Whitehall Cinema, London Road, East Grinstead
9 July 1943 · East Grinstead, West Sussex
View this record on the map →- Date
- 9 July 1943
- Record type
- Historic bombing site
- Bomb weight
- 500kg
- Casualties
- 108
- Location
- East Grinstead, West Sussex
- Position accuracy
- Confirmed site, building-level
What happened
A single twin-engined German bomber attacked the town centre in daylight. A 500kg bomb hit the Whitehall Cinema, which held 184 people, many of them children who had come straight from school.
Casualty note
108 killed and 235 injured — the largest loss of life in any air raid in Sussex. Twenty-two of the dead are buried in a communal grave at Mount Noddy Cemetery.
Also worth knowing
Seven bombs fell in total, including two 50kg devices on Bridgland's Ironmongers and Rice Brothers and a further 500kg bomb near the Methodist Church.