The RAFs Spitfire was a superlative fighter, and it was not always easy for the Germans to distinguish it from the slightly less maneuverable but much more numerous Hurricanes. Major Sen O'Sullivan reported on the intensity of the bombing in some areas, such as the Antrim Road, where bombs "fell within fifteen to twenty yards of one another." The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. On August 2, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Gring issued his Eagle Day directive, laying down a plan of attack in which a few massive blows from the air were to destroy British air power and so open the way for the invasion. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. In total over 1,300 houses were demolished, some 5,000 badly damaged, nearly 30,000 slightly damaged while 20,000 required "first aid repairs".[3]. This option had been forbidden by city officials, who feared that once people began sleeping in Underground stations, they would be reluctant to return to the surface and resume daily life. The fall of France in June, 1940, enabled the Luftwaffe to establish airfields across the north of the country, leaving Ulster within reach of bombers. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. The M.V. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. The use of the Tube system as a shelter saved thousands of lives, and images of Londoners huddled in Underground stations would become an indelible image of British life during World War II. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. And then naturally as I was over the target, I did pick up flak but I have no sense of exactly how weak or how strong it was, because every bit of flak you get is dangerous.. Read about our approach to external linking. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. Over the course of three days, some 1.5 million civiliansthe overwhelming majority of them childrenwere transported from urban centres to rural areas that were believed to be safe. Few children had been successfully evacuated. Their Chain Home early warning radar, the most advanced system in the world, gave Fighter Command adequate notice of where and when to direct their forces, and the Luftwaffe never made a concerted effort to neutralize it. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow Before the war broke out, civilians had been issued with gas masks and Anderson shelters, which people were encouraged to build at the. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . Later, guided by the raging fires caused by the first attack, a second group of planes began another assault that lasted until 4:30 the following morning. From their photographs, they identified suitable targets: There had been a number of small bombings, probably by planes that missed their targets over the River Clyde in Glasgow or the cities of the northwest of England. The Belfast Blitz - KS3 History (Environment and society) - BBC British Spies and Irish Rebels by Paul McMahon, Report by the Garda Sochna 23 October 1941 IMA G2/1722, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Irish Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures, "Eamon de Valera and Hitler: An Analysis of International Reaction to the Visit to the German Minister, May 1945", "Extracts from an article, "The Belfast Blitz, 1941", "Historical Topics Series 2 The Belfast Blitz", "Your Place and Mine The Belfast Blitz", "Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies", "Belfast Blitz: The night death and destruction rained down on city", "Multitext - the Blitz - Belfast during the second World War", http://www.niwarmemorial.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The_Belfast_Blitz.pdf, http://www.proni.gov.uk/historical_topics_series_-_02_-_the_belfast_blitz.pdf, Extracts from an article on The Belfast Blitz, 1941. MacDermott would be proved right. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." It is believed that the wartime government covered up the death toll because of concern over the effect it would have had on public morale. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. 10 Facts About the Blitz and the Bombing of Germany Harland and Wolff: The troubled history of Belfast's shipyard When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. Most of the objectives laid out by the reconnaissance crews were of either military or industrial importance. Nurse Emma Duffin, who had served in World War I, contrasted death in that conflict with what she saw:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. On November 14, 1940, a German force of more than 500 bombers destroyed much of the old city centre and killed more than 550 people. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. Author Lawrence H. Dawson detailed the damage to Londons historic buildings for the 1941 Britannica Book of the Year: The following curtailed list identifies some of the better known places in inner London that have been damaged by enemy action. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. "These people are often seen as a statistic but they were human beings, people who lived and grew up in - or moved to - Belfast and died in Belfast," Mr Freeburn, the museum's collections officer, says. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. Contributions poured in from every part of the world in such profusion that on October 28 its scope was extended to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. Belfast made a considerable contribution towards the Allied war effort, producing many naval ships, aircraft and munitions; therefore, the city was deemed a suitable bombing target by the Luftwaffe. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. Although casualties were heavy, at no time did they approach the estimates that had been made before the war, and only a fraction of the available hospital and ambulance capacity was ever utilized. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. Video, 00:03:09Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Belfast City Hall in darkness as the Blitz is marked, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. 7. Over 100 German planes made contact with barrage balloon cables during the Blitz, and two-thirds of them crashed or made forced landings on British soil. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. Blitz, The - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help In The Blitz: Belfast in the War Years, Brian Barton wrote: "Government Ministers felt with justification, that the Germans were able to use the unblacked out lights in the south to guide them to their targets in the North." There is no slacking in our loyalty. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. Streets heavily bombed in the city centre included High Street, Ann Street, Callender Street, Chichester Street, Castle Street, Tomb Street, Bridge Street (effectively obliterated), Rosemary Street, Waring Street, North Street, Victoria Street, Donegall Street, York Street, Gloucester Street, and East Bridge Street. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. Barton insisted that Belfast was "too far north" to use radio guidance. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . Omissions? John Clarke MacDermott, the Minister of Public Security, after the first bombing, initiated the "Hiram Plan" to evacuate the city and to return Belfast to 'normality' as quickly as possible. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. Incendiary bombs predominated in this raid. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. Video, 00:02:54, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Other Belfast factories manufactured gun mountings. At 10:40pm the air raid sirens sounded. Read about our approach to external linking. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. Jimmy Doherty, an air raid warden (who later served in London during the V1 and V2 blitz), who wrote a book on the Belfast blitz; From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. By Jonathan Bardon. The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. ", Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, apparently refused to reply to army correspondence and when the Ministry of Home Affairs was informed by imperial defence experts in 1939 that Belfast was regarded as "a very definite German objective", little was done outside providing shelters in the Harbour area.[14]. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. On 24 March 1941, John MacDermott, Minister for Security, wrote to Prime Minister John Andrews, expressing his concerns that Belfast was so poorly protected: "Up to now we have escaped attack. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Government apathy, a lack of leadership and a belief the Luftwaffe could not reach Belfast lead to the city lagging behind in terms of basic defences. However they were not in a position to communicate with the Germans, and information recovered from Germany after the war showed that the planning of the blitz was based entirely on German aerial reconnaissance. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. The Belfast blitz. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. The 'Blitz' - from the German term Blitzkrieg ('lightning war') - was the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks on British towns and cities carried out by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) from September 1940 until May 1941. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. Video, 00:01:38At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. WW2: How did an elephant beat the Belfast Blitz? - BBC Teach Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. The Luftwaffe had lost more than 600 aircraft, and, although the RAF had lost fewer than half that many, the battle was claiming British fighters and experienced pilots at too great a rate. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. 10 Facts about Belfast City. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. William Joyce (known as "Lord Haw-Haw") announced in radio broadcasts from Hamburg that there will be "Easter eggs for Belfast". Over 20 hospitals were hit, among them the London (many times), St. Thomass, St. Bartholomews, and the childrens hospital in Great Ormond st., as well as Chelsea hospital, the home for the aged and invalid soldiers, built by Wren. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. It has been reported that on Easter Tuesday, Belfast suffered the highest loss of life of any city in the UK in a single raid. "Through cross-referencing a number of different sources I have been able to get the most accurate number of people who died in the Blitz," he says. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. However that attack was not an error. 9. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. Although it arrested German spies that its police and military intelligence services caught, the state never broke off diplomatic relations with Axis nations: the German Legation in Dublin remained open throughout the war. Londoners enjoyed three weeks of uneasy peace until May 1011, the night of a full moon, when the Luftwaffe launched the most intense raid of the Blitz. The ill-fated ship was built in the city in 1912, and to this day, there is a museum dedicated to its building and the lives of all of those on board. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Video, 00:00:51Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. Rescue workers search through the rubble of Eglington Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, after a German Luftwaffe air raid, 7 May 1941, Anna (left) and her husband Billy (back right) survived while Harriette, Dorothy and Billy were killed along with Dot and Isa, Dot and Isa, with Dorothy when she was a toddler, Royal Welch Fusiliers assist in clearing bomb damage in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 7 May 1941, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. At the beginning of the Blitz, British ack ack gunners struggled to inflict meaningful damage on German bombers, but later developments in radar guidance greatly improved the effectiveness of both antiaircraft artillery and searchlights. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. The Battle of Britain Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. While the balloons themselves were an obvious deterrent, they were anchored to the ground by steel tethers that were strong enough to damage or destroy any aircraft that flew into them. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. Fighter Commands efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. Some are a total loss; others are already under repair with little outward sign of the damage sustained: Besides Buckingham palace, the chapel of which was wrecked, and Guildhall (the six-centuries old centre of London civic ceremonies and of great architectural beauty), which was destroyed by fire, Kensington palace (the London home of the earl of Athlone, governor general of Canada, and the birthplace of Queen Mary and Queen Victoria), the banqueting hall of Eltham palace (dating from King Johns time and long a royal residence), Lambeth palace (the archbishop of Canterbury), and Holland house (famous for its 17th century domestic architecture, its political associations, and its art treasures), suffered, the latter severely. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. At the start of World War Two, Belfast had considered itself safe from an aerial attack, as the city's leaders believed that Belfast was simply too far away for Luftwaffe bombers to reach - assuming that they would have to fly from Nazi Germany. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. I was definitely one of the first over the target and as I flew in there was no great defence because there were not a great many aircraft over the target at that point, recalled Becker. Just before Easter 1941, Anna and Billy Burdett and their 12-year-old daughter, Dorothy, returned to Belfast from England to visit Anna's family. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), The Belfast Blitz Inside the Deadly 1941 Luftwaffe Raids on Northern Ireland, Dutch Weapons and American Independence How the United Provinces Made a Fortune Supplying Muskets in the Revolutionary War , USS Devilfish The Curious Case of the Only U.S. Navy Submarine to be Attacked by a Kamikaze, The Chinchas War Inside the Little-Known Conflict Between Peru and Spain Over Animal Turds, The Battle for Nassau Inside the First Overseas Mission for Americas Marines, Mustang vs. Corsair Inside the U.S. Navys 1944 Match-Up Between the Two Fighters, Stickin It To Em The Last of the Great Bayonet Charges, Bloody First Contact When Vikings Clashed with Native North Americans, Battlefield Stalingrad Four Maps That Tell the Story of World War Twos Pivotal Struggle. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. The Germans established that Belfast was defended by only seven anti-aircraft batteries, which made it the most poorly defended city in the United Kingdom. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. In the course of four Luftwaffe attacks on the nights of 7-8 April, 15-16 April, 4-5 May and 5-6 May 1941, lasting ten hours in total, 1,100 people died, over 56,000 houses in the city were damaged (53 per cent of its entire housing stock), roughly 100,000 made temporarily homeless and 20 million damage was caused to property at wartime values. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. In the subsequent years, this lack of preparation has often dominated the discussion about the Belfast Blitz, but a new project led by Alan Freeburn from the Northern Ireland War Memorial aims to shift the focus back to the ordinary men, women and children who lost their lives. 10 Facts about Belfast City | Fun Facts About Belfast | Europa Hotel TOP 10: Facts About Belfast You Didn't Know - Ireland Before You Die Learn how your comment data is processed. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. Lecturer of History, Queens University, Belfast, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belfast_Blitz&oldid=1136721396, During the war years, Belfast shipyards built or converted over 3,000 navy vessels, repaired more than 22,000 others and launched over half a million tons of merchant shipping over 140. In another building, the York Street Mill, one of its massive sidewalls collapsed on to Sussex and Vere Streets, killing all those who remained in their homes. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. Just eight days earlier, eight planes destroyed the aircraft fuselage factory and damaged the docks, with 15 people ultimately killed as a result of that raid. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. From a purely military perspective, the Blitz was entirely counterproductive to the main purpose of Germanys air offensiveto dominate the skies in advance of an invasion of England. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'.

San Mateo County Sheriff Dispatch Log, Articles OTHER