0:00:03 > 0:00:06This was Hitler's Blitzkrieg, or 'lightning war'.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08LOUD EXPLOSIONS
0:00:08 > 0:00:12London endured 57 nights of bombing, but the Blitz also spread
0:00:12 > 0:00:16to towns and cities across Britain, including mine.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19- NEWSREEL:- 'The Luftwaffe attack from places all along the coast.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22'The struggle for the Western oceans has begun.'
0:00:22 > 0:00:26I'm Ricky Tomlinson and I'm taking to the skies to discover
0:00:26 > 0:00:29how my city survived the Blitz by the skin of its teeth.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Them docks are like a line of sitting ducks, really, aren't they?
0:00:32 > 0:00:34- Exactly. - Because they're in a straight line,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37and there's row after row after row.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39And I'll meet the women of Liverpool who survived.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41And the bomb came down.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44You could hear it whistling down,
0:00:44 > 0:00:46and we just grabbed each other in the bed,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49the whole house on top of us,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53and we both thought, "Oh, we're going to die."
0:00:59 > 0:01:01MUSIC: There She Goes by The La's
0:01:10 > 0:01:14I was raised in Liverpool and I've spent most of my working life here.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15Not always as an actor, though.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18No, I was a plasterer and trade unionist
0:01:18 > 0:01:20long before I became a luvvie.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24This city is my home and I don't think I'll ever move away.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32My old neighbourhood was Everton, just outside the city centre,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35and there was five of us in a small terraced house on Lance Street.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37The neighbourhood's still there,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39but it's very different to how it looked when I was little.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43This is where I grew up during the war years.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46And obviously, it's all changed now, but to see all these houses
0:01:46 > 0:01:49with the space they've got, we didn't have that much space.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And in the middle of the street, with these brick air raid shelters
0:01:52 > 0:01:55with the big, thick concrete ceiling on them.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58And that's where we used to play, play of a day and of a night,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01when the bombs came over, we would go inside them.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05HE EXHALES DEEPLY
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Hey...
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Who'd have dreamed 50 years ago that I'd be sitting
0:02:13 > 0:02:15here on someone's garden wall?
0:02:15 > 0:02:18With all this shrubbery around me, it's as if...
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I could be in the middle of an African jungle, really, couldn't I?
0:02:21 > 0:02:23Because we never saw a blade of grass.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I could actually be sitting in what was our living room,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29or the back kitchen.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31That...
0:02:31 > 0:02:33It's wonderful.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37It's amazing and I'm so glad I've come back to see it.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42I entered the world in September 1939,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45the same month that Britain entered the war.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48I don't remember much about the early years of the fighting,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50so I've invited my big brother, Albert,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53to meet me for a cuppa at my own cabaret club.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56You must have been smelling the tea. Do you want one?
0:02:56 > 0:02:58We never talk much about the war,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01but as he's older, I'm hoping he remembers more than me.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Sort this tea out for us, will you, love?
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Yeah, so, I'm busy at the moment.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10I'm just...well, we're hoping to make a documentary about the Blitz,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12so I'm looking for stories from old people,
0:03:12 > 0:03:13and just get some stories...
0:03:13 > 0:03:15Old folks? That's why you brought me in, is it?
0:03:15 > 0:03:17That's one of the reasons! You were older than me
0:03:17 > 0:03:21- and I can remember quite a bit about the war, so you...- Well, you were a war baby, weren't you?
0:03:21 > 0:03:24- I was born at the start of the war, wasn't I?- You caused the war, didn't you?
0:03:24 > 0:03:27- Yeah, they reckon I was responsible for it, so... - THEY LAUGH
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Heavy Blitz bombing raids began in London in September 1940.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Two months later, it was Liverpool's turn.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38LOUD EXPLOSION
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- NEWSREEL:- 'Never in history has an entire people borne
0:03:41 > 0:03:43'so frightful an ordeal so bravely.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:46At this point in the war, it was all going Hitler's way.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49His army had occupied much of mainland Europe
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and they were within striking distance of Britain.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54London's docks were under constant attack
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and the English Channel was no longer safe.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00PLANE ENGINES ROAR
0:04:01 > 0:04:05But controlling Britain's West Coast, especially at the ports,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07was also crucial for the Nazis.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11'It is in shipping, and in the power to transport across the oceans,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14'the crunch of the whole war will be found.'
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Liverpool was the busiest port of all
0:04:17 > 0:04:19and as the docks were just a couple of miles from Everton,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22that meant our house was in the firing line too.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24All I remember from when I was a young child
0:04:24 > 0:04:29was the air raid shelters right outside the house, you know.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And then the sirens. We all remember the sirens, you know.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35We hardly used the air raid shelters.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39- You know, my dad only worked down the bottom of the street in the baker's?- Yeah.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41And as soon as he heard the sirens, whether it was morning,
0:04:41 > 0:04:46noon or night, he'd be home, grab me on his shoulders,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50my mum would grab you and we'd be down to Gran's.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53That's my dad's mother's, remember? And into the basement.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55- But Granny's was, like, a Dickensian place.- Oh, yes.
0:04:55 > 0:04:56Five foot tall, five foot one.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59But I remember people telling me that after the air raids,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02all the bodies would be picked up and taken
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and lined out in her lobby, and she'd wash them.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Sometimes she'd have to wash them down with a sweeping brush.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11- That's how tough she was.- She was.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- NEWSREADER:- 'Day in, day out, the endless flood of crates and packages
0:05:15 > 0:05:20'passes from ship to shore - foodstuffs essential to our needs.'
0:05:20 > 0:05:23The men who caused the devastation
0:05:23 > 0:05:26were the pilots of the Luftwaffe.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30I'm about to discover how they carried out their attacks.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32I'm at Hawarden Airport
0:05:32 > 0:05:35meeting up with aerial archaeologist Chris Going
0:05:35 > 0:05:37and pilot Bill Giles.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Just going through the flight plan to see if we can work out roughly
0:05:42 > 0:05:46how we're going to pretend to be a German flight this afternoon.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Before we go up, Chris is showing me
0:05:48 > 0:05:50some rarely seen target documents
0:05:50 > 0:05:54used by the Luftwaffe to plan their attacks.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57This is how the German intelligence saw Liverpool.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01- It come across... - This stuff got captured in 1945.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Most of it was trashed or burnt, but we did capture some.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07If you enlarge it and look at it...
0:06:07 > 0:06:09So, what do all the numbers signify?
0:06:09 > 0:06:13They're all related to specific individual targets.
0:06:13 > 0:06:19These are all targets which have a number 45, which means docks.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23If you could strangle the docks, if you could prevent
0:06:23 > 0:06:27food being unloaded or you could prevent armaments being exported
0:06:27 > 0:06:29to support the forces in North Africa and elsewhere,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32you were well on the way to winning the war.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35And that was just what the Nazis were determined to do
0:06:35 > 0:06:37throughout 1940.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41In the Atlantic, the Royal Navy was battling to protect shipping
0:06:41 > 0:06:44from the Germans' deadly fleet of U-boats.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53- MAN WITH GERMAN ACCENT: - 'In the first two years of war,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56'the Allies have admitted losing three million tonnes of shipping
0:06:56 > 0:06:57'to our torpedoes and guns.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01'In this way, we will slowly strangle them.'
0:07:01 > 0:07:06Supplies of food and equipment vital to the war effort were under threat.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10On 1 August 1940, Hitler issues a directive -
0:07:10 > 0:07:13the Luftwaffe were to start preparations
0:07:13 > 0:07:16for the aerial destruction of the UK ports.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18If the British government wouldn't surrender,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22then Hitler's plan was to starve the British people out.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Finally, just before we go off on our flight, I want to show you
0:07:29 > 0:07:32a night map.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36These were carried in the cockpits of the aircraft
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and they were for reading under red or blue night lights.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44And here you can see just what their interest in Liverpool was.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48- That whole strip outlined in red... - That's the whole of the docks,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50- isn't it?- ..of Liverpool Docks.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53- So, you live...Everton, just there? - There, yeah.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56- That's, what, a mile, mile and a half from the docks?- Yeah.
0:07:56 > 0:07:57- If that.- That's it, yeah.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01A few seconds' flying time, you're right in the firing line.
0:08:01 > 0:08:02That's amazing, isn't it?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04That'd send a shiver down your spine.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06It's the main artery to the rest of the country,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09to getting stuff abroad and getting stuff in.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12If he'd have done that, that would have been the end of the war for us.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Just looking at them 70-odd-year-old maps,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19with Liverpool all marked out in red as the target for the German bombs,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21is quite disturbing, really.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24It's not a very nice feeling, really, not nice at all.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Armed with our target maps,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34the time's come to get into the plane and recreate history.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37- OK, is everyone happy and secure? - Yep.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39I've never been on a plane as small as this before.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Although it's a calm day, I'm still apprehensive.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Might just be a little bit bumpy as we climb out,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50just because of the bit of turbulence off the hills here.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53But nothing's going to stop me taking this opportunity
0:08:53 > 0:08:56to look at my city in a completely new way -
0:08:56 > 0:08:59through the eyes of someone trained to destroy it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11How long would their flight take, do you think?
0:09:11 > 0:09:14From the minute they left to get here.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Well, they would take a couple of hours
0:09:17 > 0:09:19to get from their base to Liverpool.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22One of the big problems, of course, was navigation -
0:09:22 > 0:09:24making sure you could get to the target.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27There was a blackout in the UK, so there were no lights showing.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32So really, they were flying blind, to a great extent.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35What the Germans tended to do was use specialist units
0:09:35 > 0:09:39who had the latest technological equipment -
0:09:39 > 0:09:41a unit called a Beleuchtergruppe,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43the Firelighter Group.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45And the idea was to set fires
0:09:45 > 0:09:49so that once those fires are alight,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52the main force, other bombers coming with worse...
0:09:52 > 0:09:55or not-so-good navigation techniques could home in on the fires.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01- NEWSREADER:- 'These raiders were the elite of the German Air Force,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03'groomed for victory.'
0:10:03 > 0:10:06The British were aware that the bombers followed fire,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09so they built decoy sites.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11We fool Jerry sometimes, though.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14We bend his radio beams so he flies on a duff course,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17then we light decoy fires in the open country for him to bomb.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Fake towns and factories were set on fire
0:10:19 > 0:10:22to fool the enemy into thinking they were real targets.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Just a few wasted bombs could save hundreds of lives.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29One night we collected 230 AGs,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31one oil bomb and a packet of incendiaries.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Our casualties were two cows and two chickens.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44- Can you see those buildings in there?- Yeah.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Right, that's more or less where the decoy site was.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49And if you look down, you've got a slight hint
0:10:49 > 0:10:54that the coast mimics that further south round Liverpool.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Look to the right - can you see four gun positions?
0:10:58 > 0:11:01- You can see four squares.- Yeah. - Yeah?
0:11:01 > 0:11:02- Little sort of grey cubes.- Yeah!
0:11:02 > 0:11:06That's anti-aircraft, so they had a gun site there as well.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Although the decoys had some success,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11most planes made it down the River Mersey to their real target,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15the Liverpool Docks - a narrow strip of land
0:11:15 > 0:11:18that then employed nearly 20,000 people.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21You know, really, them docks
0:11:21 > 0:11:24- are like a line of sitting ducks, really.- Exactly.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Because they're in a straight line, row after row after row.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Absolutely. It's about six, seven miles long,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33it's about half a mile wide,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36and that was one of the most strategically important parts
0:11:36 > 0:11:38of the entire United Kingdom.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41So they must have dropped a third of a million incendiary bombs
0:11:41 > 0:11:43on Liverpool during the war.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47But one of the things that I find really amazing
0:11:47 > 0:11:49is the air raids lasted a very long time.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53So at any one time, there might be one or maybe two aircraft coming in
0:11:53 > 0:11:57to drop bombs - it was like being, you know, in a bowling alley,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59but a skittle at the wrong end.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02So you would hear the bombs, four or five,
0:12:02 > 0:12:03and then you would think,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06"OK, I survived that one, maybe the next one. The next one."
0:12:06 > 0:12:09How brave were them dockers, getting up every morning
0:12:09 > 0:12:10and going to work knowing, KNOWING,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14that they were going to be under attack that night or that afternoon?
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Kissing their kids goodbye, kissing their wives goodbye.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21They didn't know if they'd see them again, and vice versa.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24And yet they never stopped, they kept the docks going.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26- Fabulous.- Absolutely.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29From up here, it's obvious how vulnerable the docks were,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31as bombs rained down night after night.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36What's even more frightening is just how close my street was
0:12:36 > 0:12:37to the focus of the bombing.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39This is amazing for me.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42I'm flying over where all this action took place during the war.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44I've just gone past all sorts of landmarks
0:12:44 > 0:12:47that I knew, not only as a grown-up, but as a child.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51- And you can see the Liver Building. - Absolutely!
0:12:51 > 0:12:54So that's... That's right within the vicinity of where we were reared.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Exactly. So if they've flown sort of 300 miles,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59it's literally seconds,
0:12:59 > 0:13:04and precision bombing is not really something you can achieve
0:13:04 > 0:13:05at this sort of distance.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07You know, by the end of the war,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10most of the casualties here were not dock workers, they were civilians.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Something like 2,500, 3,000 people were killed.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18About 50% of all the housing in Liverpool was damaged in the war.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23So, I mean, you've got a population of what, 870,000 in 1940?
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Just under a million.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30That's an enormous economic and sort of human price that was paid.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38I knew before we took off that this would be a unique journey.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41But I didn't expect it to open my eyes as much as it has.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44I always think of Liverpool as a tough city.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47But when you see it from the point of view of an aerial bomber,
0:13:47 > 0:13:48it looks helpless.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53I've always been fascinated by our docks,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57even more so now that I know what part they played in the war.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I'd still like to find out more, though,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02so I've arranged a tour with a historian, Mike Royden.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06We're starting at the highest point, on top of a grain silo.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Liverpool had taken a bit of a decline
0:14:08 > 0:14:10just after the First World War
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and when the Americans started to help us with supplies,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16- this was going to be the major port. - All the different cargo -
0:14:16 > 0:14:20munitions, food, hospital gear - coming in and out, going abroad,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22looking after the soldiers and stuff like that.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Must have been absolutely amazing.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Of course, when the Blitz began, it suffered major damage
0:14:28 > 0:14:29in those few days in May.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32At least half of the berths had gone out of action
0:14:32 > 0:14:36during that time. And in fact, when the bombing took place,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39there were ships in being worked on and loaded.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Probably as soon as the siren went the all-clear,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45they'd be back out loading the ships, getting munitions on and off.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48- That's quite right.- So really, they must have had the heart of a lion,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51mustn't they, to have worked under them conditions.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53They must have been incredibly brave.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56The courage of the dock workers was tested to the limit
0:14:56 > 0:14:59during the May Blitz of 1941,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02when the HMS Malakand, a large ship loaded with munitions,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05was destroyed in Huskisson Dock.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09It led to the largest explosion in the city's history.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11This is where the Malakand was.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17170-foot vessel that was berthed here on the night of 3 May 1941,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and an incendiary hit the deck, and the men
0:15:20 > 0:15:24were struggling to try and stop the fire spreading everywhere else,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26but what they were worried about, of course,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29was it's going to spread into the ship itself,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33because the vessel was carrying almost 2,000 tonnes of munitions.
0:15:33 > 0:15:342,000 tonnes?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Yeah, and if that was going to ignite,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39the whole thing was going to explode.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41You can see how frantic they were in their fight.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Who was in charge at the time, the captain of the ship?
0:15:44 > 0:15:46Incredibly brave man called Captain Kinley.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51He had a number of officers on board and 60-odd lascar sailors as well.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55It was absolutely frantic, the scene you would have seen here -
0:15:55 > 0:15:58the flames going everywhere, trying to get fire engines in,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01men running all over the place trying to put things out,
0:16:01 > 0:16:02it must have been unbelievable.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05In the end, around about half seven in the morning,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Kinley said, "Abandon ship," and it was just as well he did,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10because a few minutes later the whole thing went up.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Absolutely... It was the biggest explosion that the city had seen.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17That was throughout the war, not just on that night.
0:16:17 > 0:16:202,000 tonnes, you can't imagine it, can you, going up?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23When you can see the damage one shell can do or one grenade can do.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25And the debris was flying all over the place.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27It was hitting other ships.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29An anchor actually flew about 400 yards.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33One piece even sliced through a horse that was pulling a cart
0:16:33 > 0:16:35on the dock road.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37But what was also worrying at that time,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41they wondered how much longer Liverpool could withstand this,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44especially the docks. Because much longer on that,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and maybe that would have brought Liverpool to its knees.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50But thankfully, the Luftwaffe
0:16:50 > 0:16:53didn't really have a particularly organised long-term plan,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56and Hitler's attention then turned towards Russia,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59and thankfully the Luftwaffe was shifted over there instead.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Their loss was our gain. It's a terrible thing to say,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04but thank God it happened that way
0:17:04 > 0:17:07because we mightn't be standing here now talking, mightn't we?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I never knew that Liverpool was literally days from being beaten.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19But we got through,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22thanks in large part to the resolve of the people.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And I'm not only talking about the dock workers,
0:17:25 > 0:17:26but all the others too,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29like the women of the city who worked tirelessly
0:17:29 > 0:17:31to support the war effort.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Women like my mam, who struggled to keep the family alive at night
0:17:34 > 0:17:36and feed them during the day.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Some of them were just girls at the time.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41But I want to hear their stories,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43so I've come to the Poppy Centre
0:17:43 > 0:17:45to meet a group of women who all survived the Blitz.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49- Cup of tea.- Cup of tea? - Cup of tea already for me!
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- Oh...- What more do you want?
0:17:51 > 0:17:53I want some lovely stories off you about the war.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I was 11 when it started, 16 when it finished.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58And I can remember
0:17:58 > 0:18:01the first day of the war, when we were at church
0:18:01 > 0:18:05and the priest come and said the war had started.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Next thing was when we went out, my brothers were queuing up already
0:18:08 > 0:18:09to go and join the Army.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13When it first started we used to go down in the air raid shelter -
0:18:13 > 0:18:16three of us, my mum and dad, the cat and the dog.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19They'd stay there till morning.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Was it a brick air raid shelter?
0:18:21 > 0:18:24No, it was the Anderson shelter in the garden,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and you covered it over so you couldn't see
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and you had plants, flowers and things on.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30What about the ones
0:18:30 > 0:18:32in the street, all the way over...?
0:18:32 > 0:18:35That's what we had.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38- They were brick. - They were made of bricks,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40and sometimes we stayed there all night.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Where I lived, in Lamb Street off Heyworth Street,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46in the panic and the pandemonium in the pitch dark,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48you couldn't find your way around.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51There was an old man lived across the street called Mr Hart
0:18:51 > 0:18:54and he used to get your hand and take you in.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58And I could never understand how he could do it, but he was blind,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01so he didn't need any lights!
0:19:01 > 0:19:05One night my dad said, "Ooh, they seem to be getting awful close,"
0:19:05 > 0:19:08so he said, "I'll go out and have a look." And as he did,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11they dropped all the shrapnel and he got a big piece under his eye
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and it went right through his eye and was there on his cheekbone,
0:19:14 > 0:19:15it was a big square.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18He used to say to us all, "Feel it there!"
0:19:18 > 0:19:19And what did you say to him?
0:19:19 > 0:19:21"That's what you get for nosing!"
0:19:21 > 0:19:23THEY ALL LAUGH
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Yeah. Yeah.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28- So you could still have a laugh in the middle of the war.- Yeah.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Come on, Doreen, you can tell me your little story now.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Dad was on fire watch, and me mother had the four boys
0:19:35 > 0:19:38in the parlour, and me and my sister,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42we sneaked up to bed. Nobody knew we'd gone up there.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And the bomb come down...
0:19:45 > 0:19:47We could hear it whistling down.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50And we just grabbed each other in the bed,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54and the whole house on top of us,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59- and we both thought, "Oh, we're going to die."- OTHERS: Yeah.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And then my father realised that we were still in there,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05and he started moving the bricks one by one.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09They heard us crying, and they finally found us,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and, er...
0:20:11 > 0:20:15brought us out. We had no clothes on, they were blown off us.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19One of the reporters came to take our photograph
0:20:19 > 0:20:20and me dad chased them.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23He said, "You're not photographing my daughters," he said,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26- "they've got no clothes on!" - Quite right. Absolutely right.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Listening to these women talk, I recognised their resolve
0:20:30 > 0:20:31in the memories of me mam.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34But while we had parents looking out for us,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Nancy was a young mum herself.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39What about you, young lady, what can you remember?
0:20:39 > 0:20:44- Well, I lost my little boy, my baby. - Aww.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47That was me saddest thing of the war.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I had a little girl, and I was having me second baby.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55And it came early, it was seven weeks early.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59It was a terrible night. It was in the Blitz,
0:20:59 > 0:21:04and the nurse didn't want to come out, she was frightened.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07And he only lived a couple of hours,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10and then he had to be buried.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13But, er, I didn't have a lot of money,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17so I hadn't got enough money to pay for the funeral.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21George got a box, they gave him a wooden box.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25And I worry over it now, even although it's a long time,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28thinking he didn't have a proper coffin.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31He knows you loved him, it doesn't matter what they buried him in.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33But that's the main.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35And he was buried with a lady.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38In his...in her coffin.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42So that was lovely. I called him David George.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46- Yeah. But he'd have been 74 now.- 74!
0:21:46 > 0:21:52And me other daughter, she's 75 next month.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Your stories are unbelievable. They make me quite angry,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58because of what's gone on,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01but they make me feel very, very sad at the same time.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Honest to God, I can't thank yous enough.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08What yous done, I mean, I was only a kid and it rolled over me,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12you were wonderful! You were absolutely wonderful.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14You were the bulldog breed, I mean that.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18That meeting with them five wonderful old ladies
0:22:18 > 0:22:20made me feel so humbled.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22They were absolutely magnificent.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26And do you know, no wonder we won the war,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29because with people like that, camaraderie like that,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32and a fighting spirit like that, how could you lose?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34They were wonderful.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Before I finish my Blitz journey, I've decided to catch up with
0:22:48 > 0:22:52an old mate of mine from Liverpool's comedy circuit, Stan Boardman.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55I've known Stan for nearly 50 years,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58and he's always good for a bit of banter and a few old jokes.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02- I started at the MAA Club... - BOTH: ..in Sheil Road!
0:23:02 > 0:23:03You know, it's funny.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07We're about the same age and we were both brought up during the war,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09just a mile or so apart, and yet
0:23:09 > 0:23:11we've never spoken to each other about it.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15That means I've never heard his incredible story -
0:23:15 > 0:23:16until today.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19- This is where me mam's house was, and see that tree?- Yeah.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22That probably was in her front room, that tree.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Who'd ever thought that there'd be a tree...
0:23:24 > 0:23:25where you live?
0:23:25 > 0:23:29And I wish that this would have been here when I was a lad.
0:23:29 > 0:23:30I would have loved it.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Just round the corner here, it was Morley Street,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36and it was a shelter, a communal shelter,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and everybody in the street, when they heard the sirens going,
0:23:39 > 0:23:41they'd all rush out the houses.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Gives me the creeps even now, when I hear the fire sirens
0:23:45 > 0:23:47from the local fire station.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Them days, they used to say, "The Germans are coming."
0:23:50 > 0:23:52I had a babysit...
0:23:52 > 0:23:56I was being baby-sat by a girl called Mary Munroe,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58my mother used to tell me about her.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03And we ran to the thing and I sat...she sat me on her knee.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06My mother was there, sitting on, like, stools,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09and it was pitch-black and dark. She had a baby on her knee -
0:24:09 > 0:24:13our Ada - and Tommy, my brother, was sitting next to them.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18On that fateful night, the Germans did come and they bombed Liverpool.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21And all the shelter was blown up
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and all the people in the shelter were either killed or injured.
0:24:25 > 0:24:26And I found out...
0:24:26 > 0:24:29My mother told me when I was a little bit older
0:24:29 > 0:24:31that the girl who...
0:24:31 > 0:24:34I was sitting on her knee,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38- Mary Munroe, she was killed. 14. - No way.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40All her family sat on that side of the shelter,
0:24:40 > 0:24:46they were all killed, and my brother Tommy, he lost his life as well.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49So the bricks and everything must have hit him on the head.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52I woke up next morning...
0:24:52 > 0:24:55on the side of the road here on a slate
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and the sun was...morning was just coming up.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01You could smell the burning, grit in my teeth,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04and every time I feel a bit of grit in my teeth...
0:25:04 > 0:25:07- It reminds you. - It reminds me of that night.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09And my Uncle Arthur,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12he came down cos he only lived up there.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17He was 16, 17 and he came over and he found me in the morgue
0:25:17 > 0:25:21because the place was just littered with bodies and people were...
0:25:21 > 0:25:26And he found my brother Tommy, who was dead,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and he found me. Luckily enough, I wasn't injured,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35only because Mary Munroe must have fell on me and saved my life.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38- She took the blast, didn't she? - Mary Munroe, God bless you.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42- Mary, if you're up there, thank you, love.- She will be, eh? Ah.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Around 4,000 people from Liverpool and its surrounding areas
0:25:49 > 0:25:54lost their lives during the Blitz - more than anywhere outside London.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59I thought I knew my city, I thought I knew my friends.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02But I've learnt so much on this journey,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05I'm not sure I'll ever look at my home in the same way again.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09And as I take to the sky for the last time, I can see how much
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Liverpool has changed, how much rebuilding
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and regeneration has gone on over the years.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17But something that hasn't altered at all is the spirit
0:26:17 > 0:26:20and the character of those below.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22I've always been proud of the people of Liverpool.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25In fact, I have the honour of being a Freeman of the City
0:26:25 > 0:26:28and being up here now, I owe them so much.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32They've gave me this honour, but it should be the other way round.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36It's awful to know what went on and it must have destroyed
0:26:36 > 0:26:39families for generations, torn about their lost ones
0:26:39 > 0:26:43and those who have never seen their parents again
0:26:43 > 0:26:45or their fathers again or their sons again.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51But there's thousands and thousands of unsung heroes -
0:26:51 > 0:26:55the ARP wardens, the nurses, the fellows patrolling the streets.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59The way they banded together, the way they kept the morale up,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02the way they made sure the children went to school...
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Everyone, thousands and thousands of unsung heroes out there
0:27:06 > 0:27:10and sometimes we forget...sometimes we tend to forget about them.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13But being up here now just gives me a little... It makes me feel....
0:27:15 > 0:27:16..quite emotional.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36It was all so bloody futile, wasn't it?
0:27:40 > 0:27:43They were doing what they were told to do,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and the fear and the horror and the sad stories,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51there must be as many in Germany as there are here,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53in Dresden and other places like that.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56So while this has been a wonderful experience for me,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58I don't want to do it again.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01I don't want to do it again.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13That experience I've just had has made me feel so humble.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15They talk about the bulldog breed...
0:28:15 > 0:28:18There's never been a truer expression made,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20they must have all had that bulldog spirit.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24They got Liverpool through and they got Great Britain through,
0:28:24 > 0:28:25and thank God for that.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27I can't praise them enough.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30MUSIC: Yours by Vera Lynn
0:28:30 > 0:28:35# ..here on far or distant shores
0:28:37 > 0:28:43# I've never loved anyone
0:28:43 > 0:28:46# The way I love you
0:28:46 > 0:28:51# How could I
0:28:51 > 0:28:57# When I was born to be
0:28:57 > 0:29:04# Just yours? #