Folkestone Under Fire
German Bombing and Shelling, 1940-1944
During the Second World War, the Kent coastal resort of Folkestone suffered devastating German bombing, cross-Channel shelling and V-weapon attacks between August 1940 and September 1944.
Located in the infamous "Hellfire Corner", just over 20 miles across the Straits of Dover from Nazi-occupied France, Folkestone became a front-line restricted military zone subjected to years of enemy attacks.
Over the course of the conflict, the attacks claimed the lives of 123 civilians, injured 778 others and damaged or destroyed 14,140 properties.
123 Civilians Killed
778 Civilians Injured
14,140 Properties Damaged or Destroyed
Timeline of Key Bombing and Shelling Incidents
12 August 1940 - First Shelling
German long-range guns in Pas-de-Calais fired across the English Channel, striking homes in Folkestone, Dover and Deal. Initially, civilians struggled to distinguish incoming artillery shells from aerial bombs.
18 November 1940 - Beach Street Disaster
In one of the town's worst wartime incidents, two German parachute mines detonated near Beach Street and the harbour. Buildings were flattened, residents were buried beneath rubble, and local pubs, cafes and a baker's shop were destroyed.
Shortly before 4am, two parachute mines exploded near Beach Street and the harbour. Folkestone Museum identifies this as the town's worst wartime incident, recording, 14 killed and 60 injured 56 buildings demolished or partly demolished, and a further 674 seriously damaged. The archive's caption for one photograph identifies five fatalities; that is not the full incident total.
5 October 1942 - Harbour and Customs House
Luftwaffe bombs struck Folkestone Harbour, tearing through the Customs House building and hitting Bradstone Road and the Pier. The attack caused extensive destruction and multiple casualties.
13 June 1944 - Heavy Shelling and V1 Flying Bombs
A single-day bombardment saw 42 heavy enemy shells fired from a German 285mm K5 railway gun.
June 1944 also marked the arrival of the V1 "Doodlebug" flying bombs, unmanned pulse-jet weapons launched towards London. Some lost power or were intercepted over Kent.
25 September 1944 - The Final Shell
After more than four years of danger, the final cross-Channel shell reportedly struck Folkestone.
The bombardment ended as Allied forces advanced into the Pas-de-Calais and captured the German coastal artillery positions.
Folkestone's wartime ordeal
Folkestone's proximity to occupied France exposed residents to aircraft bombs, parachute mines, artillery shells and, in 1944, flying bombs. Folkestone Museum reports 102 air raids, 102 deaths, 240 serious injuries and damage to more than 14,000 properties. These are town-wide published figures, not totals derived from the selected entries below.
At the outbreak of war Folkestone had around 47,000 inhabitants; by 1943 approximately 19,000 remained, according to Folkestone Museum.
Search the chronology
Each entry identifies the source used. “Not stated” means no incident-specific casualty figure has been established from the sources consulted; it does not mean nobody was hurt.
Showing 39 selected records
| Date | Street / area | Attack / evidence | Casualties | Damage / details | Archive reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940-07-06 | Wear Bay Crescent; Warren Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Crater at no. 32; Isolation Hospital damaged | Fo/W/4/5 f.1 |
| 1940-08-12 | Black Bull Road; Albert Road; Millfield; Walvon Road; Linden Crescent; Fernbank Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Multiple properties photographed at 11:10 and 17:30 | Fo/W/4/5 f.5 |
| 1940-08-29 | Salvers Laundry, Park Farm Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Rescue squad photographed searching rubble | Fo/W/4/5 f.1 |
| 1940-09-26 | Coolinge Lane | Bomb damage | Not stated | Glen Royal photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.7 |
| 1940-10-06 | Folly Road; Pentold Road; Black Bull Road; St Michael’s Street | Bomb damage | 2 killed at 24 Folly Road | Multiple buildings damaged | Fo/W/4/5 f.9 |
| 1940-10-11 | Grove Road | Bomb damage | 1 killed | Nos. 64–68 photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.11 |
| 1940-10-17 | Railway Bell public house, Dover Road | Damage recorded; weapon to confirm | Not stated | Public house photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.11 |
| 1940-10-22 | Warren Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Nos. 15–32 photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.13 |
| 1940-11-09 | Broomfield Road, Cheriton | Bomb damage | Not stated | Nos. 35–37 photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.17 |
| 1940-11-12 | Folly Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Damage photographed at 04:25 | Fo/W/4/5 f.17 |
| 1940-11-13 | George Spurgeon School, Sidney Street | Bomb damage | Not stated | School photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.17 |
| 1940-11-18 | Beach Street and harbour district | Parachute mines (air-dropped) | 14 killed; 60 injured across incident | Two parachute mines; extensive destruction. Archive photo caption identifies five deaths in its particular view, not total. | Folkestone Museum; Fo/W/4/5 f.17 |
| 1940-11-19 | Co-operative Bakery, Bradley Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Bakery photographed at 13:55 | Fo/W/4/5 f.17 |
| 1941-01-07 | Dover Road | Bomb damage | 1 killed | Nos. 202–204 photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.21 |
| 1941-01-09 | Burrow Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Nos. 27–33 photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.21 |
| 1941-03-19 | St Martin’s Road; Cheriton High Street | Bomb damage | 3 killed at Cheriton High Street | Nos. 176–178 High Street and 28–34 St Martin’s Road photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.25 |
| 1941-04-26 | St Hilda Road, Morehall | Bomb damage | Not stated | Damage photographed | Fo/W/4/5 f.27 |
| 1941-05-29 | Morchall Avenue (archive spelling) | Bomb damage | Not stated | Damage photographed at 02:10 | Fo/W/4/5 f.29 |
| 1942-11-09 | Clarence Street; Tontine Street | Bomb damage | Not stated | Photographed at 20:22 | Fo/W/4/5 f.43 |
| 1943-01-17 | Leonard Road; Warren Road | Bomb damage | Not stated | Damage photographed at 20:20 | Fo/W/4/5 f.47 |
| 1943-12-23 | New Street | Bomb damage | Not stated | Damage photographed at 21:23 | Fo/W/4/5 f.65 |
| 1944-01-20 | Grange Road, Cheriton | Damage recorded; weapon to confirm | Not stated | Archive caption survives; photograph missing | Fo/W/4/5 f.67 |
| 1944-04-20 | Ashford Road and eastern borough | Cross-Channel shelling | Not stated | Shells hit across town; one house destroyed, 14 badly damaged, 200 slightly damaged | Folkestone Shelling timeline |
| 1944-05-24 | Alexander Street | Cross-Channel shelling | 2 killed; 6 badly injured | Direct hit on no. 49; 3 houses demolished, 200 damaged | Folkestone Shelling timeline |
| 1944-06-13 | Sidney Street School; Bayle Parade; Beachborough area | Cross-Channel shelling | Not stated | 42 shells recorded that day; more than 1,000 properties damaged | Folkestone Shelling timeline; Fo/W/4/5 f.75 |
| 1944-06-24 | East Cliff; Hasborough Road | Cross-Channel shelling | 8 injured | Two houses badly and 90 slightly damaged in East Cliff incident | Folkestone Shelling timeline; Fo/W/4/5 f.75 |
| 1944-06-27 | Shorncliffe Road | Damage recorded; weapon to confirm | Not stated | Photograph in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.79 |
| 1944-07-03 | Bridge Street | Bomb damage (archive description) | Not stated | Three photographs in archive; verify weapon against incident map | Fo/W/4/5 f.79 |
| 1944-08-08 | Foreland Road; Foreland Avenue | Bomb damage (archive description) | Not stated | Photographs in archive; verify weapon against incident map | Fo/W/4/5 f.83 |
| 1944-08-12 | Grimston Gardens | Bomb damage (archive description) | Not stated | Photograph in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.83 |
| 1944-08-17 | Wear Bay Crescent | Bomb damage (archive description) | Not stated | Photographs in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.83 |
| 1944-08-31 | Brockman Road | Bomb damage (archive description) | Not stated | Photograph in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.83 |
| 1944-09-01 | The Stade; Bellevue Street; Margaret Street | Cross-Channel shelling | 10 injured | Eight shells; Dover Road Fire Station extensively damaged | Folkestone Shelling timeline; Fo/W/4/5 f.89 |
| 1944-09-02 | Brickworks area | Cross-Channel shelling | 5 injured | Secondary water main fractured | Folkestone Shelling timeline |
| 1944-09-10 | Dudley Road | Damage recorded; weapon to confirm | Not stated | Photograph in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.89 |
| 1944-09-13 | Dolphins Road; Rita Place | Damage recorded; weapon to confirm | Not stated | Photographs in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.91 |
| 1944-09-14 | Charlotte Street; Radnor Park Crescent; Canterbury Road | Damage recorded; weapon to confirm | Not stated | Photographs in archive | Fo/W/4/5 f.91, 93 |
| 1944-09-15 | Walton Gardens; Radnor Park Gardens | Cross-Channel shelling | 1 RAF airman killed near St Saviour’s Church | Shell explosion recorded at 17:30 | Folkestone Shelling timeline; Fo/W/4/5 f.93 |
| 1944-09-25 | The Leas; Harvey Grammar School | Cross-Channel shelling | Not stated | Last day of documented cross-Channel shelling | Folkestone Shelling timeline; Fo/W/4/5 f.93 |
Historic photographs and maps
The original civil defence volume Illustrated Record of Enemy Action (Kent Archives reference Fo/W/4/5 ) contains contemporary photographs and colour-coded maps showing incident type, dates and casualties. The following are photograph references, not licensed reproductions . Images can be added here once copies and website reproduction permissions are obtained.
View the original Kent Archives catalogue · View Folkestone Museum's wartime bomb map .
Bombing, shelling and flying bombs: what is the difference?
Air raids: German aircraft dropped high-explosive bombs, incendiaries and parachute mines. Cross-Channel shelling: German heavy artillery in occupied France fired shells into the town. V-1 flying bombs: Pilotless flying weapons appeared in 1944. Different weapon types are recorded together in some historical maps, so careful classification is essential.
On 13 June 1944, for example, a local shelling chronology records 42 shells striking the town and borough. This was artillery bombardment, not 42 separate Luftwaffe bombing attacks.
Sources and further research
- Kent Archives, Borough of Folkestone: Civil Defence 1939–1945, Fo/W/4/5 — monthly incident maps, captions and photographs.
- Folkestone Museum, WWII Bomb Map — casualty totals and Beach Street incident.
- Folkestone Shelling timeline — detailed selection of artillery attacks in 1944.
- Folkestone Museum research guide — recommends Roy Humphreys, Target Folkestone (1990), for a comprehensive street-by-street account.
Next archival step: transcribe each incident marker from the monthly maps in Fo/W/4/5 and cross-check against Target Folkestone . This will identify additional attacks, exact weapon categories and casualties not available from the online catalogue alone.
Visit Capel Battery
Discover how the coastal artillery batteries, searchlights, observation posts and soldiers of the Folkestone area formed part of the wartime defence of Kent. Visit the Capel Battery WWII Heritage Museum website .