The last British civilian to be killed by the German air force during the Second World War was a mother who died days after shielding her twin babies from shrapnel, a historian has claimed.

Maud Howard, 34, was struck in the back by bomb fragments as she protected her month-old sons Joseph and Thomas. She was the final casualty of an attack on Hull, East Yorks, on March 17 1945 – the last by the Luftwaffe to claim civilian lives.

There were a few more Home Front deaths in the closing months of the war but they were all victims of unmanned V-1 flying bombs.

Until now, the official death toll from the so-called “Last Raid” has been 12 Hull residents whose deaths were recorded on a memorial plaque.

But now local historian Mike Covell, while writing a book about the tragedy, has discovered there was a 13th victim.

Mrs Howard was severely injured when bombs started to drop near the Savoy Cinema. She 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.

When the bombs fell, Maud was at home resting with her two children. “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.