Battle of the River Forth. Germany's First Air Attack on Britain of WW2. 

One of the Luftwaffe bomber crews was named Friedrich “Sonny Hansen” and he was born in Newstead near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. His father was German and his mother was a hairdresser born in Melrose. After the First World War his family moved to Germany. When he lay dying of his wounds he asked for the Minister that had baptised him, the local police located him and asked him if he knew Sonny, he replied “of course I baptised him”. The aircrew were given a full military funeral through Musselburgh with flag draped coffins and a wreath marked “From Scottish mothers to German mothers. Thanks for sharing. All the best from the Scottish Borders. GD

My Dad was on HMS Mohawk and told me about this.He stayed with the ship until it was sunk in the Med in 1941,by the Italian fleet,just off the coast of north Africa .He survived(I would'nt be here if not) and went on to be involved in the landings at Anzio and D day coxwaining landing craft.I wish I knew more about it but,like most,he didnt say much about it,only anecdotes about what he and his mates got up to.He did say Comander Jolly was a great C.O.I miss my Dad even now after 25 years after he died.RIP all those that died in that conflict.

My son , who is currently 14 , had a history lesson last year , from an English teacher , who told his class that the first German aircraft shot down during WWII , were over London . I'm pleased to say that Harris ( my son ) pointed out that this was incorrect , and that it had been German bombers attacking ( as I thought , the Forth Bridge , at the time the only bridge so simply called the Forth Bridge ) which were shot down by local squadrons . Fortunately , said teacher checked his facts and admitted at the next lesson that Harris was correct .

I didn't realize that Luftwaffe attacks over the UK started so early in the war, especially over the Firth of Forth. An amazing account of the first aerial encounters.

My Dad was a pilot of a Ju-88. He was before with the KG26 flying a He-111. He was in the KG 30, but I don't know, whether he was part in this attack, too. In May 1940 he and his crew had to make a belly landing because his left engine was hit by a british fighter in front of the coast of Norway. At this time he was stationed in Stavanger Sola. When I was a kid, he told me, that the pilot who shot him down, stopped firering at his plane, when he lowered his langing gear as a sign of surrender. This friendly pilot visited him later in the POW-Camp and they shok hands. They exchanged their pilot scarfs an my Dad had the blue scarf for many years. He never forgot this british gentleman pilot for sparing out him and his crew. He was very happy to survive the war and always said, that he loved to fly, but hated the war. And now we are facing a new world war! What a stupid thing! (Little remarks: the Dad of my best Friend flew a Mosquito as a marker for bomb runs and the father of another good friend flew as a bombadier (?) in a Lancaster. Life is sometimes somehow very strange...)

As a resident of Edinburgh, so glad someone finally made a video about this raid. I heard about this a long time ago, although I was initially told that the bombers were actually trying to target the Forth Bridge, only to then read up later that it was false and that the Bombers always intended to go for the warships. (I mean the passengers on the bridge thought they were the target and so that was pretty understandable for them to think like that). Still a fascinating story and this was certainly the Spitfire's first proper baptism of fire (excluding the "Battle of Barking Creek"). Thanks for the video.

My family live in Kirkcaldy up the coast from the Bridge, my grandfather George Taylor witnessed parts of this event and told me about when I was a lad, he would have been 24 and was a reservist in the Cameron Highlanders

Awesome video and research Bonny lad.. Bravo. My Grandfather was a Captain In charge of one of the island Gun battery's (Inchmickery I think) This was my play ground every summer Hols, we used to camp on Cramond Island . It had 2 naval guns on each end of the island facing towards the Forth entrance, it also had many flak machine guns. All the islands had direct communication with each other. We used to find live bullets and throw them into the camp fire...oh how stupid we were. Cramond island is The real Treasure Island. Robert Louie Stevenson wrote the book whilst staying at the old Cramond inn with a view onto the Forth islands. My Dad was a lighthouse keeper on the Bass Rock.

My Grandad, Henry Edward Smith was serving on Edinburgh and was one of the 44 injured suffering a shrapnel wound to his chest and shoulder. He never ever spoke of this day.

Great story, glad to see the true story come out! So many still think the Rail Bridge was targetted but that was not the case! Well done.

My grandmother witnessed the shot down bomber. I remember her telling me about this story and telling me about the spitfire chasing it through the Pentland hills. She was so proud of that moment as she used to work on the avionic components of the spitfires.

I had no idea that the Battle of Britain essentially started over Scotland. How amazing!

You got one over Mark Felton! Hard to do.

Great Story. My Dad a Royal Marine. Had just arrived up in Scotland on his way to Scapa. When all this went on. Fresh out of Basic Training and heading for his first Posting. He then realised that Even up and Away from his London home. He was still going to see Some Action. When he first got news of his Posting. His Dad had Said "You Will be Safe as Houses up there, Boy..!!" He was just 19yrs old. Whilst up in Scotland, he Loved the People, Country & life. ( Apart from this Little thing with Hitler, it would've be perfect..!) Great Story and Godbless all who Served for the UK. & Allies. And Even though they were Wrong the German Crews Deserve respect for their Bravery. However misguided..!! Lest we Forget..!! Cheers kim in Oz.😎

Thank you, I really enjoyed that. Well researched and exceptionally well presented, with just the right pace of delivery to draw the viewer in without resorting to the overly dramatic or even melodramatic delivery of some of your erstwhile colleagues.

Spitfire Mk I, had a wooden two blade propeller. All later models had three, (or more) propeller blades. Don't blame the author for having ahistorical pics though. All surviving Spitfire Mk I had swapped out their props for Hamilton-Standard constant speed (three bladed) propellers by the summer of 1940. Photos of pre-conversion Spits are rare.

The comment about the Germans being handed over to the police reminds me of the tale where an ME110 crew was shot down, arrested by a local policeman and taken to the station and charged with criminal damage and mischief.

Never knew this before, thanks for telling this story.

Absolutely excellent video. Full of relevant and detailed factual information. Extremely well narrated

Love to see a video about Edinburgh, my hometown, and the RAF history, my obsession 😀thanks for making this!

The pilot who shot down the first German aircraft over the British mainland was Flt Lt Archie McKellar born in Paisley he's buried in Eastwood cemetery approximately 500 yards from where I'm writing this not as the records show it was Pinkerton. He was unfortunately killed the morning after the date officially given as the end of the battle of Britain so was excluded from the list of those who died then. Luftwaffe records say they have no record of flights in the area that day giving rise to the story that it was friendly fire.

Another great video, really well presented. My brother-in-law lives in North Berwick, and when I visited him there I travelled through many of the places mentioned, including stopping at East Fortune airfield and the excellent museum. I studied the engineering of the Forth Bridge years ago, and standing under it on the south side was an amazing experience. I look forward to more of your videos!

My late aunty was an anti-aircraft gunner at Newport. I do look at all these events with great sadness. All those young men killed in the primes of their lives. It doesn't matter which side - the human tragedy was horrible.

My grandfather was thatching stacks at his farm just outside Grangemouth ( a little bit further up the Forth from the rail bridge ) and saw planes around the rail bridge. At te time he thought it was some kind of training exercise but learned later it was deadly serious.

Fine research, excellent commentary and visuals. Thank you; I’ve subscribed.

Another great episode, i remember my grandmother recalling this battle she was only 6 at the time and arched from Arthur’s Seat.

Good grief, imagine having been a passenger on that train over the Forth, only to see a bunch of German bombers barrelling towards you. Absolutely terrifying. Bet the engine driver had that regulator wide open! Go to say, this channel just goes from strength to strength. I'm really impressed by how high the production standards are getting as well as the general quality of the research.

That was a really enjoyable and informative video and as i live in Edinburgh it was really interesting to see what happened. One story i know of is my late grandad and his friend cycled to a crashed he111 site to have a look.

Watching this while looking out over the Forth from Leith - a historic moment well told, Thank you

Never heard of this early attack. I thought it started with attacks on shipping in the Channel, and moved inland from there. Great video! Thanks a lot!

My father’s Royal Engineers searchlight battery had a grandstand view of the raid. They all thought that the Germans were trying to bomb the bridge"

Heinkel 111.... a beautiful aircraft....Hundreds of brave woman and men died in the Battle of Britain so i can say that....Always Remembered

Fantastic Video👏👏👏Out in the Forth,Incolm Island has former gun placemants too.Take the ferry ,well worth seeing!

My father a policeman with the then Ayrshire Constabulary was on his way to Edinburgh to return a prisoner to Ayr, when the traffic on the Kincardine Bridge was strafed. The car immediately in front of him had a bullet through the roof. No one was injured.

Another great video. Production quality always makes me double check the you don't have more subscribers (yet!).

Well done ! You kept it short sharp & to the point!

My Mother's First Cousin Pilot Officer Ellis Walter Aries was at Drem with 602 Squadron before they were moved south for the second half of the Battle of Britain to Westhampnett the site of the now Goodwood Motor Racing circuit

Another well-researched and presented piece of our history.

Another excellent documentary, lucid and informative. Thank you!

Excellent research and extremely well presented! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😊😊👍👍

Super awesome research...On the spot...Excellent video...Thanks very much...!

A very well researched and presented video. Well done mate ! It was a pleasure to watch such a detailed and well put together package of information I had never before heard of. Please keep them coming as they are very well worth watching.

Reference to Niall paddens comments about HMS Hood , the hood was not Britain’s newest ship having been built in 1916 and launched in 1920 She was however the pride of the Royal Navy as a battle cruiser , Her weakness was that she had a wooden deck , which was her Downfall in the battle of the Denmark strait . Bismarck’s superior firepower Hit the wooden decks and hit the magazine which blew her basically in half And she sank very quickly , however 3 days later Bismarck was hunted down and destroyed With the loss of 2000 men .

Threre was a lot of detail there and very well presented, thanks.

Great video. For additional information, RAF Turnhouse is now Edinburgh Airport. First used by the RFC in 1916

Great vid, Thanks for the hard work.

I found this really interesting. I live on the shores of the Forth and was aware of this, but not to the level of detail you gave. Well done on a good informative production.

Excellent very well told 👍

Fascinating video!! Had no idea this was the first aerial engagement over Britain!

My dad remembers this. He and his brother were at the seafront at Cramond, throwing stones at the Luftwaffe planes (he was 4 at the time...)

Very well presented. Thank you

Good post! To my dying breath I won't forget.

Just come back from a trip to Edinburgh and we visited this exact area! Great video, nice one!

Excellent - incredibly interesting and well told.

Just a quick point, RAF Turnhouse is now Edinburgh Airport. My family have being going their holidays to Eyemouth since 1936 and one story I remember hearing as this - just before the war a grocer's van was stopped going across Coldingham Moor. A rumour got up locally that this was the RAF testing the 'death ray' which could bring down enemy bombers. This was, in fact, a test of the radar. Suggestion for future video, what about the Zeppelin raids on Edinburgh and Chirnside?

My late aunty from Queensferry told my father she could render this ,and recalled the noise from the bombs on that day .And down river across from Rosyth. Was port Charlotte ,where my grandfather left on the minesweepers for to begin the operations in the Artic convoys.lot of history here ,and thank you for this video .

Good video. While everybody knows about the Battle of Britain in the South and London, the rest of the country is often forgotten. My home city Hull was the most heavily damaged city because it was so easy to find with the Humber estuary was like big arrow point at the city. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_Blitz

A most interesting presentation. Your descriptions brought me back to my homeland in the Scottish Borders and my father’s description of a similar raid which he witnessed from Edinburgh.

Excellent video! As a former member of the Royal Observer Corps I thank you for not forgetting the vital work of the Observer Corps. Just a small correction, we were not yet "Royal" in 1939; that honour would be bestowed upon the Observer Corps by King George VI on 9th April 1941 for their service during the Battle of Britain.

currently researching for a scotland-based ww2 era fiction novel and this is so helpful! even though the book won't have first-person accounts of events like this, its good to know what would have really been happening at the time! My gran, before she died in 2020, would tell me so many stories of growing up in Glasgow during the war, so the book is a fictional version of her life and all her stories

I never heard of this. Quite a historically significant tale. And well told too. Exciting!

So proud of my Scottish heritage !

Good channel Northern Historian! I have subscribed in the hope of watching more. Thank you.

Excellent video - fascinating. I’ve actually been to Westerland which was the most northern airfield in Germany, and the closest to Scotland.

Wonderful piece of history, very well told. Brilliant.

It may of been another attack but when a Heinkel was shot down, my great uncle stole a bit of glass from the the cockpit, nothing big just the square glass at the very front. He then wrote merry Christmas on for a decoration which we still have and use today Also I think this is one of the first video I have seen of some one pronouncing roysth correctly. They always call it row-siv

Brilliant account. Sending this to my son who's a gunner with 603 Squadron.

Good to see your subs growing. Keep up the good work, your videos are getting as good as Dr. Mark Felton's. So glad I subscribed. And another excellent video and excellent description with out the BS music and crap involved.

Very interesting video. Was surprised to learn many years ago that the first WW2 air-raid on the UK was on the Forth. This video includes a lot of interesting detail. I guess with Scapa Flow and Rosyth playing such major roles in WW1 maybe the Germans wanted to neutralise the Royal Navy at least Rosyth. Thanks for uploading.

Dear Northern, many thanks for your videos and the amount of information on them. Something I have noticed on this episode is that the great majority of comments are about/from people’s experiences at the time, something not very common on channels of this sort. It also shows British resolve, determination and sacrifice, as the lady mentioned in one if the comments that she had to wear a wig after working at Vickers during the war. Regards and respect from Mexico.

fairly new sub here. excellent! thanks for the upload

Brilliant video. They get better every time. You really sound like you’re enjoying yourself and it comes across and is infectious:). First enemy plane shot down by a Spitfire. But…. Not the first kill. That was, alas, a Hurricane in the Thames estuary. Now, there’s a potential story. It was all a bit controversial if memory serves. Well, all blue in blues are but some more than others. It seems odd that the navy vessels weren’t stood to for the attack and seemed lacklustre in their AA response. If I’d have been on the train crossing the bridge I’d have been screaming “stop! I want to watch what happens!” (‘Cos I’m an idiot).

I live there and all the fortifications and bunkers are all still there, bricked up and empty but still there. Some islands were completely made into just massive AA bunkers you can sail out to and explore

Thanks for posting. I'd never heard of this action.

Wrote my dissertation topic on this, my childhood bedroom is less than 100m from the southern edge of the Rail Bridge, and a 5 minute walk from where the photo at 0:33 was taken

Fantastic video mate. A big thumbs up.

YT has only just "recommended" this video to me, but its a godsend. I've spent the last few years arguing with nazi sympathisers who insist that Britain dropped the first bombs on the enemy's territory and civilians in WW2. While I'm aware of RAF Bomber Command's early daylight raids on German naval units in the "Jade" estuary off Wilhelmshaven and other North Sea shipping areas, the fact is that they were carried on out naval units at sea AND in broad daylight so as to avoid collateral damage of bombing ships in German ports and to avoid the hitting of neutral shipping in the target sea areas. From my own research the course of events appears to be as such.... First German bombs dropped on the British mainland? 16th October 1939 saw the very first bombs dropped on Britain when the Germans launched scattered air attacks over port and industrial facilities around the Scottish city of Edinburgh, and the RN naval base at Rosyth. First bombs dropped by the RAF on German soil? Although the RAF had launched bomber attacks on Kriegsmarine naval units in the North sea from Sept 3rd 1939 onwards, it was actually the 19th March 1940 that the FIRST RAF bombs landed on German soil... When on 13th November 1939 the luftwaffe bombed RAF Sullom Voe a seaplane base with port facilities in the Shetland Isles (with the resultant death of a rabbit, and no hits on the 9 seaplanes or 2 RN vessels stationed there), the RAF retaliated by hitting the nazi seaplane base at Hörnum on the island of Sylt in the North Sea. These were THE VERY FIRST RAF bombs to land on German soil....5 months AFTER the first German bombs had landed on British soil. The first British or German civilian casualty caused by the bombing of the opposing side during WW2? 16th March 1940 when German bombs hit the village of "Bridge of Waithe" near Stenness on the Orkney Islands during an attack on the Home Fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow, which killed a 27 year-old County Council employee, James Isbister (luckily, his wife, baby son, and the neighbour James was endeavouring to rescue from her bombed cottage all survived). First British bombs to drop on the actual German mainland? 11th May 1940, when the British air ministry for the first time allowed the bombing of railway yards, communication centres and bridges west of the Rhine River to interrupt German supply lines supporting their undeclared assault into the NEUTRAL Low countries and France on 10th May 1940. Previous to this date the British air ministry in an effort to stop the inflaming of the conflict had refused to allow the RAF to drop ANY bombs on the German mainland, instead the RAF supplied the German demand for toilet paper by dropping propaganda leaflets on German cities. The RAF attacks on 11th May 1940 had also come after REPEATED attacks against RN installations on the British mainland, most notably at Rosyth near Edinburgh, Cromarty Firth & Scapa Flow all in Scotland throughout the winter of 1939/40. First British bombs dropped EAST of the Rhine River? On the night of 23/24th August 1940 the RAF launched an attack on Berlin. This attack directed at the Klingenberg Power Station in Eastern Berlin & Templehof airport was in RETALIATION for REPEATED luftwaffe raids on RAF Fighter Command Sector Airfields within the suburbs of Greater London throughout July and August 1940 that had already caused HUNDREDS of innocent British civilian deaths & casualties (euphemistically known nowadays as "collateral damage") this was inspite of Hitler's previous decrees that no bombs should be dropped within the boundary of Greater London. Obviously that decree had never reached the ears of Herman Goering. German retaliation for the one night of bombing of Berlin on 23/24th August 1940? The launching of the all out assault against British cities from 7th Sept 1940 onwards, culminating in the world's first attempt to create a "firestorm" during operation "moonlight sonata" on the British city of Coventry on the night of 14/15th Nov 1940, where the luftwaffe sent 575 bombers using their world beating "X-gerat" bombing system (in the Germans own words capable of placing "target indicator" flares with an accuracy of 50 meters at 200 miles range) over the civilian city centre of Coventry dropping 550 tons of high explosive (including hundreds of "flammen" (oil) bombs) followed by over 30,000 incendiary bombs. The final death toll of that single raid? A previously unheard of 568 innocent civilians, this was in addition to the thousands of other British civilians already killed & injured in other cities across Britain over the previous 2 months. The first British bombing raid directly targetted at German civilians? "Operation Abigail" on the night of 16/17th December 1940, (3 months AFTER the opening of the nazi "blitz" on British cities) the Dec 16th attack by the RAF was launched against the German city of Mannheim where 100 RAF bombers dropped 100 tons of HE and 14,000 incendiaries inflicting a death toll on the German population of 34 dead and 81 injured. Not to worry though , the RAF eventually "upped its game" and showed the Germans how to do it properly a year or two later. Thank you for this very interesting video. Subscribed .

My Science Teacher told me that as a boy he watched the Air battle above his head. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Its great seeing photos of Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast and the Eildon Hills in the borders taken from Scots View, brings it home really as too how far the Germans bombed into the UK. My father was 7 in 1939 and lived in Cottingham just outside Hull, remembers the heavy raids on the docks. Very informative video 👍

My father was an RAF motorbike courier, he was on the bridge when it was attacked, he took cover under the bridge. Later he was sent into the hills to recover the bodies of German Airman in a crashed German bomber. He watched Patsy Gifford of Edinburgh 603 squadron shoot down the bomber

Do they call it the battle of the River Forth, because folk struggle with "Firth of Forth"?

I have to say is that Ant Dec doing their story telling 👍🙌. What a amazing stat to the Battle of Britain

Thank you for your work and dedication to preserving and sharing our history.

Very nicely done!

Really interesting video, thanks very much! Now subscribed.

So the first Luftwaffe attack against Britain was met by "weekend warrior" reservists of RAF Auxiliary units rather than by the full time professionals of the regular RAF squadrons. That alone is a small piece of history worth remembering! BTW, thanks for another great and informative episode. Even as a life long history buff I knew nothing about this.

Great video. I first read of this incident some years ago, in the excellent book "Birth of the Few".

Excellent video. Perfectly paced.

2nd video I have seen of yours, very good quality and information. You deserve way more subs. Find some War Thunder youtubers to give you a mention.

Sounded to me as if the Navy were unprepared . Sadly resulting in lost lives .

My Grandad was on a morning walk with his dog on Musselburgh beach, when a German aircraft passed so close, they looked at each other. He reckoned it was captured by the RAF at the time, but no one believed what he saw. Later in the day, when the siren sounded & he saw the aerial battle, he thought it was all a practice, until he started to hear “clinking”. When he saw this was the bullet shells landing on the ground, that’s when he ran for his life!

My grandmother lived in Portobello and showed us shells from the aircraft involved but she was never sure if they were British shells or German. The graves of those killed are in the cemetery near Joppa though this is usually referred to as Portobello cemetery.

Great Story...Thank You

Really good thankyou

Very good thank you for the video thumbs up and shared.

Excellent quality video and script, earned yourself a sub, look forward to more content

I'm assuming you're a Geordie (as I am) can you do a video on the bombing of the Central Station? My mother was there and she told me she remembered running away from the carnage. Although doing my own research I could only find the bombing of Newbridge Street goods station.

nEVER KNEW ABOUT THIS ONE...........fascinating.learned a lot, regards, Howard.

Brilliant thanks 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿👍

So they thought Scotland was a soft touch.....? Oh dear.