Behind the scenes at Essex Archives

This week the UXO team have been asked to commission a desk study on the South of Essex, this included a trip to the local Essex archives.

The south of Essex was located on the main Luftwaffe flight paths to and from London and the industries along the River Thames, including the Tilbury Docks and the Royal Docks, which were heavily bombed.  Inland raids began in the summer of 1940 and continued until the end of WWII.

The region was also subject to ‘tip-and-run’ raids throughout the first three years of WWII from bombers taking part in raids on the industrialised Midlands.