10 facts about the belfast blitz

An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. 7. In addition, there simply was not enough space for everyone who needed shelter in one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. . Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. [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. 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. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) On 24 March 1941, John MacDermott, Minister for Security, wrote to Prime Minister John Andrews, expressing his concerns that Belfast was so poorly protected: "Up to now we have escaped attack. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. Only four were known still to be alive. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. While the balloons themselves were an obvious deterrent, they were anchored to the ground by steel tethers that were strong enough to damage or destroy any aircraft that flew into them. 1. The next took. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. It targeted the docks. High explosives were dropped. 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. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. 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. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. Up Next. For 57 nightsuntil November 2more than 1 million bombs were dropped on the capital city. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. 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." The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. 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. [26], Initial German radio broadcasts celebrated the raid. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. 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. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). 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.". The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. While Anderson shelters offered good protection from bomb fragments and debris, they were cold and damp and generally ill-suited for prolonged occupancy. 10 Facts about Belfast City. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. There was no opposition. 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. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. 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 working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. Read about our approach to external linking. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. He was asked, in the N.I. His reply was: "We here today are in a state of war and we are prepared with the rest of the United Kingdom and Empire to face all the responsibilities that imposes on the Ulster people. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. The Battle of Britain 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. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . 6. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. 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. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. In the west and north of the city, streets heavily bombed included Percy Street, York Park, York Crescent, Eglinton Street, Carlisle Street, Ballyclare, Ballycastle and Ballynure Streets off the Oldpark Road; Southport Street, Walton Street, Antrim Road, Annadale Street, Cliftonville Road, Hillman Street, Atlantic Avenue, Hallidays Road, Hughenden Avenue, Sunningdale Park, Shandarragh Park, and Whitewell Road. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. 9. 2023 BBC. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. 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. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. Just eight days earlier, eight planes destroyed the aircraft fuselage factory and damaged the docks, with 15 people ultimately killed as a result of that raid. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. [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." An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. 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. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. 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. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. By the. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. 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. 3. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The ill-fated ship was built in the city in 1912, and to this day, there is a museum dedicated to its building and the lives of all of those on board. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). 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. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". 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. Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. 2. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. 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. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. 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]. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. continuous trek to railway stations. 2. 2023 BBC. 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. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May.