THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. 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. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. 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. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. 3. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. From a purely military perspective, the Blitz was entirely counterproductive to the main purpose of Germanys air offensiveto dominate the skies in advance of an invasion of England. The crypt under the sanctuary and the cellar under the working sacristy had been fitted out and opened to the public as an air-raid shelter. Days later a group of East Enders occupied the shelter at the upscale Savoy Hotel, and many others began to take refuge in the citys underground railway, or Tube, stations. The Belfast blitz. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. workers. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. William Joyce (known as "Lord Haw-Haw") announced in radio broadcasts from Hamburg that there will be "Easter eggs for Belfast". Islington parish church, the rebuilt Our Lady of Victories (Kensington), the French church by Leicester square, St. Annes, Soho (famous for its music), All Souls, Langham place, and Christ Church in Westminster Bridge road (whose towerfortunately savedcommemorates President Lincolns abolition of slavery), were among a large number of others. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. Video, 00:01:38At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. The Luftwaffe never attacked the city after May 1941, but it would be many years before life returned to normal for many in the city. 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. By Jonathan Bardon. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. Read about our approach to external linking. So had Clydeside until recently. Air-raid damage was widespread; hospitals, clubs, churches, museums, residential and shopping streets, hotels, public houses, theatres, schools, monuments, newspaper offices, embassies, and the London Zoo were bombed. A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. A modern bomb census has attempted to pinpoint the location of every bomb dropped on London during the Blitz, and the visualization of that data makes clear how thoroughly the Luftwaffe saturated the city. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Read about our approach to external linking. Of the churches, besides St. Pauls cathedral, where at one time were five unexploded bombs in the immediate vicinity and the roof of which was pierced by another that exploded and shattered the high altar to fragments, those damaged were Westminster abbey, St. Margarets Westminster, Southwark cathedral; fifteen Wren churches (including St. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. 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. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. 6. 10 Facts about Belfast City. The shipyard was among the largest in the world, producing merchant vessels and military shipping. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. Up Next. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. 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. So had Clydeside until recently. [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." However that attack was not an error. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. 9. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. 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. 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. 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. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. 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. 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. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Some are a total loss; others are already under repair with little outward sign of the damage sustained: Besides Buckingham palace, the chapel of which was wrecked, and Guildhall (the six-centuries old centre of London civic ceremonies and of great architectural beauty), which was destroyed by fire, Kensington palace (the London home of the earl of Athlone, governor general of Canada, and the birthplace of Queen Mary and Queen Victoria), the banqueting hall of Eltham palace (dating from King Johns time and long a royal residence), Lambeth palace (the archbishop of Canterbury), and Holland house (famous for its 17th century domestic architecture, its political associations, and its art treasures), suffered, the latter severely. [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. The Belfast Blitz consisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. The past doesnt change, its just over.. Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. 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. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. This option had been forbidden by city officials, who feared that once people began sleeping in Underground stations, they would be reluctant to return to the surface and resume daily life. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. Heavy jacks were unavailable. ISBN 9781909556324. 7. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. 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}. 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. 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. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. 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. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. The Belfast blitz is remembered. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. "Through resources such as the Public Records Office and ancestry and genealogy websites I managed to get about 100 photos - which is about one tenth of the victims," he says. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. While Anderson shelters offered good protection from bomb fragments and debris, they were cold and damp and generally ill-suited for prolonged occupancy. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 4. 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. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. 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. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. 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. 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. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. 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 period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. 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. ", US journalist Ben Robertson reported that at night Dublin was the only city without a blackout between New York and Moscow, and between Lisbon and Sweden and that German bombers often flew overhead to check their bearings using its lights, angering the British. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. [citation needed]. By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. Video, 00:03:09Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Belfast City Hall in darkness as the Blitz is marked, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. [25] He followed up with his "they are our people" speech, made in Castlebar, County Mayo, on Sunday 20 April 1941 (Quoted in the Dundalk Democrat dated Saturday 26 April 1941): In the past, and probably in the present, too, a number of them did not see eye to eye with us politically, but they are our people we are one and the same people and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows; and I want to say to them that any help we can give to them in the present time we will give to them whole-heartedly, believing that were the circumstances reversed they would also give us their help whole-heartedly Frank Aiken, the Irish Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures was in Boston, Massachusetts at the time. 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. On the ground, there were only 22 anti-aircraft guns positioned around the city, six light and 16 heavy, and on the first night only seven of these were manned and operational. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. 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. 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. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. Major Sen O'Sullivan reported on the intensity of the bombing in some areas, such as the Antrim Road, where bombs "fell within fifteen to twenty yards of one another." I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. 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). The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. Other Belfast factories manufactured gun mountings. Prior to the "Belfast Blitz" there were only 200 public shelters in the city, although around 4,000 households had built their own private shelters. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. 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." Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. [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. At 10:40pm the air raid sirens sounded. 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). Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. 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. 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. When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. 7. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . 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 South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. 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. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. 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. In The Blitz: Belfast in the War Years, Brian Barton wrote: "Government Ministers felt with justification, that the Germans were able to use the unblacked out lights in the south to guide them to their targets in the North." 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 Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. [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]. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. 2023 BBC. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. During what was known as the "Belfast Blitz," 1,000 people were killed by bombs dropped by the Nazis in 1941 during the Second World War. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. 6. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. 1. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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. High explosives were dropped. "Through cross-referencing a number of different sources I have been able to get the most accurate number of people who died in the Blitz," he says. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. 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. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. 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. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing.

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