7. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 planes fitted with Zeiss cameras captured high-quality aerial imagery. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. [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. Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. 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. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. Over 100 German planes made contact with barrage balloon cables during the Blitz, and two-thirds of them crashed or made forced landings on British soil. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; 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. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. 6. He described some distressing consequences, such as how "in one case the leg and arm of a child had to be amputated before it could be extricated. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. 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. [citation needed]. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. 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. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. 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. 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. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. 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'. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. Fighter Commands efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. 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? 6. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 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 . One of every six Londoners was made homeless at some point during the Blitz, and at least 1.1 million houses and flats were damaged or destroyed. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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. 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). 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. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. Omissions? 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. 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As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. 2023 BBC. 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. Although casualties were heavy, at no time did they approach the estimates that had been made before the war, and only a fraction of the available hospital and ambulance capacity was ever utilized. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. 29 - Belfast was once bigger than Dublin In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. Between Black Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one alertas the alarms came to be calledand generally far more. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. 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. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . 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. 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. 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. The "Hiram Plan" initiated by Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, had failed to materialise. 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. In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . [citation needed]. Video, 00:01:38At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. The past doesnt change, its just over.. [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 Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. 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. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. 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. A Raid From Above 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. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. 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. Munster, for example, operated by the Belfast Steamship Company, plied between Belfast and Liverpool under the tricolour, until she hit a mine and was sunk outside Liverpool. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. 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. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. Although there were some comparatively slight raids later in 1941, the most notable one on July 27, the May 1011 attack marked the conclusion of the Blitz. Subs offer. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. By the. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. 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. 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. 1. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. Some had received food, others were famished. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. 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. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. [21] Mass graves for the unclaimed bodies were dug in the Milltown and Belfast City Cemeteries. The night raids on London continued into 1941, and January 1011 saw exceptionally heavy attacks; the Mansion House (residence of the lord mayor of London) and the Bank of England narrowly avoided destruction when a bomb fell directly between them, creating a gigantic crater.

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