Library Reference Number: 166
First Aerial Battle Over British Soil WW2
I hope seasoned veterans won't mind me posting a small entry here but during a recent update to this web site, Jack Burgess sent me a photo of Spitfire LA1198 with a reference about it being a part of 'City of Glasgow' squadron. This triggered a memory and I was unsure if I had ever mentioned here before. It was a discussion I had with my late father about the day when the Luftwaffe tried to bomb Rosyth and the Forth Rail Bridge and was the first aerial action of World War Two fought over British soil. It happened on October 16th 1939 and was successfully repulsed by aircraft of the 'City of Glasgow' squadron. I hope members won't mind this little piece taken from the history zone of my own web site, FifeServe.Com.
On September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland via the Danzig Corridor and applied the technique of 'lightning war' on Polish citizens. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army invaded eastern regions of Poland in cooperation with Germany. By October 1st, Poland had been overrun while surviving Polish forces reformed in Romania, Hungary and the United Kingdom. Many of these exiled Poles came to Fife and many landmarks still remain from this period. The Town Hall of Earlsferry was built by Polish exiles and the large concrete anti-tank defences still seen near the Lady's Tower just east of Elie are remnants of work done by Polish soliders during the war.
In mid October 1939, German bombers launched from conquered Norway attempted to destroy the Forth Rail Bridge. From a strategic viewpoint, destroying the bridge would have limited the supplies to Rosyth Naval Dockyard in Fife and to Scapa Flow in Orkney. In what became the first aerial action of World War 2 over British soil, the attackers were met by the City of Glasgow squadron of the Royal Air Force and flying Spitfires. By all accounts, the Luftwaffe received a 'bloody nose' from the encounter and quickly sought escape by indiscriminate bombing in order to lighten their craft. Several of these bombs fell in southern Fife.
One house in Kilrenny was completely blown apart killing the entire family with the sole exception of a boy who had ventured to the bottom of the garden in order to feed his pet rabbit. Two houses in Crail were destroyed but, fortunately, the families were in St. Andrews at the time. The traitor and German radio announcer Lord 'Haw Haw' was compelled to put a positive spin on this failed effort by making a propaganda announcement that 'the industrial town of Crail' had been destroyed!
The photograph above was taken by a German photographer during the attack.