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The head of Derby's Florentine boar statue was knocked off during a German bombing raid on the city on January 15, 1941.

The statue, which stood in the Arboretum, was damaged when a bomb dropped directly onto the nearby bandstand.

The boar had been presented to the city by Joseph Strutt and was a hollow earthenware copy of the original, which can be found in a market place in Florence, Italy.

During the Derby raid 50 high explosive bombs were dropped on the city along with incendiary devices.

Houses in Derby Lane were said to have been pushed 10cm back from their original position due to the shockwave from two or three bombs.

A single German bomber attacked the Rolls-Royce factory on the morning of July 27, 1942, just as the workers were changing shifts.

Twenty-two people were killed in the attack and many more were injured either by the bomb blasts or machine gun fire from the aircraft.

However, Derby escaped the major bombings, or Blitz, that other towns and cities suffered.

Some raids aimed to destroy important targets such as factories while others were just to cause damage and try to destroy the spirit of the people living through the war.

Article from Headline History

County:  Derbyshire

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