On January 15th 1941, German aircraft dropped 59 tonnes of high explosives and 1,476 incendiaries on Derby but because of low cloud and poor visibility Rolls Royce, probably the raiders’ primary target, escaped unscathed. Twenty eight Derby residents were killed and forty eight injured during the attack. ‘The aircraft that failed to locate Derby,’ according to David Needham, ‘dropped their bombs on Nottinghamshire.’ Ruddington, Keyworth, Widmerpool, Whysall and Bradmore all received bombs and at 22.15 Carlton, to the east of Nottingham city centre, was hit a number of times. No fatalities resulted from any of these incidents but Nottingham’s Sneinton district experienced the full horror of modern aerial warfare. (1)

Targeting but failing to hit the Lady Bay (then railway) bridge, three bombs fell in the vicinity of two terraced streets. One failed to detonate but the other two had devastating effects; 15 people were killed, 14 injured, 9 houses were destroyed, 251 damaged (5 seriously) whilst many more had windows shattered. Twelve people lost their lives on Hutton Street when numbers 27-37 were obliterated. In 1973, Martin Stevenson revisited this tragic night. ‘The scene in Hutton Street when daylight came was grim,’ he noted. ‘The rescue squads were digging in the the pile of rubble which was all that was left of half a dozen homes. Six children and six adults were dead. A dozen more people were injured.’ (2) Another three people died on adjacent Trent Lane when ‘a particularly heavy calibre’ bomb fell between their homes and Kingsley Road. (3)

1. David Needham, Battle of the Flames p.80
2. Guardian Journal 7/6/1973 p.14
3. Needham, Flames p.81

For a complete account see David Needham, Battle of the Flames, (Chesterfield: Bannister Publications Ltd, 20020 first ed. 2009: Horizon Press). Chapter 9 covers the events of January 15th 1941.