At 1105 hours on 1st September Tilbury was attacked and considerable damage was done.
The railway station was hit and both up and down lines blocked; gas and water mains were broken; the premises of Harland & Wolff received a direct hit; dockside buildings and workshops were also affected.
A number of private houses were demolished and 10 shops damaged. Casualties so far reported are 5 dead and 28 injured.
Earlier That Day
At 1050 hours about fifty enemy aircraft crossed the coast near Dover and other raids followed. By 1100 hours about one hundred enemy aircraft were over Kent and Thames Estuary. Some penetrated to Biggin Hill, Kenley, Gravesend, Hornchurch and North Weald. Two Balloons of the Dover Barrage were shot down. Fighter squadrons intercepted and shot down several enemy aircraft.
Later That Day
At 1340 hours some seventy enemy aircraft crossed the Coast between Dover and Dungeness. A second wave of about eighty aircraft followed. Biggin Hill and Kenley were the objectives. Four squadrons from No 11 Group were sent to intercept; meanwhile No 12 Group provided one squadron from Duxford to patrol North Weald. Casualties were inflicted on the enemy.
At 1530 hours five raids totalling seventy aircraft again crossed the Coast between Dover and Dungeness. Of these abut twenty circled on the Coast line but others penetrated towards Maidstone and the Thames Estuary, and attacked Dunkirk. Further enemy casualties were inflicted.
As in the previous raids hostile patrols were maintained in the Channel whilst the enemy raids were in progress over England.
