The Manchester Blitz still remains one of the most sobering memories of the war, with the Luftwaffe’s reign of terror lasting for months on end. Ordered by Adolf Hitler, the bombardment of the industrial city killed an estimated 684 people and injured more than 2,000, almost half of those killed in Manchester during the war. On March 11, 1941, Old Trafford was hit by a bomb that was aimed at the industrial complex of Trafford Park.

Unearthed photos from the Daily Mirror’s archives show how the pitch was wrecked, along with the foundations of the stands.

Seats were wiped out and the main roof collapsed.

Another photo shows the entire concourse obliterated, the roof caved in and windows smashed.

The stadium was not rebuilt until after the war, reopening in 1949, so United played at Manchester City’s Maine Road stadium until then.

The first night we reckoned was the firebomb night when everything was burning

Robert John Alexander

Among the buildings hit in the heart of the city were Manchester’s Free Trade Hall, the Royal Exchange, Smithfield Market, Chetham’s Hospital, the Gaiety Theatre and St Ann’s Church.

Robert John Alexander was only a teenager when he witnessed the attacks on Trafford Park in 1940, but his memories are relived in the Imperial War Museum’s sound archives.

He said: “We all had shelters.

“We had a shelter built in the backyard, about two by six foot and an escape part of it three-foot square tapered to the outside so you could push it out if you were buried in. 

“We had a paraffin stove and paraffin lamp, teas and blankets, flasks of tea and coffee ready, sandwiches and blankets and that’s where we were on the first night of the Manchester Blitz. 

“It was the first time the Blitz was incendiaries, you’d never seen fires like it.”

Detailing the devastation, Mr Alexander continued: “They couldn’t train them to fight fires like that, and they’d never seen fires like that. 

“During the night, this incendiary fell on our house. 

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“It burnt itself out in the backyard, we doused it out with the sand. 

“Everyone had to have a bucket of sand in their house for this very reason.”

Mr Alexander revealed how the fires raged on overnight.

He continued: “The first night we reckoned was the firebomb night when everything was burning. 

“You could read a newspaper at midnight, you could read your paper.

“The bomb actually dropped on the bowling green of the Trafford Park Hotel, and we found one of the bowls in our front room, you know the bowls from the bowling green. 

“We were right in line with the blast, that was Christmas 1940, the Manchester Blitz.”

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