10 facts about the belfast blitz 10 facts about the belfast blitz

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. 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. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. 8. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. 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. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Churches destroyed or wrecked included Macrory Memorial Presbyterian in Duncairn Gardens; Duncairn Methodist, Castleton Presbyterian on York Road; St Silas's on the Oldpark Road; St James's on the Antrim Road; Newington Presbyterian on Limestone Road; Crumlin Road Presbyterian; Holy Trinity on Clifton Street and Clifton Street Presbyterian; York Street Presbyterian and York Street Non-Subscribing Presbyterian; Newtownards Road Methodist and Rosemary Street Presbyterian (the last of which was not rebuilt). In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". [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. But the Luftwaffe was ready. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. Read about our approach to external linking. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. There is no slacking in our loyalty. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. Other Belfast factories manufactured gun mountings. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. From their photographs, they identified suitable targets: There had been a number of small bombings, probably by planes that missed their targets over the River Clyde in Glasgow or the cities of the northwest of England. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. There were few bomb shelters. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Later, guided by the raging fires caused by the first attack, a second group of planes began another assault that lasted until 4:30 the following morning. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. 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. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. Contributions poured in from every part of the world in such profusion that on October 28 its scope was extended to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. Learn how your comment data is processed. Public buildings destroyed or badly damaged included Belfast City Hall's Banqueting Hall, the Ulster Hospital for Women and Children and Ballymacarrett library, (the last two being located on Templemore Avenue). Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Ulster Historical Foundation. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. The Belfast blitz is remembered. 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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. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. Belfast Blitz: Facts In total there were four attacks on the County Antrim city. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. 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. headquarters, Toynbee hall and St. Dunstans; the American, Spanish, Japanese and Peruvian embassies and the buildings of the Times newspaper, the Associated Press of America, and the National City bank of New York; the centre court at Wimbledon, Wembley stadium, the Ring (Blackfriars); Drury Lane, the Queens and the Saville theatres; Rotten row, Lambeth walk, the Burlington arcade and Madame Tussauds. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. Belfast made a considerable contribution towards the Allied war effort, producing many naval ships, aircraft and munitions; therefore, the city was deemed a suitable bombing target by the Luftwaffe. 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. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. In the east of the city, Westbourne and Newcastle Streets on the Newtownards Road, Thorndyke Street off the Albertbridge Road and Ravenscroft Avenue were destroyed or damaged. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- 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 confetti," said one archive news report. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. Updates? sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. Author Lawrence H. Dawson detailed the damage to Londons historic buildings for the 1941 Britannica Book of the Year: The following curtailed list identifies some of the better known places in inner London that have been damaged by enemy action. 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. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. Some had received food, others were famished. "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". 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. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 2023 BBC. The Battle of Britain On April 16 an attack even fiercer and more indiscriminate than those of the previous autumn started at 9:00 pm and continued until 5:00 the following morning; 500 aircraft were believed to have flown over in continuous waves, raining an estimated 450 tons of bombs across the city. parliament: "if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'". Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. By the middle of December it had reached nearly 1,700,000 (adjusted for inflation, this was the equivalent of roughly 100 million in 2020). 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]. 1. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) 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. 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.". A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. 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. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. Although it arrested German spies that its police and military intelligence services caught, the state never broke off diplomatic relations with Axis nations: the German Legation in Dublin remained open throughout the war. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. 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. 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. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. 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. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. [citation needed], Casualties were lower than at Easter, partly because the sirens had sounded at 11.45pm while the Luftwaffe attacked more cautiously from a greater height. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. 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. 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. The Titanic was built in Belfast. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. By Jonathan Bardon. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. 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. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. 2. The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. 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. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. Belfast was not properly prepared for the attacks, with too few shelters and not enough anti-aircraft guns. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . 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 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. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. The next took. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". 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. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. The shipyard was among the largest in the world, producing merchant vessels and military shipping. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary;