Newcastle Blitz

The first major raid on Newcastle and neighbouring Gateshead came on 2 July 1940. The target was the High Level Bridge and 13 people were killed with a further 123 injured.^[1]

Another raid on Newcastle came on 15 August 1940, when German bombers flew from bases in Norway and Denmark (heading for airfields). Though much of the attacking force was intercepted by British fighters a number of bombers dropped bombs on Newcastle and Sunderland.^[1]

On 25 April 1941, a force of German bombers attacked Newcastle and dropped high explosive bombs, incendiaries and a parachute mine. 47 were killed and dozens of homes were left uninhabitable.^{[citation needed]}

A raid on 1 September 1941 caused a major fire New Bridge Street Goods Station which burned for a week. The raid left 50 dead, 71 seriously injured, 140 slightly injured and over a thousand people homeless.^{[citation needed]}

The last substantial raid on Newcastle came on 29 December 1941 with nine people killed in the Byker area. Smaller scale 'tip and run' raids by small groups or single bombers continued for the next two years.^{[citation needed]}

Another air raid came for North Shields as W.A. Wilkinsons (used as an air raid shelter) was hit.^{[citation needed]}

Newcastle, like other English cities and large towns at the time, had been expanding rapidly throughout the 1920s and 1930s with new housing being built in the private sector, as well as new council housing to replace inner city slums. The damage to its housing stock caused in the Newcastle Blitz led to an acceleration in housebuilding across Tyneside after the war was over.^{[citation needed]}

• In pictures: The Blitz in North Shields and Jarrow
• World War II air raid damage in Newcastle
• Rare film footage of Newcastle taken during World War II