German reconnaissance flights made by Luftflotte 2 & 3 had not produced a clear picture of the defences on the Channel Islands, so the German commanders ordered an air raid.  At 17:30 on the 28th of June 1940, nine Luftwaffe Heinkel He111 Bombers of  1/Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 55 departed from their base at Villacoublay (close to Paris). At 18:45, some of these bombers attacked La Rocque Harbour. At the same time, other bombers start an attack against St Peter Port, Guernsey.

​The German aircraft dropped bombs, machine guns, and strafed buildings along the way to town and the Noirmont Point. They only encountered opposition south of Guernsey from a twin Lewis Machine Gun on the Vessel Ilse of Sark.

The bombers each carried twenty 50kg Fragmentation bombs. There are no records of how many were dropped. Local accounts suggest nine bombers, of which three attacked Jersey, and a separate three attacked Guernsey. The other three are potentially in reserve or providing cover. If all nine did attack the islands, 180, 50kg bombs could have been dropped. If just six bombers, 120 bombs would have been dropped.

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44 Channel Islanders were killed (10 Jersey, 33 Guernsey + Harold Hobbs (RNLI). Over  100 were injured.

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Main areas of damage from the raid in Jersey

​La Rocque Harbour

Mr J. Adams, Mr T. Pilkington and Mrs Farrell are killed.

​Fort Regent / Mount Bingham

Mr J Mauger is killed

​Mulcaster Street

Mr E.H. Ferrand and Mr Colemanare killed

South Pier

​Commercial Buildings

​Wharf & Hope Street

Albert Pier

Mr R. Fallis, Mr L. Bryan, Mr W. C. Moodie and Mr A Parr are killed

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 Lifeboat off Noirmont Point ​

The Guernsey RNLI crew were travelling to Jersey to collect the Jersey lifeboat and return it to the UK. This was so it would not fall into the hands of the Germans. The bombers attacked the boat with machine-gun fire, killing the Coxswain's son Mr H F Hobbs (34).