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. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, Mother who killed her five children euthanised. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. 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. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? 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'. 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. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. There are other diarists and narratives. workers. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; Many people who were dug out of the rubble alive had taken shelter underneath their stairs and were fortunate that their homes had not received a direct hit or caught fire. 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. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. 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. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. But the RAF had not responded. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. Thank you. 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. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. 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. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. 2. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. 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. The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. 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. ", US journalist Ben Robertson reported that at night Dublin was the only city without a blackout between New York and Moscow, and between Lisbon and Sweden and that German bombers often flew overhead to check their bearings using its lights, angering the British. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. Still, many in Northern Ireland believed no Luftwaffe attack would come. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. Read about our approach to external linking. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. The famous places damaged include the palace of Westminster and Westminster hall, the County hall, the Public Record office, the Law Courts, the Temple and the Inner Temple library; Somerset house, Burlington house, the tower of London, Greenwich observatory, Hogarths house; the Carlton, Reform, American, Savage, Arts and Orleans clubs; the Royal College of Surgeons, University college and its library, Stationers hall, the Y.M.C.A. 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; They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. 6. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. 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. The winter of 193940 was severe, but the summer was pleasant, and in their leisure hours Londoners thronged the parks or worked in their gardens. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. 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. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. Looking back on the Belfast Blitz, Oberleutnant Becker signed off with the following words: A war is the worst thing that can happen to Mankind. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. The A.R.P. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. 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. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. Another attacked Bangor, killing five. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. 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. 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. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. The city has been a leader in women's rights. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. 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. High explosives were dropped. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. 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. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. One of every six Londoners was made homeless at some point during the Blitz, and at least 1.1 million houses and flats were damaged or destroyed. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". The Belfast Blitz consisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. 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. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. 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. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. Heavy jacks were unavailable. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. 2023 BBC. [26], Initial German radio broadcasts celebrated the raid. [citation needed]. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. continuous trek to railway stations. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. 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". department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. But the Luftwaffe was ready. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . 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. 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. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. For 57 nightsuntil November 2more than 1 million bombs were dropped on the capital city. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. On September 10, 1940, the school was flattened by a German bomb, and people huddled in the basement were killed or trapped in the rubble. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. As well as these two major targets, other firms in Belfast produced valuable materials for the war effort including munitions, linen, ropes, food supplies and, of course, cigarettes. 9. [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. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. Read about our approach to external linking. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. 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. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. When war broke out in 1939 the city did not expect to be attacked by German bombers: it was geographically remote and deemed a relatively . This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. Ulster Historical Foundation. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. At nightfall the Northern Counties Station was packed from platform gates to entrance gates and still refugees were coming along in a steady stream from the surrounding streets Open military lorries were finally put into service and even expectant mothers and mothers with young children were put into these in the rather heavy drizzle that lasted throughout the evening. [citation needed]. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. 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). Islington parish church, the rebuilt Our Lady of Victories (Kensington), the French church by Leicester square, St. Annes, Soho (famous for its music), All Souls, Langham place, and Christ Church in Westminster Bridge road (whose towerfortunately savedcommemorates President Lincolns abolition of slavery), were among a large number of others. It targeted the docks. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. 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. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. Updates? There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. [citation needed], Casualties were lower than at Easter, partly because the sirens had sounded at 11.45pm while the Luftwaffe attacked more cautiously from a greater height. The creeping TikTok bans. A Luftwaffe terror bombing attack on the Spanish city of Guernica (April 26, 1937) during the Spanish Civil War had killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed much of the town. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. 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. 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. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. He was asked, in the N.I. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. The night raids on London continued into 1941, and January 1011 saw exceptionally heavy attacks; the Mansion House (residence of the lord mayor of London) and the Bank of England narrowly avoided destruction when a bomb fell directly between them, creating a gigantic crater. When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. "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. Only four were known still to be alive. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. [1][2], The third raid on Belfast took place over the evening and morning of 45 May 1941; 150 were killed. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. 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. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. 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]. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. 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. With tangled hair, staring eyes, clutching hands, contorted limbs, their grey-green faces covered with dust, they lay, bundled into the coffins, half-shrouded in rugs or blankets, or an occasional sheet, still wearing their dirty, torn twisted garments. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. By 1941, production of the Short Stirling Bomber and the Short Sunderland Flying Boat was underway. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. Corrections? The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. While Anderson shelters offered good protection from bomb fragments and debris, they were cold and damp and generally ill-suited for prolonged occupancy. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 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}. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. 8. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. It would appear that Adolf Hitler, in view of de Valera's negative reaction, was concerned that de Valera and Irish American politicians might encourage the United States to enter the war. On the 17th I heard that hundreds who either could not get away or could not leave for other reasons simply went out into the fields and remained in the open all night with whatever they could take in the way of covering. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. 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. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies.
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