The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the British city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe. Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the country, outside London, due to the city having, along with Birkenhead, the largest port on the west coast and was of incalculable importance to the British war effort. The government was concerned to hide from the Germans just how much damage had been inflicted upon the docks, so reports on the bombing were kept low-key. Around 4,000 people were killed in the Merseyside area during the Blitz. This death toll was second only to London, which suffered 30,000 deaths by the end of the war.