. "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. "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.". KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. The 'Blitz' - from the German term Blitzkrieg ('lightning war') - was the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks on British towns and cities carried out by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) from September 1940 until May 1941. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. 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. Belfast has the world's largest dry dock. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. At the beginning of the Blitz, British ack ack gunners struggled to inflict meaningful damage on German bombers, but later developments in radar guidance greatly improved the effectiveness of both antiaircraft artillery and searchlights. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. 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. There were few bomb shelters. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. Belfast, Irish Bal Feirste, city, district, and capital of Northern Ireland, on the River Lagan, at its entrance to Belfast Lough (inlet of the sea). The refugees looked dazed and horror stricken and many had neglected to bring more than a few belongings Any and every means of exit from the city was availed of and the final destination appeared to be a matter of indifference. 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. 10 Facts about Belfast City. Rescue workers search through the rubble of Eglington Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, after a German Luftwaffe air raid, 7 May 1941, Anna (left) and her husband Billy (back right) survived while Harriette, Dorothy and Billy were killed along with Dot and Isa, Dot and Isa, with Dorothy when she was a toddler, Royal Welch Fusiliers assist in clearing bomb damage in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 7 May 1941, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. It has been reported that on Easter Tuesday, Belfast suffered the highest loss of life of any city in the UK in a single raid. 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. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. This hub of industry and trade represented a legitimate military target for the Germans, and some 25,000 bombs were dropped on the Port of London alone. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. Burke Street which ran between Annadale and Dawson streets in the New Lodge area, was completely wiped off the map with all its 20 houses flattened and all of the occupants killed.[16]. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. 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. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. ", 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]. 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. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. The past doesnt change, its just over.. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. 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. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. High explosives were dropped. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. 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. The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. 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. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. The use of the Tube system as a shelter saved thousands of lives, and images of Londoners huddled in Underground stations would become an indelible image of British life during World War II. Read about our approach to external linking. Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help William Joyce (known as "Lord Haw-Haw") announced in radio broadcasts from Hamburg that there will be "Easter eggs for Belfast". 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. BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | The Belfast blitz is remembered 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. The Belfast Blitz - Inside the Deadly 1941 Luftwaffe Raids on Northern The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". The Blitz | Facts, History, Damage, & Casualties | Britannica 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. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. Video, 00:00:51Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. TOP 10: Facts About Belfast You Didn't Know - Ireland Before You Die Despite the attacks, Belfast continued to contribute to the war effort, and within less than a year the city witnessed the arrival of thousands of American troops. 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. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. 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. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About Belfast NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. Belfast | History, Population, Map, Landmarks, & Facts Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow 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. 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 was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. 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. 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. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . 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. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts 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. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. Only four were known still to be alive. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. The Belfast blitz. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. 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. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. Heavy jacks were unavailable. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. 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. There are other diarists and narratives. 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. 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. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. 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. The Battle of Britain When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 2023 BBC. Lecturer of History, Queens University, Belfast, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belfast_Blitz&oldid=1136721396, During the war years, Belfast shipyards built or converted over 3,000 navy vessels, repaired more than 22,000 others and launched over half a million tons of merchant shipping over 140. 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. These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely. Horrendous Belfast losses during World War Two bombing blitz Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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At 4:15am John MacDermott, the Minister of Public Security, managed to contact Basil Brooke (then Agriculture Minister), seeking permission to seek help from the Irish government. Incendiary bombs predominated in this raid. O'Sullivan reported: "There were many terrible mutilations among both living and dead heads crushed, ghastly abdominal and face wounds, penetration by beams, mangled and crushed limbs etc.". 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. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. 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. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. The Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. 1. In every instance, all stepped forward. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. Video, 00:00:36Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. 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."
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