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. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. 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. By Jonathan Bardon. 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. There were still 80,000 more in Belfast. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. 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. 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). The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. 6. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. At 10:40 on the evening of Easter Tuesday 1941 air raid sirens sounded across Belfast, sending people across the city scrambling for safety - in one of the 200 public shelters in the city or the thousands of shelters or other "safe" spaces in private homes. Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. By 1941, production of the Short Stirling Bomber and the Short Sunderland Flying Boat was underway. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. 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. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. 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IWM C 5424 1. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. 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. 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. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. 6. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. Interesting facts about Belfast. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. 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. It would appear that Adolf Hitler, in view of de Valera's negative reaction, was concerned that de Valera and Irish American politicians might encourage the United States to enter the war. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. 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. 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. 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. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. 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 success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. Video, 00:00:26, Living through the London Blitz. [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. Brides, Fleet St.; St. Lawrence Jewry; St. Magnus the Martyr; St. Mary-at-hill; St. Dunstan in the East; St. Clement [Eastcheap] and St. Jamess, Piccadilly). The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. When Germany bombed Belfast as part of the Blitz during World War Two, the massive air raids left more than a thousand people dead. The creeping TikTok bans. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 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. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. 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. [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]. 2. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. Belfast was not properly prepared for the attacks, with too few shelters and not enough anti-aircraft guns. continuous trek to railway stations. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . 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. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. 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. By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. Belfast has the world's largest dry dock. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. 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. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. There were few bomb shelters. The city has been a leader in women's rights. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. Corrections? In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. parliament: "if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'". It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. Video, 00:00:36Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. workers. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. 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. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. 2. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. The A.R.P. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. 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.. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. The creeping TikTok bans. 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. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. 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. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. 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. 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. 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 . 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. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. 3. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow Before the war broke out, civilians had been issued with gas masks and Anderson shelters, which people were encouraged to build at the. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. 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. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. 10 Facts about Belfast City. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. So had Clydeside until recently. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. 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." 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. "These people are often seen as a statistic but they were human beings, people who lived and grew up in - or moved to - Belfast and died in Belfast," Mr Freeburn, the museum's collections officer, says. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 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. He went to the Mater Hospital at 2pm, nine hours after the raid ended, to find the street with a traffic jam of ambulances waiting to admit their casualties. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. . Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed.