As in the First World War, when no major damage had been caused to railway installations by the air raids of the French, the station was the target of bombing raids in the Second World War, including two major raids at the end of the war. This time, however, it felt the impact: the British air raid on the city on the evening of 27 November 1944, Operation Tigerfish, destroyed all the overhead line, the majority of the tracks and almost the entire main station building. The clock tower, which survived the raid intact, was toppled in another raid on 8 February 1945. Even the marshalling yard and the engine shed were badly affected.