department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) TOP 10: Facts About Belfast You Didn't Know - Ireland Before You Die "There will always be people who will slip through the net but I am able to say at least 987 were killed across all raids.". In addition, there simply was not enough space for everyone who needed shelter in one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. With Britains powerful Royal Navy controlling the surface approaches in the Channel and the North Sea, it fell to the Luftwaffe to establish dominance of the skies above the battle zone. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. 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. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. His reply was: "We here today are in a state of war and we are prepared with the rest of the United Kingdom and Empire to face all the responsibilities that imposes on the Ulster people. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. By Jonathan Bardon. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. Oakland plans to unleash 'pothole blitz' to fix notorious street damage 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. By the time the raid was over, at least 744 people had lost their lives, including some living in places such as Newtownards, Bangor and Londonderry. In every instance, all stepped forward. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. Learn how your comment data is processed. The Belfast Blitz - Inside the Deadly 1941 Luftwaffe Raids on Northern 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 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. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. Harland and Wolff: The troubled history of Belfast's shipyard "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. A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. 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. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. There are other diarists and narratives. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Poor visibility on the night meant that the accuracy of the bombers was hampered and the explosives were dropped on densely populated areas of Belfast. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. Between Black Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one alertas the alarms came to be calledand generally far more. When Germany bombed Belfast as part of the Blitz during World War Two, the massive air raids left more than a thousand people dead. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. O'Sullivan reported: "There were many terrible mutilations among both living and dead heads crushed, ghastly abdominal and face wounds, penetration by beams, mangled and crushed limbs etc.". The refugees looked dazed and horror stricken and many had neglected to bring more than a few belongings Any and every means of exit from the city was availed of and the final destination appeared to be a matter of indifference. 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. 9. 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. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. The Blitz | Facts, History, Damage, & Casualties | Britannica While some of the poorer and more crowded suburban areas suffered severely, the mansions of Mayfair, the luxury flats of Kensington, and Buckingham Palace itselfwhich was bombed four separate timesfared little better. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. 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. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. Few children had been successfully evacuated. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. The couple, who ran a children's home, stayed with Anna's parents, William and Harriette Denby, and her sisters, Dot and Isa, at Evelyn Gardens, off the Cavehill Road, in the north of the city. High explosives were dropped. Train after train and bus after bus were filled with those next in line. WW2: How did an elephant beat the Belfast Blitz? - BBC Teach London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. Belfast, Irish Bal Feirste, city, district, and capital of Northern Ireland, on the River Lagan, at its entrance to Belfast Lough (inlet of the sea). 3. 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." 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. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. Belfast Blitz: Facts In total there were four attacks on the County Antrim city. 1. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely. 14 Breathtaking Facts about Belfast - Fact City 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. 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]. There is no slacking in our loyalty. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. Munster, for example, operated by the Belfast Steamship Company, plied between Belfast and Liverpool under the tricolour, until she hit a mine and was sunk outside Liverpool. Victory for the Royal Air Forces (RAFs) Fighter Command blocked this possibility and, in fact, created the conditions for Britains survival and the eventual destruction of the Third Reich. 1. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). 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. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. 7. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 planes fitted with Zeiss cameras captured high-quality aerial imagery. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. 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. Prior to the "Belfast Blitz" there were only 200 public shelters in the city, although around 4,000 households had built their own private shelters. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz, National Museums Liverpool - Merseyside Maritime Museum - The Blitz, The History Learning Site - The Blitz and World War Two. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. Updates? Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. Find out how it began, what the Germans hoped to achieve and how it severe it was, plus we visit nine places affected by the attacks. Raids between February and May pounded Plymouth, Portsmouth, Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Hull in England; Swansea in Wales; Belfast in Northern Ireland; and Clydeside in Scotland. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. IWM C 5424 1. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. [citation needed] However on 20 October 1941 the Garda Sochna captured a comprehensive IRA report on captured member Helena Kelly giving a detailed analysis of damage inflicted on Belfast and highlighting prime targets such as Shortt and Harland aircraft factory and RAF Sydenham, describing them as 'the remaining and most outstanding objects of military significance, as yet unblitzed' and suggesting they should be 'bombed by the Luftwaffe as thoroughly as other areas in recent raids'[28][29], After three days, sometime after 6pm, the fire crews from south of the border began taking up their hoses and ladders to head for home. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. Up Next. Incendiary bombs predominated in this raid. "Through resources such as the Public Records Office and ancestry and genealogy websites I managed to get about 100 photos - which is about one tenth of the victims," he says. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. [citation needed]. The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. After the first week of September, although night bombing on a large scale continued, the large mass attacks by day, which had proved so costly to the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, were replaced by smaller parties coming over in successive waves. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). Public buildings destroyed or badly damaged included Belfast City Hall's Banqueting Hall, the Ulster Hospital for Women and Children and Ballymacarrett library, (the last two being located on Templemore Avenue). Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. [13] However at the time Lord Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921, said: "Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be." Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. A modern bomb census has attempted to pinpoint the location of every bomb dropped on London during the Blitz, and the visualization of that data makes clear how thoroughly the Luftwaffe saturated the city. 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. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. The phrase Business as usual, written in chalk on boarded-up shop windows, exemplified the British determination to keep calm and carry on as best they could. 2. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Corrections? In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. So had Clydeside until recently. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. The Blitz of Belfast 1941 - History Learning Site There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. At the time of the first attack in April 1941, there were no operational searchlights, too few anti-aircraft batteries and scarcely enough public air raid shelters for a quarter of the population. We were in exceptional good humour knowing that we were going for a new target, one of Englands last hiding places, said one pilot of the raid.
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