[1] Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the country outside London,[2] due to the city having, along with Birkenhead, the largest port on the west coast and being of significant importance to the British war effort.

Descriptions of damage were kept vague to hide information from the Germans, and downplayed in the newspapers for propaganda purposes;[3] many Liverpudlians thus felt that their suffering was overlooked compared to other places.

The Port of Liverpool had for many years been the United Kingdom's main link with North America, and proved to be a key part in the British participation in the Battle of the Atlantic.

The evacuation of children (Operation Pied Piper) at the start of the war, in September 1939, was a pre-emptive measure to save the population of urban or military areas from German aerial bombing.

Between 1–6 September the evacuations, organised by Liverpool Corporation, saw 8,500 children, parents and teachers moved from the city to rural areas and small towns in Lancashire, Wales, Cheshire, Shrewsbury and Shropshire.

[7] In her memoir Lime Street at Two, Helen Forrester described trying to get home from her job at Bootle during the Christmas Blitz: In the light of flares, fires, tracer bullets and searchlights, it was easy to see.

I began to walk...At several points, the raid passed right overhead at a time when there seemed no place to hide...A series of bombs appeared to hit the next street, and I was suddenly glad that I had been faced with a blank wall on my side of the street, and was consequently, sprawled in the gutter; if there had been a house or shop doorway in which to shelter, I could well have been speared by glass slivers bursting from the windows.

On the theory that a moving object was harder to hit than a stationary one, I ran like a frightened alley cat, in the hope of avoiding an incendiary bomb or heavy piece of debris falling on me.

Another great danger was from falling power lines, still live and spitting like angry dragons...'I'll cross William Brown Street, where the Picton Library is, and skirt around the wall of St John's Garden.

There seemed to be a very big fire at the beginning of Dale Street, and behind the buildings past which I ran up to the far end of Lime Street, there was obviously another heavy conflagration, which I afterwards was told was St John's market burning...As I ran, incendiaries fell like rain, and magnificent St George's Hall was alight; I was told later that there were hundreds of people sheltering in the cells underneath it, unaware that the building above them was in flames.

[nb 1] Liverpool Cathedral was hit by a high explosive bomb which pierced the roof of the south-east transept before being deflected by an inner brick wall and exploding mid-air, damaging many stained glass windows.

Despite valiant efforts by the fire brigade to extinguish the flames, they spread to the ship's cargo of 1,000 tons of bombs, which exploded a few hours after the raid had ended.

The exact total of casualties is unclear, though dozens of bodies were recovered and placed in a temporary mortuary which itself was later destroyed by incendiaries with over 180 corpses inside.

[17] The Times on 5 May 1941 carried the following report: "The Germans stated that Saturday night's attack on Liverpool was one of the heaviest ever made by their air force on Britain.

[19] Today one of the most vivid symbols of the Liverpool Blitz is the burnt outer shell of St Luke's Church, located in the city centre, which was destroyed by an incendiary bomb on 5 May 1941.

The church was gutted during the firebombing but remained standing and, in its prominent position in the city, was a stark reminder of what Liverpool and the surrounding area had endured.

It eventually became a garden of remembrance to commemorate the thousands of local men, women and children who died as a result of the bombing of their city and region.

[citation needed] British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1941 said after visiting Liverpool and the surrounding area, "I see the damage done by the enemy attacks, but I also see ... the spirit of an unconquered people.