A mother who died while shielding her one-month-old twins from harm was the last British civilian to be killed by the Luftwaffe, it has been revealed.
Maud Howard, 34, was fatally wounded in a hail of shrapnel which hit her in the back as she held her baby twins Joseph and Thomas on March 17, 1945.
She has been revealed as the final casualty of a ‘maverick’ attack in Hull, East Yorkshire – the last by manned German aircraft to claim civilian lives in the second world war.
There were a handful more Home Front deaths in the closing months of the war but they were all victims of unmanned V1 flying bombs.
Hull had been a significant target for the German air force throughout the war (pictured: Hull, July 1941)
Maud Howard, 34, was not included in the death toll from the city’s final raid near the Savoy Cinema, so her name does not appear on the memorial plaque commemorating the victims
The official death toll from the so-called ‘Last Raid’ was 12 Hull residents – whose deaths were recorded on a memorial plaque – but local historian Mike Covell, while writing a book about the tragedy, discovered Mrs Howard was the 13th victim of the ‘maverick’ raid.
When the bombs started to fall near the Savoy Cinema Mrs Howard – whose husband Thomas was serving as a cook-steward with the merchant navy – was home at 5 Morley Villas resting with her baby twins.
‘She had been confined to the bed, so when the bombs began to drop she rose to her feet, grabbed her sons, and made for the door of the bedroom to make their way downstairs,’ Mr Covell said.
‘She had a child in each arm, and when shrapnel flew through the window it hit her in the back.
Mrs Howard was severely injured when the SD10 fragmentation bombs started to drop near the Savoy Cinema (pictured), blasting out craters in the road
‘Her name wasn’t included in the death toll from that raid and as such she does not appear on the memorial plaque.’
Mrs Howard died four days later in a casualty clearing station but the authorities did not realise she was one of the 22 wounded in the Savoy attack.
She had been found trapped behind the bedroom door by 12-year-old Margaret, a daughter from a previous marriage.
Reliving the night, Margaret said: ‘It was not a pretty sight. I could not get the bedroom door open.
‘We lived with our grandparents and grandma was downstairs, and granddad was in bed.
‘I shouted for granddad to come and help, it was ages and ages before we could get any help because of the chaos.’
Mrs Howard was rushed through the bombed out streets to Sutton Base Hospital where she died on March 21, 1945.
Margaret said the twins were taken to a home as they were being breast fed and the family could not feed them and her step-father was away fighting the war.
Margaret later lost touch with her half siblings until 2009 when the surviving twin tracked her down and telephoned her.
It is feared the casualties of the Luftwaffe’s last raid may have been more severe because by this time they were regarded as a spent force.
A single bomber was responsible for inflicting what the official record states were ‘the last civilian casualties of World War Two in Britain caused by piloted enemy aircraft’.
Local historian Mike Covell, who discovered Mrs Howard was the 13th victim of the Hull raid
Local historian Ron Fairfax had previously told the BBC: ‘There is no trace in the German archives of the attack and anecdotal evidence suggests it was a maverick crew intent on revenge for the devastation wrought by an Allied air raid on Dresden a few weeks earlier’.
The bomber entered Hull airspace unopposed as RAF squadrons had already been transferred and anti-aircraft installations were moved south as Germany’s defeat seemed inevitable.
‘The story of the raid has since been told and retold, so much so that much of the facts have been lost,’ Mr Covell said.
‘But new research suggests that one of the major facts has been overlooked – that Maud was the last victim of manned enemy air raids over Great Britain.’
When the air raid warning was sounded at 9.35pm that Saturday, people poured into the street, but there was no sense of panic.
‘Morale at the time was considered to be good and as the end of hostilities seemed to be on the horizon no one feared an air raid at that point,’ Mr Covell said.
‘As such those who were present in the nearby pubs and clubs poured out into the street in a calm, orderly manner.’
It was only when the SD10 fragmentation bombs began scooping out craters and filling the air with deadly shrapnel that people began to duck and dive for dear life.
The smoke cleared to reveal the remains of Walter Coggle, Stanley Duncan, William Greenacre, Lillian Martin, George Martin, James Ollerenshaw, John McCloud, John Reed, Steels, Pam Winter and brothers Brian and Ernest Wells.
Mr Covell was unaware of the 13th victim until he began researching his book, called The Last Raid.
He was stunned when he came across Maud’s death notice in the local paper saying she had been ‘killed by enemy action’.
He said: ‘I was going over my notes when I began searching both the press reports and the civilian war dead index cards at the Hull History Centre.
‘I noted that her name cropped up on the casualty lists at the local hospital, but then later on the war dead lists, and the obituaries.
‘I cross referenced the information I had on her, and it matched. This meant that Maud had been left off the plaque.
‘She had been left out of the initial newspaper reports, but despite this she was the final person killed in Great Britain during WWII from a piloted enemy aircraft.
‘Now we can finally remember Maud Howard – the last victim.’