Bomb Kills 166 in Liverpool Air-Raid Shelter
Liverpool, Merseyside The 29th of November 1940 AD
The Blitz has become most closely associated in our collective consciousness with the capital. London did suffer appallingly – events like the Balham Tube Shelter Disaster , and the rain of fire on December 29 1940 milestones of its misery. But around the country other settlements were also targeted by Nazi bombers. The engineering hub of Coventry was almost flattened in November 1940; Sheffield where our steel industry centred had its most awful moment with the Marples Hotel Tragedy . And Liverpool, the great port for Atlantic cargo, was a frequent victim of raids, indeed the most frequent other than London.
In the early hours of November 29 1940 Liverpool saw its worst disaster of the Blitz when a powerful parachute mine fell on the Edge Hill Training Centre on Durning Road. In the shelter beneath it about 300 people had taken refuge from the bombs. The mine exploded, collapsing the three-storey college and in turn destroying the shelter. The situation was worsened by the boilers of the college jetting steam into the debris, scorching many of those trapped, and by fires taking hold. In all 166 died in the tragedy.
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