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There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Video, 00:00:36Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The fourth and final Belfast raid took place on the following night, 56 May. When Germany bombed Belfast as part of the Blitz during World War Two, the massive air raids left more than a thousand people dead. 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; When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. 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. 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. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. 10 Facts about Belfast City. 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. It targeted the docks. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. 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. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. [citation needed]. 2023 BBC. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. 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. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. 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. 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. Fighter Commands efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. 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}. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. 2023 BBC. 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. IWM C 5424 1. Oakland plans to unleash 'pothole blitz' to fix notorious street damage Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. 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. So had Clydeside until recently. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. 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. One, Tom Coleman, attended to receive recognition for his colleagues' solidarity at such a critical time. The shipyard was among the largest in the world, producing merchant vessels and military shipping. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. Initially it was thought that the Germans had mistaken this reservoir for the harbour and shipyards, where many ships, including HMS Ark Royal were being repaired. 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. Over 20 hospitals were hit, among them the London (many times), St. Thomass, St. Bartholomews, and the childrens hospital in Great Ormond st., as well as Chelsea hospital, the home for the aged and invalid soldiers, built by Wren. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. J.P. Walshe, assistant secretary, recorded that Hempel was "clearly distressed by the news of the severe raid on Belfast and especially of the number of civilian casualties." On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. 10 Awesome Facts About Fibre - linkedin.com 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. The Luftwaffe had lost more than 600 aircraft, and, although the RAF had lost fewer than half that many, the battle was claiming British fighters and experienced pilots at too great a rate. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. 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 city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. 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." Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. . and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Historical Topics Series 2, The Belfast Blitz, 2007, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 20:18. 1. 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. 4. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. Video, 00:02:54, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. 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. [26], Initial German radio broadcasts celebrated the raid. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 6. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . 1. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." 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. The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. There is no slacking in our loyalty. ", 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]. By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. 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. The Battle of Britain Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. 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. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. 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. 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 city has been a leader in women's rights. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Read about our approach to external linking. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". Belfast was not properly prepared for the attacks, with too few shelters and not enough anti-aircraft guns. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. 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. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Major Sen O'Sullivan reported on the intensity of the bombing in some areas, such as the Antrim Road, where bombs "fell within fifteen to twenty yards of one another." The Belfast Blitz: the city in the war years - History Ireland His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. 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. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. He gave an interview saying: "the people of Belfast are Irish people too". Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. 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. This type of shelteressentially a low steel cage large enough to contain two adults and two small childrenwas designed to be set up indoors and could serve as a refuge if the building began to collapse. 29 interesting facts about Belfast you never knew - BeeLoved City 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. [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. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). 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. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. Video, 00:00:26, Living through the London Blitz. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. TOP 10: Facts About Belfast You Didn't Know - Ireland Before You Die [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]. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. Harland and Wolff: The troubled history of Belfast's shipyard 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. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. 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. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. 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. 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. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Belfast has the world's largest dry dock. parliament: "if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'". 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. 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. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. 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. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. 7. 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. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. 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. Interesting facts about Belfast. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. 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. 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. BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | The Belfast blitz is remembered Another attacked Bangor, killing five. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. Just before Easter 1941, Anna and Billy Burdett and their 12-year-old daughter, Dorothy, returned to Belfast from England to visit Anna's family. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. 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. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. 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. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 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. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. 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. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. 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. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. to households. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. 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. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. Subs offer. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. The Belfast Blitz: April-May 1941 - History Ireland The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. 10 Facts about Belfast City | Fun Facts About Belfast | Europa Hotel The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. And then naturally as I was over the target, I did pick up flak but I have no sense of exactly how weak or how strong it was, because every bit of flak you get is dangerous.. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. 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. [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. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow."