The Forth Raid: Britain’s First German Air Attack

On 16 October 1939, twelve Junkers Ju 88s of I./Kampfgeschwader 30 headed for the Royal Navy at Rosyth. Their mission followed a morning reconnaissance flight by two Heinkel He 111s of Kampfgeschwader 26. Flight Lieutenant George Pinkerton of No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron had intercepted one over the Isle of May, damaging it before it escaped east. The aircraft had photographed the naval dockyard and reported warships in the Firth of Forth. The raid that followed was the first German air raid on Britain during the war.

The bombers approached the Firth in formations of three. Their orders kept the dockyard itself off limits; the intended targets were the ships at anchor. At 14:35, a 500 kg bomb struck the cruiser HMS Southampton, passed through three decks and out of her hull, and exploded in the water. Two boats alongside her, including the admiral’s barge, were sunk. The land-based anti-aircraft battery at Dalmeny had been waiting for permission to fire. The order came at 14:38, three minutes after the attack began, and guns on land and ships opened fire.

By then, Spitfires from No. 602 and No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadrons were in the air. The second wave included a formation led by Oberleutnant Hans Storp. Yellow Section of No. 603 Squadron damaged Storp’s port engine; Red Section, led by Flight Lieutenant Pat “Patsy” Gifford, brought his Ju 88 down near Cockenzie. The Cockenzie fishing boat Dayspring, skippered by John Dickson, rescued the crew. Rear gunner Obergefreiter Kramer had been killed, but Storp, Hugo Rohnke and Hans Georg Heilscher survived and were taken to the military hospital at Edinburgh Castle.

The fighting continued as the RAF engaged the German aircraft over the Forth. The raid damaged Royal Navy ships but sank none. Sixteen sailors were killed and forty-four wounded. The German crews also suffered losses: three airmen were killed, and captured survivors became prisoners of war. The attack was the first occasion in the war when German aircraft were shot down in British airspace. For passengers crossing the Forth railway bridge, the bombs and the aerial combat unfolded in plain view; the bridge was not the target.