Caithness Blitz
The Caithness Blitz was a series of bombing raids on the town of Wick and the surrounding area by the Nazi German Luftwaffe. The first, on 1 July 1940, alongside the raid in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, were the first daylight raids of World War Two in Britain. There were no less than six raids on the town, with 222 high explosives dropped on it and the surrounding area.
Prelude
During the First World War, Wick was a vital link in the supply chain as coal, men and materiel were transported from all corners of the United Kingdom via Inverness and the Far North Line, for onward transportation by sea from Wick Harbour to the Royal Navy's Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, a mere 44 miles away as the crow flies. Understandably, after Britain British [declaration of war on Germany (1939)|declared war on Germany] in September 1939, Scapa Flow was brought back into service and the operation was started back up again. However, due to major advances in aircraft technology, Wick Harbour was far more vulnerable to attack than it was in the previous conflict where the only long range bombers to hand were Zeppelin airships, and with Nazi Germany invading both the Netherlands and Norway, it made the north of Scotland a far easier target.The first daylight raid on Britain
The first air raid came, a whole two months before the more widely recognised Blitz campaign officially started, and was the first daylight raid on the United Kingdom. Due to the war, the school summer holidays had been extended between 18 June until 1 October.Around 4:30 pm on 1 July 1940, a lone Junkers Ju 88 flew into Wick, undetected in thick cloud cover, meeting no resistance from anti-aircraft fire or scrambled aircraft from RAF Wick. Due to this, no air raid sirens were sounded, and the aircraft caught the people of Wick off guard.
Aiming for the strategically important harbour, the Junkers dropped two 50 kg bombs, before making a hasty banking manoeuvre to retreat. Unfortunately, the bomber released its load too early, sending both bombs straight into the houses of Bank Row, killing 11 people, 8 of which were children, a further four would die of their injuries. The youngest victim was John Wares, aged 4.
It has been recorded that weeks prior to the raid, munition ships were recorded to have docked in the harbour, had there been a ship docked, and bombs hit their intended target, the casualty rates would've been far higher, and much of the town obliterated.