The 1940 Christmas Blitz started a firestorm which engulfed many of the landmark buildings in Manchester - but were some key locations deliberately spared by Hitler?

In 48 hours of bombing which ended on Christmas Eve, the Free Trade Hall, Royal Exchange and Manchester Cathedral were all damaged.

However, some of the most famous buildings in the city escaped damage including the Town Hall, Central Library and the Midland Hotel.

After the war, it was reported that an American intelligence agent had found documents in Germany which suggested Hitler ordered that some buildings be preserved for a future Nazi regime in England.



Among Hitler's plans were for a Nazi HQ in the Midland Hotel.

So were there orders for the Luftwaffe to spare the building which opened in 1903 and is famously where Charles Rolls met Henry Royce?

As well as the plans for a HQ there are further clues in official Nazi documents which show the places in Manchester which the Luftwaffe were deliberately targeting in their raids.

There are several key locations marked around Manchester Docks and Trafford Park - and the targets do not include the Midland Hotel.

The above aerial image titled "Manchester-Salford" shows places of interest marked in red with their significance noted in German below.

Luftwaffe Reconnaissance map - Manchetser Blitz 1940

And further images show that the Hovis Mills alongside the Manchester Ship Canal at Trafford Park was photographed and mapped by the Nazis.

A reconnaissance picture taken by the Luftwaffe targeting the Hovis factory at Trafford Park

The reconnaissance maps and photos do not include landmark buildings in the city centre such as the Midland Hotel and there is no further documentary evidence that the hotel was deliberately spared.

But it does appear that the bombs which landed on homes and buildings in the city centre would have been those which missed their targets in Manchester's key industrial areas.

So it does appear that the Midland Hotel was not on the list of targets for the Blitz bombing raids, but it was still a stroke of fortune that the building escaped unscathed.