May 1st 1941, that date is now consigned to history, over sixty years have passed, years during which time several new generations have grown up knowing nothing of their city’s greatest horror, and their greatest triumph.
Generations for whom the sound of aircraft passing overhead is part of everyday life, but for the older people in the bustling, vibrant city of the 21st century, these innocent sounds recall the week in 1941, when the full horror of Hitler’s Blitzkrieg (Total War) was to descend on the city.

Why was, the city of Liverpool given special consideration by the German Luftwaffe during the May Blitz of 1941.
The answer is complicated, involving many factors.
Liverpool like any other British port was bombed, yet the city was to be singled out after London as one of the most strategic targets for the German Luftwaffe.
Indeed, a memo from Admiral Raeder, to Adolf Hitler in May 1941, urged Hitler, “That an early concentrated attack on Britain was necessary, on Liverpool for example, so that the whole nation will feel the effects”.
That Liverpool could not be closed to traffic by Submarine warfare alone had been apparent as early as 1940, and now growing rapidly more and more desperate, the Fuhrer decided to implement Raeder’s suggestion and hurl the full fury of the Luftwaffe into a determined effort in putting the port of Liverpool out of commission.
The reason was the city and port of Liverpool was an important centre in wartime operations. During this time Britains main port London, was immobilised, as it was deemed to dangerous to bring ships to the east coast ports, and as most of the imports were from the Transatlantic route, it was thought to be safer to use the Merseyside and Clyde ports.
Merseyside was also a naval repair base of great importance.
Liverpool was also the H.Q. to the Western Approaches, based in Derby House, in this building some of the greatest battles in the struggle to keep the Atlantic sea lanes open were masterminded
The city was also the home of many ammunition factories supplying the armed forces with the fighting material it so desperately needed.
The timing of the intense bomb raids is also important; May 1-8 was to prove a testing time for the people of Merseyside.
Many were to lose their lives and thousands were injured during that week, but why had the Luftwaffe have a week of intense bombing followed by a scattering of smaller raids.
The reason was the high command some 400 miles away in Germany had planned to withdraw their airforce in the middle of May in readiness for the imminent invasion of Russia.
A parting shot was planned to cause the utmost damage to the port of Liverpool, putting it out of action during the invasion of Russia, which the German high command thought would only take a few months to complete. After the defeat of Russia, the Luftwaffe would then be able to return to its task of totally destroying the port.

1940

On June 25th 1940, sirens were heard for the first time over Liverpool, however it was to be another month before bombs were to fall in the general vicinity of the city.
During October 13-14, high explosive bombs hit some Liverpool tenements.
Myrtle Gardens were hit by two of these, killing eleven people and injuring a further nine, with Liverpool suffering its heaviest raid to date on the night of October 28-29, this raid was to claim over two hundred victims, after this night there were to be no more air raids for another month giving the people of the area some respite.
In the last weeks of December 1940, large numbers if incendiary bombs were dropped on the city causing a great number of serious fires.




1941

The year was to begin quietly with bad weather hampering the German offensive, with only five light raids occurring during the first two months of the year.

Thursday 1st May 1941

The first recorded bomb was dropped on Wallasey at around 10.15pm, and for some time all that could be heard was the roar of the Anti-aircraft guns as they searched the darkness for their prey, and then the blackness of the night sky would light up as the shells exploded.
Then suddenly, hundreds of incendiaries began to fall, followed by the unmistakable sound of high explosive bombs impacting on their targets, however this first night of the Blitz was to prove less damaging than expected, with the majority of the Luftwaffe returning home to their bases due to the deteriorating weather conditions.
There was less than 100 incidents reported in Liverpool, none in Bootle. The damage inflicted was heavy rather than widespread, with Low Hill and Cazneau Street suffering the most damage.
At 1am the “All clear” sounded and the people of Merseyside returned to their beds not knowing that this was just the beginning, for much worse was to follow in that first week of May 1941.

Friday 2nd May 1941

The fires that still raged were like beacons pointing the way for the Luftwaffe, it was also a night of bright moonlight and from 10.20pm to 3am the following morning, wave after wave of German aircraft filled the skies over Liverpool dropping incendiaries and high explosives. The Germans concentrated on the city centre during this raid, and after four hours many of our time-honoured landmarks had been utterly destroyed.
One of Liverpool’s finest structures the Dock Board building was hit, the old White Star building was ablaze, St Michael’s the Anglican church in China town was destroyed. Church house, South John Street, which housed the offices of the Diocese of Liverpool, was gutted, with the loss of valuable records and books. The Liverpool corn exchange was razed to the ground, the members meeting in the street the next day to transact business, this was typical of the spirit shown by the people of Liverpool.
Like the owner who turned up to find his premises bombed, quickly chalked a message outside the shattered shop, ‘Closed for alterations”
That night was to witness the beginning of Bootle’s ordeal, with a savage attack on Balliol, Knowsley and Bedford road, with over 200 people being rendered homeless.

Saturday 3rd May 1941

This was the day Liverpool took the most harrowing pummelling in its near 800-year history.
It was estimated that up to 500 German bombers were involved in the bombing of the city that night, which lasted from 10.30pm to 5am the next morning, though the defenders shot down a record 16 planes that night, the damage to the city was appalling.
There were between six and seven hundred incidents reported, indeed at one stage during the night it seemed as if the whole city was alight, with a host of famous buildings succumbing to the onslaught.
Lewis’s store was transformed in a matter of minutes; the fire gutted the entire building, before spreading to Kelly’s the Ironmongers, then to Blacklers, the wind fanning the flames, destroying everything in the shop.
A 500lb bomb, which destroyed all the volumes on the shelves, hit the William Brown Library, the entire music library went up in smoke, as well as a large percentage of the Picton Reference Library, and in all over 150,000 volumes were lost.
The adjacent buildings housing the Museum and Walker Art Gallery were ignited as the wind swept the fire along; the technical college did not escape.
The warehouses in Pall Mall and Highfield Street, Cheapside oil works and the Salvage works in Hatton Gardens were badly damaged.
The General Post Office in Victoria Street was put out of action along with the Bank and Central Telephone Exchanges.
The records of the Inland Revenue housed in the India building were destroyed when after the fires were thought to have been extinguished a member of staff opened the fireproof doors to the records to find that the fire had not penetrated.
Unable to contain himself he ran off to inform his colleagues, leaving every door behind him open. The resulting draught caused some still smouldering material to ignite and the contents of the strong room were lost.
The Cook Street arcade was burned to the ground, resulting in the loss of the Law Society Library consisting of some 35,000 Volumes.
By far the largest devastation took place in the area of Paradise Street, Hanover Street, Lord Street, South Castle Street South John Street, Castle Street and Canning Place. The biggest tragedy was the damage caused to Liverpool’s oldest building, Bluecoat Chambers.
However the largest explosion of the night was the blowing up of the S.S. Malakand, a steamer belonging to the Brocklebank line, she was berthed at the Huskisson No-2 dock with over 1000 tons of shells and bombs destined for the Middle-east.
No one Knows how, but a deflated barrage balloon slipped free of its moorings and became tangled with the ships rigging, fell onto the deck and immediately burst into flames, the crew managed to extinguish the fire, however while they were occupied with this particular fire a shower of incendiaries and high-explosive bombs had ignited some neighbouring sheds, and the flames from these soon enveloped the stricken ship. Though the crew fought valiantly to save the ship it was to no avail and the captain ordered the crew to abandon the Malakand. Desperately and with disregard for their own safety Captain Kinley and his crew along with A.F.S. personnel led by Officer John Lappin, tried to scuttle the ship and prevent a terrible explosion. Despite all their efforts a few hours after the all clear Merseyside shook with one of the greatest explosions of the entire Blitz.
The whole dock was destroyed, the Overhead Railway line was badly damaged, with some of the ships plates being blown some two and a half miles away. Though the explosion was one of the biggest during the Blitz, only four people were killed, two of the party who had tried so valiantly to scuttle the Malakand, and a newly married couple who were on their way home along the Dock road, when a huge fragment of the ship landed directly on their car killing them outright.
Outside the dock Bootle itself was taking a battering, with over 200 homes being totally demolished, 400 seriously damaged, with a further 3,000 slightly damaged.
Fifty-seven people lost their lives in Bootle that night, the most tragic occurrence being the twelve members of the W.V.S who were killed, when the hall (St Andrews) which they were preparing as a rest centre in readiness for the homeless took a direct hit.
There was another tragedy at the Mill Road Infirmary when a bomb of exceptionally high calibre detonated in the courtyard at the rear of the infirmary demolishing three large hospital buildings.
Seventeen members of staff were killed along with 14 ambulance drivers and 30 patients, a further 70 people were seriously injured.
The remaining 380, patients had to be transferred to other hospitals.
The night had proved to be one of unmitigated horror, things had been very bad, they might have been far worse had it not been for the selfless devotion to duty of all those who were tireless in their battle to extinguish the fires that raged throughout the city, the Police, Firemen, Doctors, Nurses, Wardens, Civil Defence Volunteers, Ambulance men and women, and the general public, their vigilance and dedication to duty was to save many people and indeed the city of Liverpool

Sunday May 4th 1941

People awoke to find their once great city in ruins, and being Sunday church services still went on, though most would be held in the street. It seemed that the Luftwaffe had made the churches their principal targets.
Over everything, hung a pall of smoke and dust, the streets were blocked with bricks and masonry, some of the buildings were still ablaze, the defence service faced an urgent task, it was imperative that they extinguished as many fires as possible before the Luftwaffe returned.
Throughout the day a army of some 7000, demolition and clearance workers, supplemented by over 2500, troops wielded pick and shovel in an all out effort to clear the city streets.
By the time night came, a huge amount of clearance, demolition and salvage had been accomplished, and all except seven fires had been extinguished. The Malakand was among those that were still burning every now and then the roar and flash of more shells exploding would rent the air, it would be another 72 hours before the ship would blow herself out.
As the night passed people began to believe they were in for a quiet evening, 11.15; 11.30; 11.45, still no sign of the raiders, then at one minute to midnight the sirens sounded their warning.
The enemy planes came in waves, at first only a few, but then in five-minute intervals more and more. They came from all directions, until the sky was filled with a sizeable fleet, and for more than four and a half hours the bombers dropped thousands more incendiaries and hundreds of tons of high explosives on the already devastated city. A carefully placed and intensive anti-aircraft barrage kept the raiders at a considerable height, preventing any accurate bombing.
Bootle was again attacked, though not as badly damaged as the previous night, a large amount of housing and industrial property was destroyed.
Perhaps that Sunday night was a mild one compared with the other nights of the never to be forgotten May Blitz, but following the Saturday holocaust it was bad enough. And when at 4.23 the all clear sounded the majority of the Merseyside people were too tired to even care.


Monday 5th May 1941

Throughout the daylight hours of that Monday all the work of clearing up went on.
A tragic aftermath of the nights raids was the reported death of the film star Mary Lawson, along with her husband, Flight Lieutenant, F.W.L.C. Beaumont.
The Liverpool Civil Defence Emergency Committee addressed a special statement to the people of Liverpool, expressing their great appreciation of the spirit in which they have met the crisis.
The statement went on to express sympathy for the bereaved, assuring people that no efforts would be spared in seeing that all the services in the city that affect peoples daily lives would be maintained to the fullest possible extent.
And indeed a test of their resolve would come the following night.
At just after midnight the sirens sounded again, and Liverpool began another four hours of intensive bombing.
Again thousands of incendiaries were dropped along with high explosives, the fire department was to use over 80 miles of hose such was the extent of fire that had sprang up over the city.
Bold Street and Berry Street took a severe battering, along with St Luke’s which was completely gutted.
Liverpool Cathedral had a narrow escape when a high explosive bomb pierced the roof only to be deflected outwards by the central beam of the Transept, exploding high in the air above the street, destroying many of the stain glassed windows including the large Derby Memorial Transept window. Another bomb actually fell on the Cathedral steps but failed to explode.
The Town Hall windows were shattered, the building of the Liverpool Gas Company in Dale Street was gutted, and the Consumption hospital and the Royal Infirmary were both damaged, the Emido Flour Mills in Glasgow Street were damaged.
Bootle once again came in for its share of the damage, there were however fewer casualties on this occasion and only two of them fatal.


Tuesday 6th May 1941

Shortly before midnight on Tuesday the Luftwaffe were back in large numbers, and this time Liverpool was to bear the brunt of the attack. This sixth successive raid began with the dropping of high explosives followed by the inevitable blanket of incendiaries.
The bombing like the previous evenings lasted over four hours, and though the anti-aircraft personnel fought a brave battle against the enemy planes, the city was once again lit up by the fires caused by the incendiaries.
St James Street, Moorfields, Seel Street, Pierhead, St George’s, and the Landing stage were all heavily bombed, Coopers building in Church Street was badly damaged, St Catherine.s Church in Abercromby Square was gutted.
The Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance building in Dale Street was badly damaged. Six people were killed when a high explosive bomb fell on the tenement flats in Brunswick Gardens.
1000, people had to be evacuated when five time delayed bombs were dropped on the Mill Street area of the city. Two ships were set ablaze in the Harrington dock, West Toxteth and Brunswick yards were extensively damaged, the casualty figures for that night were, 32 dead and 168 injured.

Wednesday 7th May 1941

This night proved to be the second most vicious of the seven nights, it was also the last of what became known as the May Blitz.
Liverpool was to have more raids after this month, but nothing to compare with those seven days in May 194, which the people of Merseyside were forced to endure.
The alarm was once again sounded at midnight. The raiders came in the same patten as the previous night`s, wave after wave, the docks stretching from Seaforth to the Huskisson were soon ablaze. There were over 300 incidents reported in Liverpool and Bootle, for Bootle the seventh night proved to be the worst night with street after street being flattened, the main thoroughfares of Stanley Raod, Rimrose Road and Southport Road were all damaged, most of the areas industrial buildings suffered major damage. Fifty people were killed when a bomb hit the Co-operative Society Stores. Bootle’s only theatre the Metropolis was destroyed.
In Liverpool the Tower building in Water Street was hit, Atherton, Hunter, Wilton and Clifford Street were all badly damaged, along with Scotland Road, Great Nelson Street and Great Howard Street. At 4.30 on the morning of May 8th the all clear sounded on what was to be the last night of Merseyside’s May Blitz.
Throughout the day of May 8th the people prepared them selves for another raid that would surely come, they went through the routines that had become part of everyday life, rest centres were readied, fire-fighting equipment was prepared for the next raid that would surely come.
The siren sounded that night but only a few scattered incidents in Bootle were reported, the Luftwaffe was to return to Liverpool during the war, but not in the overwhelming numbers it had during those seven days of May.
On all Merseyside over 1700 people had been killed, with a further 1154, seriously injured.
Liverpool had lost forever some of its finest buildings, the docks where the Luftwaffe had done its worst lay in ruins, but in the ensuing weeks these along with the railway and other essential lines of communication were almost if not quite back to normal.
The words that Dr Downey the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool used to describe the fury that had visited Merseyside, found an echo in many a heart.
“Liverpool has been tried by fire, and I think I may say we have not been found wanting. Indeed we have not, Merseyside has matched its naked determination against the assembled might of airborne Germany, and Merseyside has won”.
There was the tragic side this bright victory the sombre roll of Merseyside’s dead, and on May the 13th the city buried in a common grave in Anfield cemetery the bodies of 550 Unknown Warriors of The Battle of Britain