Luftwaffe Raid Liverpool 1940

I take it you have seen this:

http://www.liverpoolblitz70.co.uk/

And this:

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/blitz/

and finally this:

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?50893-THE-BLITZ&highlight=liverpool+blitz

I will be down watching the parade etc on Saturday so if there is anything specific I may be able to help with drop me a PM

this could be another branch on the family tree.i think claude had a brother called frederick william wade 1892. i have claude as been born in smethwick (kings norton).also found a record of a elizabeth wade died 21 dec 1940 aged 51 wife of william wade of 20 blackstock gardens vauxhall road died at blackstock gardens shelter.cheers

CWGC has slightly different address, maybe you know which is corect?
Name: WADE, ELIZABETH. Age: 51. Date of Death: 21/12/1940
Additional information: Wife of William Wade, of 2C Blackstock Gardens, Vauxhall Road. Died at Blackstock Gardens Shelter.
Casualty Type: Civilian War Dead. Reporting Authority: LIVERPOOL, COUNTY BOROUGH.
I know L’pool was badly bombed (Dad’s family from there) but to lose 2 in a few months in different shelters, where they thought they were safe….

Probably a typo in one of those addresses. Blackstock Gardens was the the big communal shelter where a lot of people died I think.

Mary Wade definitely died in the Grant Road house – my Dad was taken there by my Gran the next day (The Grants were related to my Father’s family and not my mums as I mistakenly posted above)….. he vaguely recalls a big pile of rubble and a few sombre souls and wondering why he’d been taken there!!

Hi, Matt.
and of course liverpool was the most bombed place in the uk outside of London a fact that most people don’t beleave because they think it was Coventry.

I was under the impression that this distinction went to Hull ?

CWGC has slightly different address, maybe you know which is corect?
Name: WADE, ELIZABETH. Age: 51. Date of Death: 21/12/1940
Additional information: Wife of William Wade, of 2C Blackstock Gardens, Vauxhall Road. Died at Blackstock Gardens Shelter.
Casualty Type: Civilian War Dead. Reporting Authority: LIVERPOOL, COUNTY BOROUGH.
I know L’pool was badly bombed (Dad’s family from there) but to lose 2 in a few months in different shelters, where they thought they were safe….

claude j wade

this could be another branch on the family tree.i think claude had a brother called frederick william wade 1892. i have claude as been born in smethwick (kings norton).also found a record of a elizabeth wade died 21 dec 1940 aged 51 wife of william wade of 20 blackstock gardens vauxhall road died at blackstock gardens shelter.cheers

mmnn

could this be claude jame wade who married mary egan in 1920

Good Lord it might be – there has been some mention of the surname Egan by my parents in the past… might we be somehow related?

Cheers

Seb

family history

mmnn

Thanks for the replies guys, I’ll try and obtain that book. I have read ‘Liverpool, A city at war’ by Bryan Perrett but that’s more broad brush than exhaustive detail IIRC.

I keep pestering my Dad to write down the family history – he remembers bits and pieces from the war, seeing a Halifax towed out from Rootes onto the airfield, a Blenheim roaring over the bridge at Hunts Cross at low level and he thinks he saw a Condor (Fw-200) on one occasion – I’d love to confirm that sighting!

I’d love to hear any more Liverpool war stories (shame they missed Goodison, eh 😉 )

I have managed to find the details of my mum’s relatives (as below), if I can now find the Rowson’s that may help me tie in whether it was the same raid:

3 WADE , CLAUDE JAMES Civilian * 30/08/1940 46 Civilian War Dead United Kingdom * LIVERPOOL, COUNTY BOROUGH

Name: WADE, CLAUDE JAMES
Initials: C J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Civilian
Regiment/Service: Civilian War Dead
Age: 46
Date of Death: 30/08/1940
Additional information: of 97 Grant Road, West Derby. Husband of Mary Wade. Died at 97 Grant Road.
Casualty Type: Civilian War Dead
Reporting Authority: LIVERPOOL, COUNTY BOROUGH

11 WADE , MARY Civilian * 30/08/1940 47 Civilian War Dead United Kingdom * LIVERPOOL, COUNTY BOROUGH

Name: WADE, MARY
Initials: M
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Civilian
Regiment/Service: Civilian War Dead
Age: 47
Date of Death: 30/08/1940
Additional information: of 97 Grant Road, West Derby. Wife of Claude James Wade. Died at 97 Grant Road.
Casualty Type: Civilian War Dead
Reporting Authority: LIVERPOOL, COUNTY BOROUGH

could this be claude jame wade who married mary egan in 1920

My mother, born and raised in Liverpool, lived on West Derby Road during the war. In 2007 she narrated a short video story about her Liverpool aunt, uncle, and cousin — the only survivors, said Mom, of a direct hit on a shelter on 28 Nov 1940. The story is illustrated with various Blitz photos, some from Liverpool, some not. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of all details, but Mom did consult reference books at the time she wrote it.

Cheers,

Matt

The Memorial Service is reported here:

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/11/29/liverpool-memorial-service-remembers-city-s-worst-tragedy-of-the-blitz-92534-27733795/

Hi, Station 342.

Yes, small world!

Mom certainly remembers the Anfield Cemetery bombing, when human remains and coffins were exposed. I erred in my last posting, as she lived on Walton Lane, across the street from the cemetery. Her husband, George Plank, was raised on West Derby Rd.

Mom, George, and others stuck their heads out of a bomb shelter one night to catch a glimpse of an RAF fighter knocking down a German bomber. Everyone cheered wildly as the bomber fell in flames. Wish I had a calendar date for that one.

Three-plus years later the Japanese propaganda newspaper “Greater Asia”, printed in Rangoon, reported another example of citizens cheering a bomber’s loss to fighter action. But this excerpt from the 2 March 1944 issue described the downing of the Liberator in which George and crew died on 29 Feb:

. . . Lieutenant Takiguchi and Sub-Lieutenant Yamaguchi shot down this plane with just two barrages of machine-gun fire with the result that it was enveloped in flames and crashed into a jungle in the suburbs of Rangoon, only a few minutes after it had encroached upon the sky at Rangoon. This grand spectacle was witnessed by thousands of eager citizens of Rangoon.

Regards,

Matt

Hi, Matt.
Thanks for the links , and it is a small world the Leta Street your Mum was talking about is the street My Dad lived in, and were I was born and lived during the sixties, my Nan and Grandad lived there from the 1930’s until they demolished the street in the 1980’s, there was still a bomb site at the top end of the street right up to then.

Dad remembers the parachute mine and the damage it did, there was also a parachute mine that hit Anfield Cemetry and made quite a mess with bits of coffin and bones all over the place.
The plots are very interesting, and of course liverpool was the most bombed place in the uk outside of London a fact that most people don’t beleave because they think it was Coventry .

There is a mass grave in Anfield cemetry from a direct hit on a shelter, I will get more details on this from Dad.

P.S I have just read this through and should point out Nan and Grandad did not demolish the street themselves:D

My mother, born and raised in Liverpool, lived on West Derby Road during the war. In 2007 she narrated a short video story about her Liverpool aunt, uncle, and cousin — the only survivors, said Mom, of a direct hit on a shelter on 28 Nov 1940. The story is illustrated with various Blitz photos, some from Liverpool, some not. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of all details, but Mom did consult reference books at the time she wrote it. The video:

http://www.umbc.edu/oit/newmedia/studio/digitalstories/ctds.php?movie=CT07_LoneSurvivors_poole.flv

She met her first husband (not my father), George Plank, when they each ducked into the same above-ground street shelter one evening as the sirens wailed. The date is unclear to Mom, but it was 1940. The bombs spared their district, love blossomed, and they married in Liverpool just before George departed for India and wireless op/air gunner duties with RAF 159 Sqn, on Libs. He and his crew were killed when their bomber, BZ962, was shot down over Rangoon on 29 Feb 1944.

Mom said her parents’ home lost its windows due to bomb concussions on seven occasions. Once, shrapnel from an exploded bomb was found lodged in the ceiling. One day I want to study bomb plots in Liverpool to see how closely they fell to Mom’s home, and to George’s home on Clifton St.

I know there are plots, as referenced here:

http://www.culture24.org.uk/places+to+go/north+west/liverpool/art29714

Cheers,

Matt

I seen to remember that there was a very large article on this in a very old edition of Air Pictorial – I’ll see if I can locate it

Please do, sounds great! In some ways keeping it Pooter could be tougher that Pepysing it. 🙂

No hesitation in bringing this back, but with a question.

Does anyone know numbers of wounded and numbers trapped in the November 1940 bombing of the BSA Birmingham works? Some discussion here: http://airminded.org/2010/11/19/tuesday-19-november-1940/ and relating to the Liverpool Blitz.

I’ll dig up my dad’s diaries from the attic. He spent most of the war in Birmingham where he was in the Home Guard, and he also kept a diary for over 60 years – more Mr Pooter than Samuel Pepys, but at least it’s contemporary material.

I wondered it it was one of the RN’s Aussie mines made safe team, but it wasn’t – it was one of their equally brave colleagues:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8066050/George-Cross-heroes.html

I bet he didn’t even break a sweat or lose his monacle!

I’m sorry I can’t say how many were killed at BSA but thanks for fascinating contributions and links guys – I’ll be passing these on to my Dad.

He’s made approx 6 Do-17 models in the past two years (he does models in waves and it’s Fw-190s next!) so I’m sure he like to do one or two more Mersey raiders!

On the subjectof the Liverpool Blitz I have just placed a summary article on our website relating to an HeIII shot down at Widnes that we investigated and readers on here may find it of interest – a full account of our research into the incident appears in my “North West Aircraft Wrecks” book – see link below.

No hesitation in bringing this back, but with a question.

Does anyone know numbers of wounded and numbers trapped in the November 1940 bombing of the BSA Birmingham works? Some discussion here: http://airminded.org/2010/11/19/tuesday-19-november-1940/ and relating to the Liverpool Blitz.

Was this Garston Gas works? Didn’t someone get the GC for defusing a bomb that hit them?

I wondered it it was one of the RN’s Aussie mines made safe team, but it wasn’t – it was one of their equally brave colleagues:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8066050/George-Cross-heroes.html

Was this Garston Gas works? Didn’t someone get the GC for defusing a bomb that hit them?

Cheers

Seb

IT was the gas works on Athol street his aunt lived next to, I think this is the Vauxhall / Kirkdale area.
Dad also remembers having to leave the house of another Aunt because of a UXB, the bomb disposal squad spent a long time digging down to it only to find it was one of those large sandstone door lintils that alot of Liverpool houses have, had been blown up into the air and come down and buried its self
Thanks

Chap I know is making a film which is about three Liverpool Sisters, the Blitz and an Italian POW.

http://theicecreammanmovie.blogspot.com/

Synopsis includes

Set against the battlefields of North Africa, France and blitzed Liverpool during WW2. The story follows three sisters in there early twenties and how they and their family survived the blitz and rationing etc. The story reflects life in Liverpool at this time, war, work, blackouts, bombing etc. – But mainly the ‘humour’ and the ‘hope’ that got them through each day…..

Each sister finds the love of their life… the story tells how each comes in contact with their man and the background stories of the three men…. one an Italian POW, one an armaments expert and the other a Liverpool dock worker.