Waller’s Raid

Lowestoft’s worst raid of world war II 80 years ago today on 23 January 1942, while convoys of lorries were still trucking the wreckage and rubble from the scene of devastation that became known as "The Waller's raid" in London Road North, Lowestoft, another deadly raid occurred. An alert had been sounded at 8.41 am, probably caused by German bombers seeking a convoy in the North Sea. Barely a minute had elapsed after the warning when a lone bomber, variously identified as as a Do 217 or Ju 88 emerged from the snow clouds overhead and dived towards the railway station from the NE. From 500 feet four HE bombs were released before the attacking aircraft disappeared as quickly as it had come. 

The first bomb landed at the junction of Till Road and Summer Road, bursting a 4 inch water main and killing two people, and the second fell in a garden in Stanley Street. As with the "Waller's raid" the bombs were dropped low and fell close together. The two remaining bombs hit Nos 46 and 55 Stanley Street, and the destruction caused by the cluster of bombs was equally devastating - 21 houses were completely demolished, 15 very severely damaged, 13 extensively damaged and about 100 slightly damaged. 

The late Jack Rose always related the story about how Civil Defence Rescue Party teams rushing to the scene were confronted with the awful sight of a coffin containing a deceased person lying in the road. It had apparently been blasted there from one of the wrecked houses. The funeral was to have taken place that day and some would-be mourners were among the victims of the raid. The precise number of dead in this raid has also been difficult to determine. Police reports indicate 12 killed, with another published source giving 15. Thus far we have identified 11 civilians in the IWGC Roll of Honour who died in Lowestoft that date. XX What is not in dispute is the fact that only ten days after the horror of the "Waller's raid" another dreadful tragedy had struck the town and brought more suffering, more sadness and yet more misery to a town then entering its third year of war and with little respite in sight. Lest we forget CREDIT:Bob Collis                                                                         

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”Lowestoft's worst raid of the war came at a time when attack was to be least expected. It was snowing and just before dusk on 13th January 1942 when a single Dornier glided over the coast unheard and released four bombs in the main shopping area, killing seventy people. The biggest casualty list occurred in Waller's restaurant where many civilians and Service folk were at tea. Almost a complete block of large shops was devastated , as were several other business premises. The town's biggest cinema, the Odeon which was opposite, was severely blasted.” 

CREDIT: AJ Turner, Letters from Lowestoft