On 13th March, 1941, 236 Luftwaffe bombers attacked targets in the Clydebank area.
These included the shipyards, Dalnottar tank farm and large factories which were involved in making munitions, such as Singer's Sewing Machine factory.
On 14th March, 1941, 203 bombers returned. This time they also attacked targets in the Glasgow area where there were shipyards and the important aero engine factory, Rolls Royce, in Hillington Industrial Estate.
The bombing of Clydebank was in two phases. In the first phase, the German pathfinder force dropped incendiary bombs (IBs) to serve as markers for follow-up bombers. For the incendiaries to be effective they had to fall on inflammable material. Where they fell on industrial sites, largely composed of brick and metal, they had little effect. However, when they fell on Singer's timber yard and Yoker Distillery huge fires developed. Much of the destruction in Clydebank was caused by the initial IBs.
Because of the high concentration of damage and casualties in such a relatively small town, the bombing of Clydebank has remained a vivid memory and has received a lot of attention from historians.