10 facts about the belfast blitzhow to adjust centre pivot velux windows
The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. Their Chain Home early warning radar, the most advanced system in the world, gave Fighter Command adequate notice of where and when to direct their forces, and the Luftwaffe never made a concerted effort to neutralize it. 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.". 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. Updates? The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. 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. 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 seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. 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. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. 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? He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. 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 first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. 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." 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). 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). 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. Video, 00:02:54, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. 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. 2. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. 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. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Read about our approach to external linking. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. 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. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. The famous places damaged include the palace of Westminster and Westminster hall, the County hall, the Public Record office, the Law Courts, the Temple and the Inner Temple library; Somerset house, Burlington house, the tower of London, Greenwich observatory, Hogarths house; the Carlton, Reform, American, Savage, Arts and Orleans clubs; the Royal College of Surgeons, University college and its library, Stationers hall, the Y.M.C.A. to households. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. 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. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 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. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. Belfast, Irish Bal Feirste, city, district, and capital of Northern Ireland, on the River Lagan, at its entrance to Belfast Lough (inlet of the sea). [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. "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. Read about our approach to external linking. continuous trek to railway stations. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. Belfast was not properly prepared for the attacks, with too few shelters and not enough anti-aircraft guns. [citation needed]. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. 6. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. 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}. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. 19.99. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). Some had received food, others were famished. 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. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. 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. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. In the subsequent years, this lack of preparation has often dominated the discussion about the Belfast Blitz, but a new project led by Alan Freeburn from the Northern Ireland War Memorial aims to shift the focus back to the ordinary men, women and children who lost their lives. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". 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." Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). 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. Over 20 hospitals were hit, among them the London (many times), St. Thomass, St. Bartholomews, and the childrens hospital in Great Ormond st., as well as Chelsea hospital, the home for the aged and invalid soldiers, built by Wren. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. 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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. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. The Titanic was built in Belfast. On the 17th I heard that hundreds who either could not get away or could not leave for other reasons simply went out into the fields and remained in the open all night with whatever they could take in the way of covering. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 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. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. 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. 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. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. 29 - Belfast was once bigger than Dublin In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. In every instance, all stepped forward. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. 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. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. 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 '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. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . Read about our approach to external linking. 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. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. 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. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. 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. 2023 BBC. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Learn how your comment data is processed. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. 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. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. [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." 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. The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. 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. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. 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. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives. One, Tom Coleman, attended to receive recognition for his colleagues' solidarity at such a critical time. Only four were known still to be alive. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. Londoners enjoyed three weeks of uneasy peace until May 1011, the night of a full moon, when the Luftwaffe launched the most intense raid of the Blitz. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. 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. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. 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. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. The past doesnt change, its just over.. 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. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. "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. Few children had been successfully evacuated. Streets heavily bombed in the city centre included High Street, Ann Street, Callender Street, Chichester Street, Castle Street, Tomb Street, Bridge Street (effectively obliterated), Rosemary Street, Waring Street, North Street, Victoria Street, Donegall Street, York Street, Gloucester Street, and East Bridge Street. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. 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. Train after train and bus after bus were filled with those next in line. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. 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. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. The fourth and final Belfast raid took place on the following night, 56 May. The sense of relative calm was abruptly shattered in the first week of September 1940, when the war came to London in earnest. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. 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. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. The "Hiram Plan" initiated by Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, had failed to materialise. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. . Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. "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.". 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. [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]. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.)