Middlesbrough was of vital importance to Britain's war effort. The town,
and its surrounding area, contained a number of vital industries
including shipbuilding, chemicals, iron, steel and other metals, and
engineering, as well as a joinery firm that played a leading role in the
wartime aviation industry. The ICI plant at nearby Billingham also
played a leading role in the creation of petrochemicals and
explosives.
As with many communities, the start of the war saw Middlesbrough faced
with hastily having to bring its Air Raid Precautions and civil defense
services up to full strength. With its strategic importance it was
believed that Middlesbrough would be an obvious target for the
Luftwaffe. As a result, schoolchildren and other vulnerable people were
evacuated from the town at the very start of the war in a scheme that
did not prove entirely successful.
Middlesbrough became the first built-up urban area in mainland Britain
to be bombed. In the event, Middlesbrough was raided periodically
throughout the war with the worst coming on the night of 25/26 July
1942, when waves of Luftwaffe bombers dropped almost 30 tons of bombs on
the town. The raid killed sixteen people and caused very extensive
property damage. Meanwhile, just days later, bombs fell on the town's
railway station as a train was waiting at the platform there. The
pictures of the resulting damage were wired around the world.
