Thursday, 17th/Friday, 18th July 1941  N684

A Luftflotte 3 operations map shows that one hundred and eight aircraft attacked targets in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, East Anglia and Buckinghamshire. They dropped 173.9 tonnes of HE and 6,194 IBs, these attacks lasted until 03.31. The map shows that the main weight of the bombing that night was directed at Hull.

01.20.. Hull.. A heavy raid concentrated on east Hull and Victoria Docks. The bombs dropped:- Four IB clusters, ninety-two 50kg HEs, fifty-five 250kg HEs, twenty-one 500kg HEs, four 1000kg HEs and three GMs. About thirty aircraft attacked the city and caused a considerable amount of damage to business and residential property. 140 people were killed and 108 seriously injured.

Direct hits were made on Rank's flour mill, East Hull gas undertaking, Messrs Reckitt's factory, Franklin Street shelter, Holderness Road, the General Post Office, Crowle Street police station and the YPI George Street, altogether more than 200 industrial buildings were hit. Approximately 7,000 houses received damage of a more serious nature than broken windows, 1,500 made uninhabitable.

HEs fell in Mulgrave Street, an industrial area, thickly populated. Factories were hit, shelters demolished, 30 people killed, 130 injured, and more than 800 rendered homeless. In Franklin Street, Holderness Road, a shelter received a direct hit, a wardens' post was moved several feet by the force of the explosion, a cinema and a bank destroyed.

The raiders bombs started eighty-nine fires. Early in the ordeal a number of bombs fell in the vicinity of the main fire station, one of which did not explode, lodging itself in the roadway opposite, with the result that the station had to be evacuated of pumps and all personnel except the control room staff. The bomb exploded at 08.30.

A gas-holder was struck, and a huge sheet of flame lit up the sky, fortunately there were no serious consequences, and the danger was over in a few minutes. There was a stick of bombs, too, on the works of Messrs Reckitt& Colman, Ltd. This caused a large fire which did much damage. At the height of it a high and long wall collapsed, and though the firemen had very little warning, they managed to get clear. For this blaze, water was obtained from agricultural drains, but the water from the hoses soon had dyes, bath cubes, blacklead and disinfectants mixed with it. The effect was spectacular.

The largest fire of the night was at Messrs Spillers, Ltd., millers and grain merchants, in Cleveland Street. Here a bomb burst a large water main, so water had to be relayed from the River Hull and from a fire boat. A silo containing 35,000 tons of grain was the danger point. Large quantities of water would cause the grain to swell and burst the walls of the silo, if that happened and the grain fell into the River Hull, navigation would be impeded or stopped. So it was decided to let the grain burn, but damp it down a little and lead it away from the bottom of the silo. This was done, the silo, with thousands of tons of grain, invaluable to the country at that time, was saved.

There was another total stoppage of the gas supply, the service being partially restored the next day, and wholly on the 22nd.

Seventy-two water mains were damaged during the raid, a large proportion to trunk mains, this was the only occasion that a call had to be made for outside help. Assistance was given by Goole Water Department whose men worked in Hull for as long as 16 hours per day for three to four weeks to complete the repairs.

Yorkshire.. Bombs fell at Bridlington.

Night 684. All times DST. Blackout begins: 23.34, ends: 04.50
Public Alert (Newcastle Warning Dist): 02.19, All-Clear: 03.02
Industrial Alarm: 01.56, Release: 02.28
Public Alert (Hull Warning Dist): 01.18, All Clear: 04.07

Sunday, 1st June 1941  D638

The Board of trade introduces Utility Scheme for retail goods.

The controlled distribution of eggs is announced.

Clothes rationing began today. Second hand clothing is not affected. Each person is to have 66 clothing coupons to last for a year.

The number of coupons needed for some garments is shown.

Cloth - coupons needed per yard depended on the width - Knitting Wool was 1 coupon for 2 ounces.

Day 638. All times DST. Blackout ends: 04.35, begins: 23.33