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Saturday 3rd May 1941 had been a sunny day, but when the night-watch arrived at Jig One Observer Corps. Post at the bottom of Sandheys Avenue, Waterloo, they knew that apart from missing the usual Saturday evening at the pub, they were in for a busy night. For the last few weeks the Luftwaffe had been paying their nightly visits, giving Liverpool a real pasting. The Observers didn’t know it then, but this was going to be the worst night of the Blitz.
At 10.30 p.m. they heard the sound of the bombers (Heinkel 111s and Junker 88s) approaching towards the mouth of the Mersey. The bomber pilots knew now that 96 Squadron Defiants and Hurricanes were patrolling above 14,000 feet (code name ‘Short Shrift’) and 100 barrage balloons were in position below 5.000 feet, which left 100 anti-aircraft guns covering between 5,000 and 14,000 feet.
At Jig One the information about the approaching aircraft was rapidly passed to the Centre at Danesbury House, Levenshulme, Manchester — height, direction, and estimated numbers of aircraft. This information was passed to the appropriate Commands.
But this was only the start. The raid carried on until 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, May 5th. About midnight Eddie Dunsmore, the Chief Observer, arrived at the Post. He had heard the explosions in the city and knew that he would be wanted at the Post with his men.
In the early hours there was an explosion louder by far that any other they had heard in the Blitz up to then. The Brocklebank Line ship S.S. Malakand, berthed in the No. 2. Huskisson Dock, loaded with a thousand tons of bombs, took a direct hit.
Some of the debris landed over two miles away.
At 5 a.m. in the morning, when the ‘all clear’ sounded, the four men at Jig One at last sat down. They felt helpless and frustrated by the inability to do anything physical. But they had done the job passing information, and of the 500 Nazi bombers that flew over Liverpool that night, at least 16 never returned to Germany.
In Liverpool, Lewis’s and Blacklers were destroyed. In Bootle 3000 houses were destroyed or damaged. With daylight came the new watch. Eddie and the night-watch bid them ‘Good morning’ and left Jig One to them. They made their separate ways home. They would never forget the night of the 3rd May 1941.

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