10 facts about the belfast blitz

Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. There were few bomb shelters. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. Belfast Blitz - Wikipedia By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. Streets heavily bombed in the city centre included High Street, Ann Street, Callender Street, Chichester Street, Castle Street, Tomb Street, Bridge Street (effectively obliterated), Rosemary Street, Waring Street, North Street, Victoria Street, Donegall Street, York Street, Gloucester Street, and East Bridge Street. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. Train after train and bus after bus were filled with those next in line. The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. The Belfast Blitz: the city in the war years - History Ireland 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. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. 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. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 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 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. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. to households. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. 10 Facts about Belfast City | Fun Facts About Belfast | Europa Hotel [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 danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The next took. 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. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. 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. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. 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. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. 1. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About Belfast The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. Video, 00:00:26, Living through the London Blitz. Read about our approach to external linking. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. 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. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". 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. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. 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. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. About 1,000 people were killed during the Belfast Blitz of 1941, with Harland and Wolff among the buildings that were hit by the Luftwaffe. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. In the subsequent years, this lack of preparation has often dominated the discussion about the Belfast Blitz, but a new project led by Alan Freeburn from the Northern Ireland War Memorial aims to shift the focus back to the ordinary men, women and children who lost their lives. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. 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. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. 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 stated that "he would once more tell his government how he felt about the matter and he would ask them to confine the operations to military objectives as far as it was humanly possible. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. One, Tom Coleman, attended to receive recognition for his colleagues' solidarity at such a critical time. From a purely military perspective, the Blitz was entirely counterproductive to the main purpose of Germanys air offensiveto dominate the skies in advance of an invasion of England. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. 2023 BBC. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. 10 Facts About the Blitz and the Bombing of Germany 19.99. The Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News 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. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. Barton insisted that Belfast was "too far north" to use radio guidance. In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. 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. The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. 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. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. 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. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others 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]. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. [1][2], The third raid on Belfast took place over the evening and morning of 45 May 1941; 150 were killed. By the. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). Ulster Historical Foundation. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. 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. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. Another attacked Bangor, killing five. When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. 24 - The tyres Dunlop were invented in Belfast in 1887 25 - The two H&W cranes are named Samson and Goliath 26 - The Albert Clock is Ireland's leaning tower 27 - The mobile defibrillator was invented in Belfast 28 - Belfast's ice hockey team, the Giants, is one of the best in Europe. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. 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. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. "There will always be people who will slip through the net but I am able to say at least 987 were killed across all raids.". As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. [citation needed]. 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. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. 150 corpses remained in the Falls Road baths for three days before they were buried in a mass grave, with 123 still unidentified. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. The A.R.P. 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. The phrase Business as usual, written in chalk on boarded-up shop windows, exemplified the British determination to keep calm and carry on as best they could. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. By Jonathan Bardon. 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. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. 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. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. 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}. 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. parliament: "if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'". 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. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. Corrections? On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. Video, 00:00:51Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. 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. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. 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. The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. It targeted the docks. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. 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. workers. 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. 7. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. He was asked, in the N.I. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 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. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. 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. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts 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. Children and World War Two - History Learning Site Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. William Joyce (known as "Lord Haw-Haw") announced in radio broadcasts from Hamburg that there will be "Easter eggs for Belfast". It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. Few children had been successfully evacuated. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. The Germans established that Belfast was defended by only seven anti-aircraft batteries, which made it the most poorly defended city in the United Kingdom. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. Between Black Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one alertas the alarms came to be calledand generally far more. 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. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. Read about our approach to external linking. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. However that attack was not an error. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. The city has been a leader in women's rights. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 10 Facts about Belfast City. Horrendous Belfast losses during World War Two bombing blitz 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. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. 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. Government apathy, a lack of leadership and a belief the Luftwaffe could not reach Belfast lead to the city lagging behind in terms of basic defences. 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." "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. 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 BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. 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. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. continuous trek to railway stations. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. Blitz, The - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help The Belfast blitz is remembered. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone.

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