| MAP - LOCATIONS
WHERE CIVILIANS LOST THEIR LIVES
This is the second draft of a map to show the
locations where civilians were killed in Dover. All locations
are approximate; the map will be continually revised and refined
as new information becomes available. The extra locations spots in the lower left
of the map are casualties for whom we cannot yet find the places
of their deaths. A number of civilians died at the casualty
hospital, after sustaining serious injuries. We have located
their deaths at the place where those injuries occurred, rather
than at the hospital.
The original map was created by the artist
Helena, to whom we offer very grateful thanks for her many
hours of research and design; the current coloured additions are
Maggie's. The original is large; it's online only in its small
version at the moment; online soon will be larger-scale
sections.
We hope you will find this draft
interesting. If you have any information, or comments about the
map, please do
contact us - we love to hear from you.
|
On 3 June 1949, in the first of a series of articles on "The Story of Hellfire
Corner", the Dover Express made the following notes:
Many people remained in Dover throughout the war .... The population was at
its lowest in the last months of 1940, when it fell to 15,000 from the pre-war
figure of 40,000. Thereafter there was a gradual drift back to Dover, in spit o
the fact that, if anything, conditions generally deteriorated.
Some towns suffered more damage and heavier casualties, but Dover's lot was
the harder because she had to face, almost alone, those long-range enemy guns.
While other towns could generally rely on fairly early warning of impending air
raids, enemy planes could be over Dover within four minutes of leaving the
French coast, while shells fired from the French cliffs landed in Dover within a
minute and frequently exploded in the town before any warning could be given.
This made for a continuous state of suspense which others did not experience.
In later years, the funerals continued even during shelling.
The Dover Express on 6 and 13 October 1944 published these shell and bomb figures:
| Town |
Alerts |
Shelling |
Bombing |
Shells |
Bombs |
Flying Bombs |
Parachute Mines |
Incendiaries |
| Dover |
3034 |
187 |
2847 |
2226 |
464 |
3 |
2 |
100s |
| Folkestone |
2913 |
96 |
2818 |
219 |
523 |
19 |
|
|
| Deal |
|
|
|
120 |
173 |
|
2 |
|
| Ramsgate |
|
|
|
shelled 7 times (42 shells?) |
692 |
|
|
331 |
| Broadstairs |
|
|
|
2 |
278 |
2 |
|
|
| Canterbury |
2477 |
|
|
|
445 H.E.s |
|
|
more than 10,000 |
| Margate |
2463 |
86 |
|
2 |
595 |
|
5 |
2198 |
| Dover Rural |
|
|
|
686 (mainly St Margaret's) and 100s bursting in the
air or falling into the sea |
389, 40 unexploded |
21 |
|
|
.
| Civilians (not inclusive of service personnel) |
Dover |
Folkestone |
Deal |
Ramsgate |
Canterbury |
Margate |
Broadstairs |
St Margaret's |
| Killed by shells |
107 |
28 |
|
10 |
|
|
|
|
| Seriously injured by shells |
200 |
200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Slightly injured by shells |
221 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Killed by bombs |
109 |
61 |
|
|
115 |
|
|
|
| Seriously injured by bombs |
144 |
349 |
|
|
140 |
|
|
|
| Slightly injured by bombs |
195 |
|
|
240 |
|
|
|
| Killed by shells or bombs |
|
|
54 |
84 |
|
35 |
7 |
|
| Injured by shells or bombs |
|
|
270 |
262 |
|
seriously 43, slightly 201 |
49 |
|
| Houses damaged |
|
|
|
373 destroyed, damaged 8891 |
731 demolished, 954 seriously
damaged, 5691 damaged |
238 destroyed, seriously damaged 541, 8391 damaged |
17 destroyed, 3238 damaged |
1864, 136 badly |
| Craters |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
580 |
