have been hard to defend against but what would have been the response? Are there records of ROC tracks or radar contacts? Would it be possible to discover if an intercept was attempted? Where would a raid on a coastal target near St. Andrews be launched from - Norway? Any help to get me started would be much appreciated.

[Brian Bines]

The Home Office Key points reports state Cambridge was attacked this night 6/7th with slight damage to one Key point, and Edinburgh was also attacked with no Key Points affected. The KG2 history shows that 17 aircraft of Luftflotte 3 were involved in the attack on Cambridge with no losses. A Beaufighter crew of 68 Sqd. from Coltishall claimed a Do217 as a probable but all of the KG2 aircraft returned.
Thats all I could find for this night, the next night there was slight damage to the British Oxygen Co.Ltd at Aberdeen,

Regards

Brian Bines

III/KG26 might have been involved

[Snozzle]

Thanks Brian. I’d read about Josef Adam's claim. I’d not come across the attacks on Cambridge or Edinburgh – where would I find/get a look at these “Home Office Key points reports”?

[Brian Bines]

The Weekly Summary Reports of Key Points Affected are held in files HO201/19-22 at the Public Records Office Kew. Files HO199/40 onwards have reports on individual towns, if I remember correctly there are some reports on Scottish towns around files HO/199/200.

[Snozzle]

Thanks Brian.

[Tim O.]

I know this is a very old thread but I just stumbled over it while looking for information on this raid. I can add that for their next mission on 6th August, Ernst Weible (pilot) and Alfred Schmittka (radio operator) from 5. Staffel KG54 transferred to Soesterberg in Holland. This time flying in Junkers Ju88 B3+XN, the crew set off for Edinburgh at 20:30 and returned at 01:30 after a 1650km flight. Schmittka records: ‘Attack on Edinburgh dock warehouses. Direct hits’.