"But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. 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. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. 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. These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. Read about our approach to external linking. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. The Belfast blitz is remembered. Three nights later (April 1920) London was again subjected to a seven-hour raid, and the loss of life was considerable, especially among firefighters and the A.R.P. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. Nearby residential areas in east Belfast were also hit when "203 metric tonnes of high explosive bombs, 80 land mines attached to parachutes, and 800 firebomb canisters containing 96,000 incendiary bombs"[16] were dropped. 7. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War, an invitation was received by the Dublin Fire Brigade for any survivors of that time to attend a function at Hillsborough Castle and meet Prince Charles. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 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. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. Of the churches, besides St. Pauls cathedral, where at one time were five unexploded bombs in the immediate vicinity and the roof of which was pierced by another that exploded and shattered the high altar to fragments, those damaged were Westminster abbey, St. Margarets Westminster, Southwark cathedral; fifteen Wren churches (including St. "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. 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. There was no opposition. He was asked, in the N.I. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. Air-raid damage was widespread; hospitals, clubs, churches, museums, residential and shopping streets, hotels, public houses, theatres, schools, monuments, newspaper offices, embassies, and the London Zoo were bombed. The Belfast blitz. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. 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. [citation needed]. He described some distressing consequences, such as how "in one case the leg and arm of a child had to be amputated before it could be extricated. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; [25] He followed up with his "they are our people" speech, made in Castlebar, County Mayo, on Sunday 20 April 1941 (Quoted in the Dundalk Democrat dated Saturday 26 April 1941): In the past, and probably in the present, too, a number of them did not see eye to eye with us politically, but they are our people we are one and the same people and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows; and I want to say to them that any help we can give to them in the present time we will give to them whole-heartedly, believing that were the circumstances reversed they would also give us their help whole-heartedly Frank Aiken, the Irish Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures was in Boston, Massachusetts at the time. The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive ordering the preparation and, if necessary, execution of Operation Sea Lion, the amphibious invasion of Great Britain. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. He believed that this was being done already but it was inevitable that a certain number of civilian lives should be lost in the course of heavy bombing from the air". [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. 2. Both planes quickly proved their mettle against German bombers, and Germanys best fighter, the Bf 109, was of limited use as an escort due to its relatively short operating range. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. Children and World War Two - History Learning Site There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. 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. 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. The next took. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. 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. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. The Belfast Blitzconsisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfastin Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. Belfast Blitz - Wikipedia The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". The M.V. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. In the west and north of the city, streets heavily bombed included Percy Street, York Park, York Crescent, Eglinton Street, Carlisle Street, Ballyclare, Ballycastle and Ballynure Streets off the Oldpark Road; Southport Street, Walton Street, Antrim Road, Annadale Street, Cliftonville Road, Hillman Street, Atlantic Avenue, Hallidays Road, Hughenden Avenue, Sunningdale Park, Shandarragh Park, and Whitewell Road. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. 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. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. Between April 7 and May 6 of that year, Luftwaffe bombers unleashed death and destruction on the cities of Belfast, Bangor, Derry/Londonderry and Newtownards. Mr Freeburn set out to find out more about those who died, their personal stories and the tales of those left behind. Days later a group of East Enders occupied the shelter at the upscale Savoy Hotel, and many others began to take refuge in the citys underground railway, or Tube, stations. headquarters, Toynbee hall and St. Dunstans; the American, Spanish, Japanese and Peruvian embassies and the buildings of the Times newspaper, the Associated Press of America, and the National City bank of New York; the centre court at Wimbledon, Wembley stadium, the Ring (Blackfriars); Drury Lane, the Queens and the Saville theatres; Rotten row, Lambeth walk, the Burlington arcade and Madame Tussauds. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. Some 27 percent of Londoners utilized private shelters, such as Anderson shelters, while the remaining 64 percent spent their evenings on duty with some branch of the civil defense or remained in their own homes. Although there were some comparatively slight raids later in 1941, the most notable one on July 27, the May 1011 attack marked the conclusion of the Blitz. Belfast was the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, the world' most famous ship which, when it was constructed in the early 1900s, was longer than the height of the world's tallest building at 882 feet and six inches in length. 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. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. "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. The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. . In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. Omissions? The "Hiram Plan" initiated by Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, had failed to materialise. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. 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. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. 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. 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." 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. 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. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. 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). 10 Awesome Facts About Fibre - linkedin.com The Luftwaffe never attacked the city after May 1941, but it would be many years before life returned to normal for many in the city. 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. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. Ulster Historical Foundation. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. 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. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. Up Next. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. At 10:40 on the evening of Easter Tuesday 1941 air raid sirens sounded across Belfast, sending people across the city scrambling for safety - in one of the 200 public shelters in the city or the thousands of shelters or other "safe" spaces in private homes. William Joyce "Lord Haw-Haw" announced that "The Fhrer will give you time to bury your dead before the next attack Tuesday was only a sample." Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . The Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News By 6am, within two hours of the request for assistance, 71 firemen with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dn Laoghaire were on their way to cross the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. So had Clydeside until recently. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. Belfast | History, Population, Map, Landmarks, & Facts Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. 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. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. Corrections? The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. 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. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Elsewhere in the skies over Britain, Nazi official Rudolph Hess chose that same evening to parachute into Scotland on a quixotic and wholly unauthorized peace mission. 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. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. [citation needed], On Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, spectators watching a football match at Windsor Park noticed a lone Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 aircraft circling overhead.[15]. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. In every instance, all stepped forward. From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain was subjected to sustained enemy bombing campaign, now known as the Blitz. At 4:15am John MacDermott, the Minister of Public Security, managed to contact Basil Brooke (then Agriculture Minister), seeking permission to seek help from the Irish government. 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. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation.
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