An aerial view of Clyde shipyards and docks taken by a Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft. Harland & Wolff's Clyde Foundry is marked in solid red lines, just left of centre. The date of the photograph, less than a month after the outbreak of war, indicates that the Germans were quick to identify potential targets on Clydeside.
The first daylight raid on Glasgow was on 19 July 1940, when bombs were dropped on Govan, Partick and Scotstoun. The most severe raids on the city took place on the nights of 13-14 and 14-15 March 1941, when a fleet of almost 250 bombers assembled from airfields from Norway to France caused extensive damage and heavy casualties on Clydeside. 647 people lost their lives in Glasgow and 6,835 houses suffered serious damage. Further heavy raids followed during the spring of 1941, before the German bombers turned east to attack Russia.
The last raid on Glasgow was on the night of 23 March 1943, when the main casualty was Alexander "Greek" Thomson's Queen's Park Church, which was completely destroyed.
Reference: Glasgow City Archives, TD308/2
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
aerial views, air raids, blitz, bombing, casualties, Clyde Foundry, docks, foundries, Harland & Wolff, Luftwaffe, Queen's Park Church, reconnaissance, River Clyde, Second World War, shipyards
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