Weston-super-Mare — the Baedeker raids
27–29 June 1942 · Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
View this record on the map →- Date
- 27–29 June 1942
- Record type
- Historic bombing area
- Bomb type
- HE
- Casualties
- 102
- Location
- Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
- Position accuracy
- Rough area
What happened
Weston was attacked on two consecutive nights in June 1942, part of the Baedeker reprisal campaign. Historic England records roughly 100 high-explosive bombs and 10,000 incendiaries across the two nights. Deaths were concentrated in Orchard Street, Devonshire Road, Moorland Road, Prospect Place and the Bournville Estate.
Casualty note
Figures vary. Historic England gives 'over 100 deaths' across the two nights; a local-history account gives 102 killed and 400 injured; a privately compiled casualty register names 87 dead across the two nights. Around 100 is the most commonly cited figure.
Also worth knowing
Weston was also raided overnight on 4/5 January 1941, an incendiary attack that caused deaths across the town centre; the named casualty register lists around 32 dead for that night. That raid is recorded here rather than as a separate marker because both would anchor to the same town-centre point. The borough's total civilian war dead was 110.