On the 13th and 14th of march 1946 approximately 1000 tonnes of explosives and incendiaries were dropped on Clydebank
The war brought lots of extra work which made the town booming which made it a great target for German bombers
Clydebank Was located 7 miles down the river Clyde from Glasgow. Bursting with war orders, at John Brown ship yard were repering warships.
And the sewing mechine company'singer sewers' were making munitions.
This is an advert for singer sewers sewing machines
German Bombers were being prepared in German occupied Europe on Thursday 13th March.
German bomber plane dropping bombs on Clydebank
Their key objectives had been located in aerial photographs.The attack was code named ‘Gregger’.Clydebank was full of military targets.
The largest target was the Singers complex of factories, sidings and wood yards – almost entirely turned over to the making of munitions.
All around these buildings lay more targets including railway lines, docks and scores of smaller factories. Surrounding this were 12000 over crowded homes.
The German planes set off as the sun began to set, led by the elite Path Finder Unit. It was their job to locate the target and mark it with bombs for others to follow. They were good at their job.
Britain knew industrial centres were a likely targets. They put in place some defences – anti air craft guns, barrage balloon, Anderson Shelters were supplied to those who had gardens.
But 1000s of homes did not have gardens and communal shelters were built in the streets but often people had to take shelter in the entrance to their closes, which had been strengthened.
By 8.30pm the full moon had risen.This was known as a ‘bombers Moon’ – it made the town clearly visible from the sky.
Prior to the attack there had been up to 30 false alarms. So when the sirens went on the 13th March many thought it was a false alarm.
One of the first bombs to be dropped was on the warehouse of the old Yorker Distillery was alight, whisky sending the flames high into the night sky.
The second big fire was at the western end of the Singer’s factory at the wood store. This was a huge burning beacon that could been seen from far.
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