The Midnight Watch – July 1943; a large number of anti-personnel bombs were dropped on “an East Coast town”.

Broadsheet of Britain’s Fire Guard and Civil Defence workers. From the Kevan Hinson Collection.

Around 3,000 butterfly bombs were dropped on Grimsby and Cleethorpes on the night of 13/14th June 1943. Over 100 people were killed by this first-ever anti-personnel submunition. The government censored the details of the raid so that no information filtered back to the Luftwaffe. Even this confidential publication kept details to a minimum. It does not even name Grimsby and uses the words “East Coast town” instead.