Air raid memorial service to remember Hull civilians killed during Second World War

DEVASTATION: The ruins of the National Picture Theatre in Beverley Road after bombing in March 1941. Picture by Hull City Council / Hull History Centre

By Simon Bristow

A memorial service to remember people injured or killed during conflict will be held in Hull next week.

The annual Citizens’ Air Raid Memorial Service will take place from 2pm on Tuesday, May 9 in Northern Cemetery in Chanterlands Avenue, west Hull.

Members of the public are invited to attend the service, which will be led by the Reverend Stephen Whalley. Also in attendance will be representatives from Hull City Council, the emergency services, the voluntary sector, standard bearers and representatives of the Armed Forces.

REMEMBRANCE: Memorial commemorating civilians killed in Hull during Second World War air raids

As well as remembering all those lost or injured during conflict, there will also be a focus on those lost in Hull during a terrible series of Second World War air raids by the Nazi Luftwaffe over the nights of May 7, 8, and 9 in 1941.

A new memorial and remembrance area will be unveiled to commemorate those buried in mass graves in Northern Cemetery, where over 300 men, women and children lie in unmarked graves.

During what was known as The Hull Blitz, large-scale bombing attacks took place in March, 1941, causing more than 200 deaths. Almost 400 were killed during raids over those dates in May. Overnight on May 7/8, more than 70 German planes dropped tonnes of high explosives and more than 9,000 incendiary bombs.

A further attack in July 1941 caused 143 deaths.

Hull was one of the most severely damaged UK cities during the war, with 95 per cent of buildings damaged.

In part to mask Hull’s strategic importance, and to deflect from the success of enemy targeting, contemporary Press reports referred to the city as “a Northern coastal town”, which meant the rest of the country knew little about how much it had suffered.