Remembering Sheffield Blitz 80 years on

The aerial bombardment 80 years ago saw much of Sheffield city centre destroyed.

During the raid German aircraft dropped more than 10,000 bombs on the city including high explosive bombs and incendiary devices.

Given the codename Operation Crucible by the Germans the air raid began at 7.41pm and lasted for eight hours with the last of the bombs falling at around 4am on Friday December 13.

The first of the bombs fells over the Gleadless and Norton Lees areas of Sheffield but it was the city centre which was to bear the brunt of the onslaught,

Shortly before 11pm a huge bomb destroyed the former C&A building opposite Fitzalan Square.

Less than an hour later the Marples hotel in Fitzalan Square took a direct hit which led to huge loss of life.

Dozens of people were sheltering in the hotel at the time and, although the total death toll will never be known, at least 70 bodies were pulled from the rubble.

The bomb had probably plunged through the upper floors of the building, only detonating when it reached floor-level directly above the cellars.

Other buildings damaged in the raid of December 12 included Sheffield Cathedral.

Sheffield was left shocked by the raid and although the following two nights saw relative calm the Luftwaffe launched another assault on the city on the evening of December 15.

This time it was the steelworks to the east of the city which took the worst of it with a number of factories being hit by incendiary bombs.

During the course of the two nights of the Sheffield Blitz a total of 280 German aircraft took part in the raids.

In total at least 660 people were killed in the Sheffield Blitz with at least 1,500 people injured.

Some 78,000 homes were damaged and 40,000 Sheffielders were made homeless.