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. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. So had Clydeside until recently. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". 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? The M.V. MacDermott would be proved right. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. Victory for the Royal Air Forces (RAFs) Fighter Command blocked this possibility and, in fact, created the conditions for Britains survival and the eventual destruction of the Third Reich. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. 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). After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. At nightfall the Northern Counties Station was packed from platform gates to entrance gates and still refugees were coming along in a steady stream from the surrounding streets Open military lorries were finally put into service and even expectant mothers and mothers with young children were put into these in the rather heavy drizzle that lasted throughout the evening. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. The Belfast blitz. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Just eight days earlier, eight planes destroyed the aircraft fuselage factory and damaged the docks, with 15 people ultimately killed as a result of that raid. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. Up Next. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. About 1,000 people were killed during the Belfast Blitz of 1941, with Harland and Wolff among the buildings that were hit by the Luftwaffe. Omissions? The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. [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]. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. A Luftwaffe terror bombing attack on the Spanish city of Guernica (April 26, 1937) during the Spanish Civil War had killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed much of the town. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. 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. 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; On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. 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. 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. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. 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. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria Barracks received a direct hit. 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." 2. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. The shipyard was among the largest in the world, producing merchant vessels and military shipping. The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. 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. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. [citation needed]. . Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. 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. The Battle of Britain Another attacked Bangor, killing five. He gave an interview saying: "the people of Belfast are Irish people too". After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. He believed that this was being done already but it was inevitable that a certain number of civilian lives should be lost in the course of heavy bombing from the air". The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. Still, many in Northern Ireland believed no Luftwaffe attack would come. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. [citation needed]. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. 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. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. While the balloons themselves were an obvious deterrent, they were anchored to the ground by steel tethers that were strong enough to damage or destroy any aircraft that flew into them. The Belfast Blitz: April-May 1941 - History Ireland All were exhausted. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. Other Belfast factories manufactured gun mountings. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion. 6. By then 250 firemen from Clydeside had arrived. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. 8. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. But the RAF had not responded. But the Luftwaffe was ready. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. 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. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. "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. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. Three nights later (April 1920) London was again subjected to a seven-hour raid, and the loss of life was considerable, especially among firefighters and the A.R.P. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. Ulster Historical Foundation. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. 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. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Some had received food, others were famished. 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. 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). Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 10 Facts About the Blitz and the Bombing of Germany Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. Another large-scale attack followed on March 19, when hundreds of houses and shops, many churches, six hospitals, and other public buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. 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 telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. 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. 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. 29 interesting facts about Belfast you never knew - BeeLoved City 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. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. 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. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). The creeping TikTok bans. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. So had Clydeside until recently. 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. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. It has been reported that on Easter Tuesday, Belfast suffered the highest loss of life of any city in the UK in a single raid. [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. Blitz, The - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. For 57 nightsuntil November 2more than 1 million bombs were dropped on the capital city. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. On occasion, forces consisting of as many as 300 to 400 aircraft would cross the coast by day and split into small groups, and a few planes would succeed in penetrating Londons outer defenses. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. He stated that "he would once more tell his government how he felt about the matter and he would ask them to confine the operations to military objectives as far as it was humanly possible. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. 3. Video, 00:00:51Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. Initially it was thought that the Germans had mistaken this reservoir for the harbour and shipyards, where many ships, including HMS Ark Royal were being repaired. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. Interesting facts about Belfast. 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.
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