Ministry of Home Security: Key Points Intelligence Branch, Bomb Damage Map Tracings

HO 315

1940-1945

This series consists of map tracings produced by the Key Points Intelligence Branch (designated the Key Points Intelligence Directorate from September 1942) to illustrate the geographical spread of damage to 'key points' such as vital factories, public utilities, railway centres and other important locations, from bombs and other enemy missiles, including V1 and V2 missiles, during the period 24 June 1940 to 1 April 1945. These map tracings were prepared from air raid information passed from Regional War Rooms to the central Home Security War Room.

The tracings fall into three series. The first series, based on a map of scale 10 miles to the inch, plots damage from bombs and other missiles over the whole of the United Kingdom throughout the entire period; the second series, based on a map of scale 1 mile = 0.575 inch, records flying bomb (V1) incidents in the Greater London area between 15 June 1944 and 3 December 1944; and the third series plots both flying bomb (V1) and long-range rocket (V2) incidents in Greater London from 3 December 1944 to 1 April 1945. Each series is arranged in chronological order: the lack of a map tracing for any particular day or sequence of days indicates that no 'key points' damage was recorded for the date(s) in question.

HO 315/1 is a later map of the UK which may be used as an underlay for the first series of tracings. The second and third series tracings are to an unusual scale and no corresponding map of Greater London is at present available.

Public Record(s)

English

607 roll(s)

Topics

Manufacturing

Railways

Maps and plans

Weapons