World War Two: The Blitz and Hull

Kingston-Upon-Hull, or Hull as it is commonly called, is situated on the North bank of the River Humber, Yorkshire. Reading a copy of an old local newspaper today reminded me what a hard history Hull has had. There has been so much that has set the city back, not least the Blitz of World War Two.

Yet when people think of the Blitz they usually are pondering London or Coventry. As is so often the case, even today, Hull can easily be overlooked.

The copy of a local paper from 9th May 1941 inspired this hub. It turns out it was a special Blitz edition to mark 70 years.

Hull is quite large city but during the war it was not so big. This means that the hammering it took was comparatively huge.

The nights of Wednesday 7th May and Thursday 8th May 1941 saw Hull being bombed incessantly. On 8th May more than 300 bombs fell on this small city, which was primarily a north eastern England port, at that time. Around 800 fires broke out due to incendiary bombs.

Hull was not alone as towns and cities around the UK felt the wrath of Herr Hitler.

In Hull though on the morning of 9th May 1941 the people of Hull looked out on a battered city where smoke hung heavy in the air. Devastation was everywhere. The city centre was ravaged. The death toll in Hull was 424 and included new born babies and the very old.

This huge death toll meant that most people knew someone who had lost a loved one over these two days of bombing. Then of course there were the injured. 30 were in hospital with wounds which looked set to take their lives.

These two nights are forever remembered as the darkest in Kingston-upon-Hull's history. Time heals wounds and blurs memories but, for those old enough to have lived through the Blitz, it will no doubt stay with them forever.

RAF pilots who had taken off from Denmark reported that they could see the glow of Hull on fire in the distance. No street, road or avenue was untouched.

On the Wednesday night 7,350 people were made homeless, helpless or destitute by the bombing. The following night a further 6,841 suffered the same fate. Added to this there were hundreds and thousands of municipal buildings, houses, shops and offices seriously damaged.

Each night's bombing lasted around six hours. Imagine the fear and horror. The people rose to the challenge and their tough resilience saw them through.

After the war, unlike countries such as Germany that were able to rebuild quickly due to funding, cities in the UK, such as Hull, were left with bomb damage for decades.

To this day the Blitz has left its scars on this feisty town and its people.

What may also surprise the reader is that Hull's terrible bomb damage and death toll during World War II was largely kept a secret. It was felt that such was the devastation and loss it would hamper the war effort and spirit of the country.

This means that all too many people knew about the bombing of London and Coventry, believing that they suffered the most. In reality they did not. Hull was an easy to find target for German bombers, as they could simply the huge curve of the river Humber ,on into the heart of the city.

On the 70th anniversary of these events in May 2011, David Cameron, UK Prime Minister finally acknowledged the price Hull had to pay. He acknowledged Hull's place in history and the City's wartime sacrifice as being "second to none".

Is there little wonder that those who lived in Hull during this period of Hull's history cannot forget what happened?.