Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. The fourth and final Belfast raid took place on the following night, 56 May. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard.
Belfast | History, Population, Map, Landmarks, & Facts Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. A Luftwaffe pilot gave this description "We were in exceptional good humour knowing that we were going for a new target, one of England's last hiding places. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. 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. 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. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. 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. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. Omissions? 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, 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]. [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.
Horrendous Belfast losses during World War Two bombing blitz The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. Train after train and bus after bus were filled with those next in line. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here.
TOP 10: Facts About Belfast You Didn't Know - Ireland Before You Die By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. There are other diarists and narratives. The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. Heavy jacks were unavailable. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. Belfast Blitz: Facts In total there were four attacks on the County Antrim city.
His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". 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. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. 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.
Children and World War Two - History Learning Site Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. 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. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. A Raid From Above Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain was subjected to sustained enemy bombing campaign, now known as the Blitz. The past doesnt change, its just over.. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. 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." The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet.
Belfast Blitz: Remembering the ordinary people who lost their lives 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. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. Learn how your comment data is processed. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. Video, 00:00:26, Living through the London Blitz. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. 19.99. But the RAF had not responded. 2. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. Some had received food, others were famished.
29 interesting facts about Belfast you never knew - BeeLoved City After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. Their Chain Home early warning radar, the most advanced system in the world, gave Fighter Command adequate notice of where and when to direct their forces, and the Luftwaffe never made a concerted effort to neutralize it.
The Belfast Blitz: the city in the war years - History Ireland The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin.
The Belfast Blitz - Inside the Deadly 1941 Luftwaffe Raids on Northern A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. The Belfast blitz. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. He gave an interview saying: "the people of Belfast are Irish people too". The crypt under the sanctuary and the cellar under the working sacristy had been fitted out and opened to the public as an air-raid shelter. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle.
The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow 3. 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. 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." ", 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. By the time the raid was over, at least 744 people had lost their lives, including some living in places such as Newtownards, Bangor and Londonderry. 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." [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. 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. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. 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. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. The "Hiram Plan" initiated by Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, had failed to materialise. Ulster Historical Foundation.
The Blitz | Facts, History, Damage, & Casualties | Britannica 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. 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.. 2023 BBC. 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. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. 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. 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. 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. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. 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." [citation needed]. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. At 10:40pm the air raid sirens sounded. 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. Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. 10 Facts about Belfast City. 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. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks.
Belfast Blitz: The Luftwaffe attacks Northern Ireland - WartimeNI 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. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine.
The Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion.
15 Powerful Photos Of The WW2 Blitz | Imperial War Museums Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. 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. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. The Battle of Britain These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. 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. In every instance, all stepped forward. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday.
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 . The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. 7.
The Belfast Blitz - KS3 History (Environment and society) - BBC [13] However at the time Lord Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921, said: "Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be." The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid.
The Belfast Blitz: April-May 1941 - History Ireland Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com.
Oakland plans to unleash 'pothole blitz' to fix notorious street damage About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible.
Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. 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. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow."
10 Facts about Belfast City | Fun Facts About Belfast | Europa Hotel 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. Sometimes they were trying establish a blockade by destroying shipping and port facilities, sometimes they were directly attacking Fighter Command ground installations, sometimes they were targeting aircraft factories, and sometimes they were attempting to engage Fighter Command in the skies. 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. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin.