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The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. 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. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. 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.". From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain was subjected to sustained enemy bombing campaign, now known as the Blitz. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. 3. St. Giles, Cripplegate, and St. Mary Wolnooth, also in the city, were damaged, while the Dutch church in Austin Friars, dating from the 14th century and covering a larger area than any church in the city of London, St. Pauls alone excepted, was totally destroyed. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. Given Belfast's geographic position, it was considered to be at the fringe of the operational range of German bombers and hence there was no provision for night-fighter aerial cover. Updates? Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. On occasion, forces consisting of as many as 300 to 400 aircraft would cross the coast by day and split into small groups, and a few planes would succeed in penetrating Londons outer defenses. continuous trek to railway stations. German bombing of London during the Blitz, Discover how the Third Reich attacked Great Britain during World War II's Battle of Britain, atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Watch President Roosevelt outline his Four Freedoms and learn how Britain defeated Germany's Luftwaffe. "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. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; 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. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. 2. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. Horrendous Belfast losses during World War Two bombing blitz The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. In a survey of shelter use, it was found that, although the public shelters were fully occupied every night, just 9 percent of Londoners made use of them. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. ", 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]. The Titanic was built in Belfast. Tommy Henderson, an Independent Unionist MP in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, summed up the feeling when he invited the Minister of Home Affairs to Hannahstown and the Falls Road, saying "The Catholics and the Protestants are going up there mixed and they are talking to one another. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. 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. He went to the Mater Hospital at 2pm, nine hours after the raid ended, to find the street with a traffic jam of ambulances waiting to admit their casualties. 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. 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. Belfast Blitz - Wikipedia [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. 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. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. Few children had been successfully evacuated. 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. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. ISBN 9781909556324. The past doesnt change, its just over.. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. The next took. 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. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. 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. So had Clydeside until recently. 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. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About Belfast Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. 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. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. There was no opposition. Only four were known still to be alive. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. During what was known as the "Belfast Blitz," 1,000 people were killed by bombs dropped by the Nazis in 1941 during the Second World War. Another large-scale attack followed on March 19, when hundreds of houses and shops, many churches, six hospitals, and other public buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. Learn how your comment data is processed. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. Children and World War Two - History Learning Site Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. 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. 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." Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. Interesting facts about Belfast. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. [1][2], The third raid on Belfast took place over the evening and morning of 45 May 1941; 150 were killed. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). Churches destroyed or wrecked included Macrory Memorial Presbyterian in Duncairn Gardens; Duncairn Methodist, Castleton Presbyterian on York Road; St Silas's on the Oldpark Road; St James's on the Antrim Road; Newington Presbyterian on Limestone Road; Crumlin Road Presbyterian; Holy Trinity on Clifton Street and Clifton Street Presbyterian; York Street Presbyterian and York Street Non-Subscribing Presbyterian; Newtownards Road Methodist and Rosemary Street Presbyterian (the last of which was not rebuilt). There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. By the middle of December it had reached nearly 1,700,000 (adjusted for inflation, this was the equivalent of roughly 100 million in 2020). Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. 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'. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 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. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. 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. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. 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. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. 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. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. 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; He spoke with Professor Flynn, (Theodore Thomson Flynn, an Australian based at the Mater Hospital and father of actor Errol Flynn), head of the casualty service for the city, who told him of "casualties due to shock, blast and secondary missiles, such as glass, stones, pieces of piping, etc." The Battle of Britain [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]. 4. Targets identified included: the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory; the Belfast power station and waterworks; Other maps uncovered following the Second World War also showed the parliament and city hall, Belfast gasworks, a rope factory and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. 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." In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. 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. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. In the east of the city, Westbourne and Newcastle Streets on the Newtownards Road, Thorndyke Street off the Albertbridge Road and Ravenscroft Avenue were destroyed or damaged. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. 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Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. 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. Harland and Wolff: The troubled history of Belfast's shipyard Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. "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. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. Blitz, The - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help 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. The Belfast Blitz: the city in the war years - History Ireland Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. On the ground, there were only 22 anti-aircraft guns positioned around the city, six light and 16 heavy, and on the first night only seven of these were manned and operational. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. 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. 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. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). On April 16 an attack even fiercer and more indiscriminate than those of the previous autumn started at 9:00 pm and continued until 5:00 the following morning; 500 aircraft were believed to have flown over in continuous waves, raining an estimated 450 tons of bombs across the city. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. 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. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. 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. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- Another attacked Bangor, killing five. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. 1. 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]. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. [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. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. Ulster Historical Foundation. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Barton wrote: "the Catholic population was much more strongly opposed to conscription, was inclined to sympathise with Germany", "there were suspicions that the Germans were assisted in identifying targets, held by the Unionist population." Incendiary bombs predominated in this raid. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border.