First Air Raid of WWII – 1

Introduction

 
After dark on 15 October 1939 the first inbound Scandinavian convoy HN0, made its way south down the Scottish east coast.  It was en route from Norway to Methil on the north shore of the Forth.

[28 convoys in the HN series sailed from Norwegian waters to Methil from October 1939 until the occupation of Norway in April 1940. You can find more details of this and many more convoys in the Arnold Hague Convoy Database]

The convoy of seven merchant ships [five Greek ships – Chorzow, Kroman, Narocz, Robur IV and Wilno, the French ship Limousin and the Greek Manoula] left Norwegian waters on 14^th October with an escort of one cruiser, HMS Southampton, and four destroyers, HMS Jackal, Janus, Jersey and Jervis.
The log book of HMS Jervis records that they were zig-zagging astern of the convoy when at 11.00 they were joined by the destroyer HMS Mohawk which had been carrying out a sweep towards Norway along with a number of other naval vessels during the hours of darkness. Mohawk was a Tribal class destroyer which had been launched in June 1937 and completed 12 months later.

HMS Southampton

At the outbreak of war she was part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, with the Mediterranean Fleet, where she had been since February 1938. In early October, she was ordered to return to home waters, calling at Malta and Gibraltar. She arrived at Harwich on 13^th October and was assigned to for North Sea convoy defence and patrol duties.  On 15^th October, she joined the Scandinavian convoy as they headed south.

HMS Mohawk

At 00.00 hours on 16 October the convoy was near the Bell Rock.
Later that morning HMS Southampton along with Jackal,  Janus and Jersey sped ahead of the convoy to their moorings east of the Forth Bridge leaving Mohawk and Jervis to escort the convoy up-river towards Methil.
By mid-afternoon on 16 October, the two destroyers were still making their way up the Forth towards Rosyth. Ahead of them were the cruisers HMS Edinburgh and Southampton of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, commanded by Sir Edward Collins, which had only recently arrived at their moorings east of the Forth Bridge.

At 14.35 hours on Monday 16 October 1939, a Junkers Ju88 dive bomber screamed down from the skies above the naval shipping anchored offshore from South Queensferry, east of the Forth Rail Bridge on the Firth of Forth. As the Luftwaffe bomber pulled out of its dive, two bombs were released from the under-wing pylons and fell into the sea, exploding close to two Royal Navy cruisers. In accordance with the Luftwaffe plan, the British defences had apparently been caught by surprise. In reality the approaching bombers had been tracked and their arrival reported but the decision to respond had been late in coming.

Earlier that morning the first shots of the war had been fired over the British Isles.