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A great article in today's Edinburgh Reporter (7th January) about three unexploded bombs dropped during a German raid in 1940 remain buried under Edinburgh streets, a fascinating police archive of wartime bombing raids has revealed.
The archive had been passed to Edinburgh Lothian & Borders Police Historical Society, which I'm involved with and we will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2 with an exhibition, a number of lectures and publication of my latest book, "The Bombing of Edinburgh and Leith" which will capture the contents of the archive and commemorate the 19 people who died in the various wartime raids and those injured.
The WW2 incidents remain in “living memory” of people who experienced the bombings and the society was keen to hear from victims, relatives, friends and neighbours who remember them, so that an oral history could be collected.
The archive is a collection of the usual tragedy, comedy and farce and is an important and fascinating history of this extremely dangerous time, which was at the peak of the Battle of Britain and when German invasion was thought to be imminent. There will be some people who will still remember this dark episode and we would really like to hear from them so that we can obtain first hand their memories. To this day, few people know about the extent of bombing over Edinburgh and sadly there is no memorial to the 19 people who lost their lives.
For anyone who has memories of the bombing raids and wants to get in touch please contact sec.elbphs@gmail.com.
The exhibition at Central Library, George IV Bridge, will take place from 1 May-30 September. The first lecture, at the City Art Gallery on 30 May, is already fully booked but more will be announced in due course.
Read the full article here. https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2025/01/explosive-discovery-in-wartime-bombing-archive/