For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Historical Topics Series 2, The Belfast Blitz, 2007, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 20:18. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. Read about our approach to external linking. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. One, Tom Coleman, attended to receive recognition for his colleagues' solidarity at such a critical time. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. 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. 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. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. "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. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. 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. The shipyard was among the largest in the world, producing merchant vessels and military shipping. 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. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. 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.. Interesting facts about Belfast. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. William Joyce "Lord Haw-Haw" announced that "The Fhrer will give you time to bury your dead before the next attack Tuesday was only a sample." Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. There were few bomb shelters. 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. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. 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. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. 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. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. ISBN 9781909556324. 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. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. 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 Battle of Britain 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. St. Giles, Cripplegate, and St. Mary Wolnooth, also in the city, were damaged, while the Dutch church in Austin Friars, dating from the 14th century and covering a larger area than any church in the city of London, St. Pauls alone excepted, was totally destroyed. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. This type of shelteressentially a low steel cage large enough to contain two adults and two small childrenwas designed to be set up indoors and could serve as a refuge if the building began to collapse. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. British Spies and Irish Rebels by Paul McMahon, Report by the Garda Sochna 23 October 1941 IMA G2/1722, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Irish Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures, "Eamon de Valera and Hitler: An Analysis of International Reaction to the Visit to the German Minister, May 1945", "Extracts from an article, "The Belfast Blitz, 1941", "Historical Topics Series 2 The Belfast Blitz", "Your Place and Mine The Belfast Blitz", "Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies", "Belfast Blitz: The night death and destruction rained down on city", "Multitext - the Blitz - Belfast during the second World War", http://www.niwarmemorial.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The_Belfast_Blitz.pdf, http://www.proni.gov.uk/historical_topics_series_-_02_-_the_belfast_blitz.pdf, Extracts from an article on The Belfast Blitz, 1941. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). High explosives were dropped. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. By 1941, production of the Short Stirling Bomber and the Short Sunderland Flying Boat was underway. 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. to households. 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." 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. [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." 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. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. 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. 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]. The Titanic was built in Belfast. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. 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. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). However that attack was not an error. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. This hub of industry and trade represented a legitimate military target for the Germans, and some 25,000 bombs were dropped on the Port of London alone. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. At the start of World War Two, Belfast had considered itself safe from an aerial attack, as the city's leaders believed that Belfast was simply too far away for Luftwaffe bombers to reach - assuming that they would have to fly from Nazi Germany. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". There was no opposition. ", Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, apparently refused to reply to army correspondence and when the Ministry of Home Affairs was informed by imperial defence experts in 1939 that Belfast was regarded as "a very definite German objective", little was done outside providing shelters in the Harbour area.[14]. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. 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. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. [citation needed]. Most of the objectives laid out by the reconnaissance crews were of either military or industrial importance. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Video, 00:00:36Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. He was asked, in the N.I. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. He spoke with Professor Flynn, (Theodore Thomson Flynn, an Australian based at the Mater Hospital and father of actor Errol Flynn), head of the casualty service for the city, who told him of "casualties due to shock, blast and secondary missiles, such as glass, stones, pieces of piping, etc." And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. 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. Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. Fighter Commands efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. The 'Blitz' - from the German term Blitzkrieg ('lightning war') - was the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks on British towns and cities carried out by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) from September 1940 until May 1941. The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. 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. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. There were still 80,000 more in Belfast. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. "There will always be people who will slip through the net but I am able to say at least 987 were killed across all raids.". 7. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. At 4:15am John MacDermott, the Minister of Public Security, managed to contact Basil Brooke (then Agriculture Minister), seeking permission to seek help from the Irish government. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. 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. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. Jimmy Doherty, an air raid warden (who later served in London during the V1 and V2 blitz), who wrote a book on the Belfast blitz; 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." Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard.
