in foreground, the burned-out shell of the
Custom House in middle distance in middle distance May 1941 saw a renewal of the air assault on the region; a seven-night bombardment that devastated the city. The first bomb landed upon
Seacombe,
Wallasey,
Wirral, at 22:15 on 1 May. The peak of the bombing occurred from 1–7 May 1941. It involved 681
Luftwaffe bombers; 2,315 high explosive bombs and 119 other explosives such as
incendiaries were dropped. The raids put 69 out of 144 cargo berths out of action and inflicted 2,895 casualties.
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. Another landed on the front steps without exploding but incendiaries destroyed equipment in the contractor's yard at the west end. One incident on 3 May involved the , a ship carrying munitions which was berthed in the
Huskisson Dock. Although its eventual explosion is often attributed to a burning barrage balloon, this fire was put out. However flames from dock sheds that had been bombed spread to the
Malakand, and this fire could not be contained. 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 entire Huskisson No. 2 dock and the surrounding quays were destroyed and four people were killed. The explosion was so violent that some pieces of the ship's hull plating were blasted into a park over away. It took seventy-four hours for the fire to burn out. The seven night bombardment resulted in over 6,500 homes being completely demolished by aerial bombing and a further 190,000 damaged leaving 70,000 people homeless.
Bootle, to the north of the city, suffered heavy damage and loss of life. One notable incident here was a direct hit on a
Co-op air raid shelter on the corner of Ash Street and Stanley Road. 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.
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. Several hundred bombers had been used, visibility was good and docks and industrial works, storehouses and business centres, had been hit. In addition to many smaller fires, one conflagration, it was claimed, was greater than any hitherto observed during a night attack." ==End of the Blitz==