I wonder where and what shop this was and did these little girls live a long and happy life.

? wheres it from bert?

That teddiy doesnt look too healthy tho!!
Good pic, is it a local one mate?

ste, loose pages I've got from a book, don't know which one though. I'll put others on when i get my act together, center of Birkenhead, flour mills, argyle theatre. little girls must be local, picture was with the others.

Get the rest up Bert, looking forward to seeing them

yeah man, good stuff, love to see the flour mills ones

don't know what shop and exactly where.

Bombed Buchanan's flour mills

William Bernard's ironmongers store on Hamilton Street

Thank you and well done Uptoncx

excellent thanks for Sharing bert

Great Pictures Bert

Wow - amazing. Its difficult to imagine what life was like during the war.

Thanks 4 sharing Bert.

Think that is Argyle street?

Oops didn't see the previous mention of Hamilton street.

Argyle theatre,bombed.

German bomber brought down in Bromborough dock.

German bombing targets of Wirral and Liverpool

German bombing targets of Garston

Luftwaffe ariel photograph of targets at speke.

Lairds during WW11.

Wallasey town hall

I know it`s not Birkenhead but still interesting pics.Grovener Rd Wallasey.

Poulton Rd/Sherlock Lane.

Bombed ferry boat.

One of you guys asked for pics of the dragons teeth at Moreton.I will put it on here as I`ve lost the original thread.

Lancaster Ave.

parachute mine at Leasowe.

Rowson St.

11 June 1941, photgraph of Liverpool taken from 1,800 ft.

excellent pics dava thanks for Sharing

No probs mate,got loads more.Will post them when I get some more time to dig them out mate.

Wallasey Homeguard.

The next load of pics are from Wirral in general,exact locations are unknown but all pics are from local areas.

Bomb crater,uxb team in the background.

destroyed shops.

Wallasey Village

UXB team

UXB

More from around Wallasey town hall.

outside town hall

public shelter (surface shelter)

Norwood Rd,possible emergency water suppyl (EWS)

Bomb damage,notice the white lines painted on the left hand kerb stones.These were to aid you during blackouts.

local Bobby and ARP warden inspecting an empty building.

destroyed.

This will give you an idea of how much force it took to blow this car onto it`s roof and over a garden wall.Please give a thought to all who had to endure the grief and misery suffered during 39-44,not to mention all who gave thier life.

another vehicle wrote off.

more destruction.

another surface shelter,this one has signs of bomb damage.but it is still standing.it`s done it`s job.

total devastation

levelled

Flattened

possible garage

clearing the mess

inspecting the damage.

bombed

Thats it for now guys.enjoy.

Great stuff dava,, dragons teeth ( wirral coastal defences)

Many thanks dava. A great collection. The work of the Bomb Disposal Units is often overlooked. Not a job for those of a nervous disposition!

Looking forward to more photo's !

wow excellent pictures thanks for sharing

Ive just Rated this topic 5 stars

Great photos Dava. I remember my mum telling me about when Christ Church Claughton on Borough Rd got bombed, the house next door to us fell down. We lived right opposite the school, if you are ever travelling down/up Borough Rd when you get to the school look right/left and you will see a big house on the ridge behind the ??service station?? thats were I lived.

This was a Junckers 88. It was put on display outside the Oval sports ground; I remember going to see it.
Great collection of pics. Thanks.

Any chance of a larger version of the German bombing targets?
Cheers, Chris

Junkers 88 used on raids over birkenhead.

For a Junkers that's been shot down, it looks in good nick ! Bet the RAF were rubbing their hands with glee with that little(?) prize !!

Didn't they have Mirlees engines ??

Chris if I can found out how to enlarge those bombing targets I will do so and re-post them.

Notice that the RAF have already painted out the German insignia and replacd it with Roundalls and tail markings, meaning they have been test flying it (so they wont get shot down!!)

Mindplayer, I will have a lok at that when I`m up there as I only work around the corner from there.Thanks.

Bert,( wirral coastal defences) .Thanks for the reminder,hope that pic was what you was looking for.Unfortunatly I only have the 1.

Pinzgaur,I totally agree with your view concerning the bomb disposal squad,as many of thier jobs was trial and error with the Germans constantly boobytrapping thier payload.Thus making thier job harder.If you have seen or manage to get hold of "Danger UXB" tv series,this is an accurate account of what they were faced with.

Bomb damaged houses,1941

I know the thread is about bombed Birkenhead and I don`t want to go off topic here but I`ve got a few pics of Liverpool as well,I want to put them on so everyone can enjoy them and so they are recorded as well.

Flattened warehouses in 1941

collapsed houses at 29 Clarence st.

Devastation in the city centre.

Bomb damage in Bootle.

Overhead railway 1941.

An unexploded parachute mine in a garden in Childwall.

A parachute mine destroyed Waterloo dock warehouse 20/21 December 1940

Yes,I recorded the series when it was shown a while back. Then bought the book! Fascinating.

As you rightly say, it was a cat and mouse game. Fritz made another type of fuse with nasty surprise underneath it, then we had to figure out how to disarm it.

I'm sure we were the same, but the variety of German bomb fuses and the construction of them was fantastic. The SD.2 (Butterfly Bomb) is a work of art.

A lot of the devices to "stop the clock" that we used were "Heath Robinson" in the extreme - but they worked!

A lot of VERY brave B.D. officers lost their lives in the early days. Often unsung heroes.

The area around Lord Street and Castle Street was severely damaged. 3/4 May 1941

stanley dock barges 1942.

kirby munnitions workers

Hydraulic tower (four bridges)

For children to play with.

air raid sign in seacombe

emergency water supply.

Does anyone recognise where the above pic is taken.

Ive found 2 more pics of the ju88 that was brought down in Brom dock.

Bert 1, that pic you have shown of the anti personell mine is the "butterfly Bomb", They are meant to be un-defusable, I have a fragment of the same that was blown up by bomb disposal years ago, the guy had it as a souvenir on his mantle piece!!! He had watched an episode of Danger UXB and they mentioned that it could not be deactivated, so he phoned the bomb desposal, who came round immediatly! The guy had then carried it to the bottom of his garden where the crew said that if it was still on the mantle piece thats where they would have blown it!!!
The fragment id the fuse cover plate, complete with fuse type, type 41, year of manufacture, 1941 and factory marks!! All very clearly stamped into the plate, about the size of a can lid!

Jeez. One lucky guy there! The Type 41 was designed to go off on impact I think. (Must dig the book out). Another type went off after a set time and a third type armed itself when it hit the deck and then would go off if moved about 2mm (not a lot).

Kids picked them up after a raid. The curious gave them a tap with their foot. Some landed in fields only to give a blundering cow/sheep a bad time!

Recall reading that if anything went tits up when defusing a bomb, you wouldn't know the slightest thing. The train of detonation, the gaine going off and the main charge going pop is far quicker than the fastest nerve transmission in the human body. Not even time to think "Oh sh*t" !! Maybe just as well.

What morbid interests some folk have ???

Hoseman,thas an interesting story.obviously that guy did not know what potential danger he had sitting on his mantlepiece.

These are of Boundary Rd in bidston.

The top 1 is of the rear of the bus depot in Laird St and the bottom 1 is Laird St itself.

The pics are not of the best quality but still very viewable.

Just found this. [youtube]nvWBGHbOtLQ[/youtube]

Great Find Dava, Very good indeed.

Bert,did you see the part on the ice in the Mersey.Was it you that was looking for info on the Mersey being frozen?

No Dava it was Buddy, though i think it was earlier years

Riiiiiight.I know it was 18 something but the vid is showing ice on the river during the 40`s.Just kinda wandering if it happened twice.

[youtube]bl47M9MQ2hw[/youtube]

The above is Wallasey during the war yrs.

Another great find well done Dava

Fascinating photos Dava thanks for posting them.

cool find dava man

Thanks guys.

Hoping to get more pics on soon.

Dava fantastic find man

Chris,a short while back you asked for me to enlarge the bombing target pics,I have discovered that the archives have got original German lufwaffe bombing maps that where retrieved by a spy.

Locations:

1) Wirral
2) Liverpool
3) Warrington
4) Manchester
5) North Wales

Basically the North West

I have had 2 copied but they are too big to scan and post.

Scan them in small sections ?

Scanning and posting,gulp,it took me 4 months to figure out how to post lol,yeah still need to outline the targets first as the originals are in color and the prints I have are in black and white,but will give it a go.

Dava

If you send scan them and send them to me, i will edit and highlight the targetted areas electronically. It will be much quicker and probably look better as well.

Cheers

Frick

Thats great Doc,Mark Kindley offered also to help me out on this.I will take you up on that as I think Mark has enough on his plate with sorting out the forums.Thank you Doc.Will send them through in an hour.

If your file ends up being +1mb
e-mail it to me and i can host it and send you the link

Will do Mark.Cheers bud.Going to make a start on it in a sec.

Mark maybe you could help me out with 2 other projects mate.I have an 1888 and 1858 map of Birkenhead that I want to post and again they are too big will have to scan them in sections.

I often find that with big stuff, it's easier to photograph it & then crop it into sections for posting, or simply re-size it down to a size you can post.

Cheers, Chris.

Now thats an idea,thanks Chris.

Everything I've posted from Wirral Archives has been done using this method.

Struggling with it mate.Taken a foto of the bombing target map and you just cant see any detail.

dava if you have not upload it. when i see you this week i will sort it for ye

RE MAPS OF bIRKENHEAD
In Bhead main library they sell maps 1909
They have all the streets marked on them
I am using one to mark pubs on

Thats the problem with taking a photo, it further reduces the quality. Prob better to scan something like that to keep the detail. Just post them through to me when you get time and i'll get to work on it.

Came across this one today,just to add to the collection.
This is a pic of the railings around Birkenhead park being removed for the war effort.It did say on it by cricket pitch,so I`m thing poss Ashville Rd.

Hi Bert. I think I remember my mum telling me the last bombing raid over the Wirral was March 1941. Is that correct? Seems a fair bit too early I reckon.

In fact the more I think about it - the more I'm sure it has to be wrong. Bad memory!!

Merseyside bombing timeline for you Ruth





August 1940
9th: First bombs dropped on Merseyside at Prenton, Birkenhead. Liverpool’s first casualty of the 'Blitz'.

10th: First bombs dropped on Wallasey.

17th: First bombs dropped on Liverpool. Liverpool Overhead railway damaged.

19th: Walton Gaol bombed killing 22 prisoners.


September 1940
5th: Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral damaged by bomb blast.

6th: Children’s Convalescent Home bombed, Birkenhead.

26th: Heavy raid on docks and warehouses. Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead, seriously damaged.


October 1940
23rd: Merseyside suffers 200th air raid.


November 1940
28th: Heaviest air raids to date; 200 people killed in total as the first land mines dropped on Merseyside. 164 people killed when a shelter underneath the Junior Technical School, Durning Road, collapsed.


December 1940
3rd: 180 people killed in attack on a packed air raid shelter

12th: Merseyside suffers its 300th air raid.

20th: Start of the ‘The ‘Christmas Raids’ with 365 people killed over three nights. 42 people killed in a bomb attack on two air raid shelters; another 42 people killed when railway arches being used as unofficial shelters are hit; 1399 children evacuated out of Liverpool.

21st: 74 people killed in a direct hit on a large air raid shelter.

22nd: End of the ‘Christmas Raids’.


January 1941
Bad flying weather results in just three air raids in the whole month.


February 1941
7th: ‘Western Approaches Command Headquarters transferred to Liverpool from Plymouth.

Only two raids are carried out on Merseyside in February.


March 1941
12-13th: Heavy bombing resumes. Wallasey suffers its heaviest raids as 174 people are killed.

16th: Baby girl found alive under debris in Wallasey, after being trapped for three and a half days.


April 1941
25th: Winston Churchill visits Liverpool to see the city and port.

The Luftwaffe (German air force) limited the raids on Merseyside to just three this month, conserving their forces for the upcoming ‘May Blitz’.


May 1941
1st: Beginning of the ‘The ‘May Blitz’ 1741 people were killed and 114 people seriously injured by the end of the week.

3rd: Worst night of the ‘May Blitz’, including the explosion of the cargo ship Malakand in Huskisson Dock.

7th: Final night of the ‘May Blitz’;

13th: 550 ‘Unknown Warriors of the Battle of Britain’ are buried in a common grave at Anfield Cemetery.

June 1941
1st: Heavy raids on Liverpool docks; East Gladstone Dock is badly damaged.


July 1941
24th: Light air raid on Merseyside.


November 1941
1st: A light air raid is the final attack on Merseyside in 1941.


January 1942
10th: Merseyside’s final bombing raid of the Second World War sees houses in Upper Stanhope Street demolished.

i have just looked at the photographs of the bombings
i was born in Birkenhead in may 1939 we lived in Salisbury st off
Grange rd during one of the raids we had to go for cover we all
went in the basement of the old ROXY cinema on Charing cross
When the raid was over my mam left the shelter of the roxy with
my brother and sisters and me to be greeted with the site of our
house totaly demolished by a german bomb god only knows what went through my mams head when she saw it
we had nowere to live so we were shipped out to Wales to live
with relations till about 1944 Thank god i was to young to rember what happened i got all the details from me mam
there made of strong stuff BIRKONEONS

My Mum has told us harrowing things about the bombings.She lived in Bidston with her parents. The 12th March 1941 was her 16th birthday. She told us that after the blitz she walked to a friends house,the destruction all around. One memory stuck in her mind,so awful that even after 50 years it would make her cry.
She had seen a young woman standing by the remains of a house,two little babies lying dead on doors that were makeshift stretchers.The poor woman was screaming and screaming. I think my poor Mum just ran away.God knows how people got on with life,but they did.
My Dad lived in Rock Ferry and he also had a memory that haunted him.He was coming home from the cinema in Bebington. He and a mate were walking home and an air raid started. They ran like the clappers and had got as far as Victoria Park when they saw a car get a direct hit. My Dad saw the man in the car on fire. There was nothing that he or his mate could do so they ran for their lives through the park. I think he was only about 16 himself, but just like my Mum the memory stayed with him .He didn't cry like my Mum did, but he got very upset about it.

My Dad lived in Livingstone Road Rock Ferry at that time- he told me about the day a Messerschmitt 110 strafed the street, which had kids playin in it- luckily no-one was hit, but the sandstone fence posts had large chunks blasted out of them. The same night, most of Well lane was flattened by a parachute mine

Thanks to Lynn and Blackadder for sharing these harrowing but amazing insights to the true reality of the scenes of devastation,destruction and personal loss that millions of people around the UK had to bare witness to during that terrible time.

My Dad and Grandfather told me about Well Lane. At the bottom of Well Lane on the opposite side to the Fairfield pub the houses are newer than the ones up towards the Police station. Dad said the houses got taken out by a landmine that caused major loss of life as one of the houses had a party going on. Dad said they found a bed in Victoria park with a headless body in it and remembers the fire brigade removing a body from the top of the telephone wires. He also told me that a German plane was brought down and crashed near Grove Road where the Rock Ferry library (circa 1970's)was. All the kids in the area got chased by the police as they tried to steal bits of it,they used to make rings from the windows of the plane.
My friends Dad was an air raid warden down by lairds with his work mate.They stood at the bottom of St Pauls road on the night of the heavy bombing, his mate thought he saw a German parachute dropping from a crashing plane so ran in the direction of the now Rock retail park. My friends Dad said that about a minute later he could see his mate in the distance and a search light swept past the chute to reveal a landmine underneath with about 100 foot left to go. He threw himself on the floor and next thing the landmine went off. They never found anything of his mate.

I was told a story myself years back,a friend of my nan who was obv about the same age.She recalls a night of heavy bombing over Merseyside/Wirral (in general) and she told me of a German plane being shot down over Wirral and the pilot (crew member) landed on the gasometer that used to be at the side of the bus depot,wich was situated behind Laird St.He was arrested and no doubt served the rest of the war in a POW camp.Not as harrowing or unfortunate of the previouse events described but a more lighter hearted account never the less.

Did Merseyside receive any V1's ?

I would think that Merseyside would be too far for a Doodlebug (V1) to fly from the launch sites on the wrong side of the English Channel. Never read or heard of any much further north than the northerly outskirts of London.

Max range of a Doodlebug anyone ???

They used air launched ones, as we moved up Europe, they moved north as well. Project "Driver", which was the re-siting of the AA guns for V1's moved north as well, finishing up in the Newcastle area.

Sorry, it was Project "Diver".

From mid-September 1944 to mid-January 1944, the ground launched V1's gave way exclusively to air-launched V1's, around 1200 were launched, 638 of them were observed, 331.5 were shot down by AA and 71.5 by fighters.

HAA sites were prepared from the SE up towards Newcastle, on Christmas Eve 40 V1's were aimed at Manchester across the Lincolnshire coast. The very last air launched V1 of the war came down at Hornsey (Yorkshire coast) on the 14th Jan 1945

That's an excellent kill rate by the AA against V1s.

Next month is the 70th anniversary of the May blitz, tha start of it all. There will be rememberance services held around the country.
Liverpool is holding services for all the fire crews killed i heared.
I havent a lot of info on this, just what i heared, so if anyone would like to jump in and tell more....!
Back then they were called Fire Police, hence the term "Fire Bobby".

I never realised they air-launched V1's. Puts a different aspect on things. Thanks w10694.

I hadn't realised there were air launched ones either. For a while, one of my stepsons had a house in Northern France, inland from Dieppe. There were several launch ramps preserved there. I've also visited a V2 launch site between Calais & Boulogne & in the same area the V3 site (which was never operational).

I believe it was helped by very good quality proximity fuses being available.

The air launched ones were often launched at night, to avoid the carrier aircraft being easily identified.

Most people have heard of the V1 & V2, but fewer have heard of the V3, which was in fact a gun. The site at Mimoyecques is awesome.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/v3.htm

From BBC Shropshire:

BBC Shropshire

They did not appear to be very accurate. They were however a good fit on the carrier aircraft ( picture from www.museumofflight.org):

For anyone who is interested, I will be appearing at Fort Perch Rock museum on Easter Monday from 10am till 4pm with my Luftwaffe bomber pilot collection, including original pilots' clothing and equipment from my very rare collection. I will also bring some of the 1:48 scale models I have, including the one of the Ju88 that crashlanded next to Bromborough Dock in August 1940. You can find out more about the model and the last time I appeared at Fort Perch Rock on http://homepage.ntlworld.com/axisas...%20-%20Bromborough%20Ju88%20incident.htm

Also, my WWII re-enactment group will be appearing in Williamson Square on Sat 30th April, Sun 1st May and Mon 2nd May as part of the event to remember the 70th anniversary of the Liverpool blitz. Read more about this at http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/wirral-...-the-blitz-in-liverpool-100252-28418634/

See you there, always had an interest in the Luftwaffe as a militeria collector.

Hi Guys, I am a new member , just found the site. I was born in March 1938 and when my father was called up and sent to France before war broke out we moved from Bebington to Willey Street, Rockferry,my nan lived on Ebenezer street.I can remember some of what happened as we moved down south to Surrey after the war and I recall stuff that happened before we moved.
We( my brother was two years older than I )we had a dried milk tin full of shrapnel'.
We had a shelter in the street but no one seemed to use it.
I recall the Victory parties in the street over Germany and Japan and there being a painting at the end of the street with VOJ on it.
If anyone has any info of that time I would be very interested .
My dad, by the way was at Dunkirk ,was rescued ,then sent to Burma and had to walk into india when Rangoon fell, caught cholera ,survived , was sent to Egypt , then back to Burma from where he was demobbed !!
regards, Dave Hewson

bombed birkenhead 2 has to be william bernards oxton rd

Bernard's certainly, but not Oxton Rd. Haymarket I think.

Your right Chris, it was one of Bernards shops that apart from its frontage was in one of the cellars of the old market as you came down the steps it was on the right hand side as you turned towards Hamington Street.

The butterfly bomb can be disarmed because I handled one which was used less explosives as a demonstration aid for schools, I think by civil defence

The first bombs on Prenton. How long has prenton been in Liverpool?.

Second world war, Tranmere

the old hotel vic new brighton,should never of been knocked down!

thanks for the picture johnsonjl no i can't tell either .. i am thinking the house in the background would be one on south road? but thats a guess. i would love to see old pictures of devonshire park, but i can never find any .. so cheers x

Thanks Bert1.
I was born in 34 Studley Road Wallasey and it was apparently bombed sometime after September 1940 when I was evacuated to Canada. Would it be possible to confirm this with date? Are there any maps of dropped bombs positions for Wallasey?

Hi Colin and welcome,

If the information you require is available I'm sure someone will put it up if they have it,
the link may be of interest to you, Wallasey and the Blitz

http://www.wirralhistory.net/wallasey.html

Not been on or posted for a while but it`s great to see this thread still going strong!

Thingwall incredibly, was bombed during WW2.

Looks like it was a jettison job - destroyed a number of 'new' houses on Berwyn Avenue, damaged some on Pensby Road and heavily cratered the later site of Penrhyn Avenue, which was still a Dairy and smallholding.

There's no "official" map showing the positions of bombs dropped on Wallasey during the war, but there is a semi-official one compiled after the war from various sources. This clearly shows that a bomb did hit the bottom end of Studley Road, the indicated site being centred on no. 31 on the opposite side of the road from your house. This was an HE bomb that was apparently dropped during a raid on 1st November 1941.

I remember reading about a German bomber being shot down and one of the crew bailing out and landing somewhere around Landican. He decided that it might be better to be caught without his pistol so chucked it away on his descent. Wonder if it is still lying in the ground somewhere or did someone find it?

is there a map showing bomb damage for Tranmere - Well Lane/Old Chester Rd area?

Yes, Wirral Archives have a map that covers locations of bomb impacts out as far as Tranmere.

Cheers for that
Have dropped them an email to arrange a visit
My parents house was destroyed in Rosedale Rd and apparently some relatives were killed in the Well Lane strike

The Germans were the leaders in air-launched missiles - especially anti-ship ones such as the Hs293 'Fritz' - which was capable of sinking a battleship - the Italian 'Roma' was sunk by one as it tried to join Allied forces.

Wow, I used to live in Willowbank Road. I think I know where it landed too. The houses are mostly large 4 floored buildings, except for the top of Clarence Road, where there are a couple of bungalows and an electricity substation. I think that is where that picture is taken.

Here, I think.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=clarence+road+birkenhead&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x487b27124f4bcba5:0xa7a11acbf1cab1ca,Clarence+Rd,+Birkenhead&gl=uk&ei=DiY3UpvkJ6Ss7Qb_z4CIBg&ved=0CC0Q8gEwAA

Regarding Willow bank Rd / Clarence Rd.
I was brought up in Westbank Rd. I always believed that there had been a school in this area and the ground we playedon was red shale which I believe had been tennis courts for the school.
Anyone have further information?

Higher Tranmere High School for Girls
Was it bombed?

In answer to my own question, yes it was.

I know this is old but did anyone manage upload these?
Mark and Dr Frick offered to do it for him.
The thread dried up in 2009 before it started again in 2011, but then there was no mention of it again.

Map with bombed damage.
Admittedly it is hard to differentiate between bombed out or slum clearance.

Includes some on Wirral

Very interesting Granny, especially that decoy of Garston docks on Burton Marsh. I knew they had decoy sights but not on that scale.

One photo missing here is the bombing of Brattan Rd alongside Christ Church Claughton. Which I believe was caused by a doodlebug(according to my mum.)

Couldn't have been, Doodlebugs were c1944, Brattan Rd was 1941.

The Doodlebug had a range of about 150 miles, though I remember reading on here they had Air Launched from below a plane, still well after 1941.

I've heard that doodlebug story as well, it was probably a whistling bomb that was designed to instil more fear and demoralisation in the population. Most bombs naturally whistle but the Germans made alterations to enhance the effect.

Wirral was covered in decoy sites Meols, Thurstaston, Hoylake, Brimstage as well as Burton Marsh. The control bunkers are still extant except for Brimstage.

I believe there was a decoy site on Bidston moss, at the end of the war german prisoners were used to fill in bomb craters there and we used to pester them for badges.which we found could be obtained for a cigarette.

Doodle bug post on this thread, 1944, as you state bert. Apparently 'Project Diver'
https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums...0/re-bombed-birkenhead-2.html#Post502380


Do you still have any of the badges joney? Would love to see them.

Sad to say when I became an adult I gave them away to a young nephew who I have now lost touch with, I now regret it.

The Laird Street photo, is that the gap there that's opposite Aldi?
My great grandparents lived at 58, the house further away that's still standing.

Upon reading this I was looking up sounds of the bombs from the war (I didn't know they whistled) and came upon this video of the old air raid sirens....




This is quite a haunting sound, very eerie, cannot imagine what it was like with bombs whistling through the air and the sound of the devastation and destruction all around.

Strange enough and i'm being totally honest here, yesterday (Wednesday 6th January 2021) at 10am sharp for about 30 seconds I heard these sirens. They were faint but very clear.

Did anybody else hear them?

Yes, I heard the siren as well, I thought it was coming from around Cammel Lairds but couldn't be sure.

Perhaps,

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/you-heard-mystery-air-raid-10764317

Having survived the blitz, for many years after the war if I heard a siren of any sort my scalp used to prickle as though my hair was trying to stand on end .

Managed to confirm that Cammell Laird test their siren the first Wednesday of the month.

Here is a video from May in Liverpool.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mystery-air-raid-siren-noise-18719237

Strange, not heard it before, must be with the lack of traffic on the roads.

Thanks