As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. 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. "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. 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. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Heavy jacks were unavailable. On August 2, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Gring issued his Eagle Day directive, laying down a plan of attack in which a few massive blows from the air were to destroy British air power and so open the way for the invasion. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. workers. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. 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. 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. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. 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. The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. Corrections? 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. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. 1. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. [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. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". But the RAF had not responded. So had Clydeside until recently. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. 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. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 planes fitted with Zeiss cameras captured high-quality aerial imagery. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). More than 500 German planes dropped more than 700 tons of bombs across the city, killing nearly 1,500 people and destroying 11,000 homes. 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. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. 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}. 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 is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. Raids between February and May pounded Plymouth, Portsmouth, Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Hull in England; Swansea in Wales; Belfast in Northern Ireland; and Clydeside in Scotland. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. 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). 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. 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. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. There were still 80,000 more in Belfast. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. to households. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. However that attack was not an error. 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. 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. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. Has it taken bursting bombs to remind the people of this little country that they have common tradition, a common genius and a common home? Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. 1. Fighter Commands efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. 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. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) 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. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz, National Museums Liverpool - Merseyside Maritime Museum - The Blitz, The History Learning Site - The Blitz and World War Two. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. Three nights later (April 1920) London was again subjected to a seven-hour raid, and the loss of life was considerable, especially among firefighters and the A.R.P. The wartime output of the yard included aircraft carriers HMS Formidable and HMS Unicorn, cruisers such as HMS Belfast and more than 130 other vessels used by the Royal Navy. There are other diarists and narratives. 2. 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. 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. All were exhausted. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The winter of 193940 was severe, but the summer was pleasant, and in their leisure hours Londoners thronged the parks or worked in their gardens. 6. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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. 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. The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. 7. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. 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. Only four were known still to be alive. 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. continuous trek to railway stations. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. So had Clydeside until recently. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. 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." Many people who were dug out of the rubble alive had taken shelter underneath their stairs and were fortunate that their homes had not received a direct hit or caught fire. IWM C 5424 1. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. 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. On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive ordering the preparation and, if necessary, execution of Operation Sea Lion, the amphibious invasion of Great Britain. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. By the. 9. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. By then 250 firemen from Clydeside had arrived. [21] Mass graves for the unclaimed bodies were dug in the Milltown and Belfast City Cemeteries. 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. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. Read about our approach to external linking. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. [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]. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. The RAFs Spitfire was a superlative fighter, and it was not always easy for the Germans to distinguish it from the slightly less maneuverable but much more numerous Hurricanes. These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely.
