ECHOES OF THE MERSEYSIDE BLITZ

Merseyside was hammered during the war, being a major port and distribution centre, and this fascinating book uses a technique of blending old photos from the blitz with modern ones from the same angle showing the streets and locations in a then-and-now depiction of how things have changed. It was not until mid-1940 that bombs began to fall with regularity on Merseyside, by which time many of the children who had been evacuated had returned home again. Starting in early July the Luftwaffe pounded the area, and in September there was a raid somewhere on Merseyside for 26 out of 30 nights. On 28 November 250 people lost their lives in Liverpool alone. The pictorial records are arranged chronologically, though some are difficult to date, starting with a photo of Liverpool's famous Town Hall with sandbags piled high across the frontage. Children and adults are pictured congregating round a blown-out window in Wallasey, probably because at the time it was a novel sight. Dockland suffered particularly, and incendiary bombs one October night hit a railway siding at Speke, a match factory at Garston and two warehouses. On 25 April 1941 the Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid a visit to Birkenhead, Wallasey and Liverpool, captured on newsreel footage. In August 1941 the country's many fire brigades were nationalised, leading to a more co-ordinated response, and emergency water supplies were widely established. The final chapter of the book features signs of the blitz that can still be seen nowadays, including a faint Emergency Water Supply notice below a fascinating modern advertisement for "Reptile live foods at only £1.50 a tub". 175pp, softback, glossary, colour photos on every page.