SEVENTY years have passed since Hitler's bombers brutally battered Greenock, Gourock and Port Glasgow during the infamous wartime Blitz on the towns.

And the Telegraph has marked the event with a special 24-page commemorative publication, which goes on sale tomorrow.

The air raids, which took place over two nights in May 1941, claimed the lives of 329 men, women and children, injured 600 other victims, and left huge swathes of the district burning and devastated.

Local people who lived through the deadly havoc wreaked from the skies have kindly shared their own personal and vivid recollections of the catastrophe with us for our 'Greenock Blitz...70 Years On' souvenir special.

Tales of courage, human endeavour, survival and even humour have emerged from the depths of what was a dark point in our history - but a moment which saw people at their very best, as they refused to buckle under Nazi aggression.

Even your favourite local newspaper still managed to get emergency editions out on the streets - as dedicated staff worked until their fingers literally bled in their quest to keep the local communities informed.

In another story, Greenock man Tom Drinnan tells us how he and his family had to run through the streets of the town at the height of the German onslaught, until he finally found safety in a partially-built Anderson air raid shelter in someone else's garden.

And 83-year-old Rose Travers reveals how she even laughed as the bombs rained down - because a neighbour brought his wife a door mat to keep her warm as they huddled in a close which had been turned into a makeshift shelter.

Fellow Greenockian Margaret Cassidy tells how she was born when the Germans decided to attack the town - and how her mother had to be rushed from a shelter to hospital to give birth to her.

The special Blitz publication, full of archive pictures and other material, will go on sale tomorrow at local newsagents and from the Tele's front office, priced £1.