The Brighton Blitz was the bombing of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

by the

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Brighton was attacked from the air on 56 recorded occasions between July 1940 and February 1944. Casualties in the area were 198 killed and 357 seriously injured, with 433 receiving minor injures. To prepare the coastline against possible sea-borne invasion by German troops, the beaches were closed at 5.00 pm on 2 July 1940 and were mined and guarded with barbed wire. Both the Palace Pier and

West Pier The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. Designed by Eugenius Birch and opening in 1866, it was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the public in 1975. only ...

had sections of their decking removed to prevent their use as landing stages. The town was declared to be no longer a "safe area", and 30,000 people were evacuated.

Bombing raids

1940

On the evening of 14 September 1940 a lone

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Flugzeugwerke. Large numbers were operated by the ''Luftwaffe'' throughout the Second World War. The Do 17 was designed during ...

bomber, which had become separated from its main group, dropped twenty 50 kg bombs across Edward Street and the Upper Rock Gardens area. Two bombs hit the

Odeon cinema Odeon Cinemas Limited, trading as Odeon (stylised in all caps), is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Greece, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsid ...

Kemp Town Kemp Town Estate, also known as Kemp Town, is a 19th-century Regency architecture residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England. It consists of Arundel Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Chichester Terrace, and th ...

killing four children and two adults along with a further 48 people killed in the surrounding area. This would prove to be the worst raid on Brighton for casualties inflicted during the war.

1943

At 12:25 p.m. on 25 May 1943 the town was attacked by 25 to 30 German

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...

aircraft. Twenty-two bombs of 500 kg were dropped and the streets were machine-gunned during the five-minute raid. Fatalities included ten men, twelve women and two children. An additional 58 people were seriously injured and a further 69 people were slightly injured. One of the central piers in the London Road railway viaduct was demolished. There was severe damage to railway workshops and rolling stock. This was the worst raid for damage inflicted on the town during the war with 150 houses made uninhabitable, more than 500 people made homeless, and the Black Rock Gasworks being set on fire.

1944

In 1944 Brighton was hit by

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

s. On the 10th of July two Sappers were killed whilst clearing mines on the beach - They were Sapper John Owen Morris from

Llanddeiniolen Llanddeiniolen (; ) is a community in the county of Gwynedd, Wales, and is from Cardiff and from London. It comprises the hamlet also called Llanddeiniolen, and the villages of Deiniolen, Bethel, Dinorwig, Rhiwlas, Brynrefail and Penisar ...

and L/Cpl James Green Evans from

Llanfairfechan ; ) is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is known as a seaside resort and had a population at the 2001 Census of 3,755, reducing to 3,637 at the 2011 Census. The history of the area dates back to at least Roman time ...

, Bangor, both in

Caernarvonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

, North Wales.

External links

Rare original colour footage of bomb damage in Brighton
(at ''bfi.org.uk'')

References

{{WWII city bombing, state=autocollapse The Blitz 20th century in Brighton and Hove