As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. 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. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. 3. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. 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. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. 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. IWM C 5424 1. 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. The Luftwaffe crews returned to their base in Northern France and reported that Belfast's defences were, "inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient". Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. Barton insisted that Belfast was "too far north" to use radio guidance. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. 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}. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. 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. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. The couple, who ran a children's home, stayed with Anna's parents, William and Harriette Denby, and her sisters, Dot and Isa, at Evelyn Gardens, off the Cavehill Road, in the north of the city. The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. continuous trek to railway stations. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. 2. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. At the time of the first attack in April 1941, there were no operational searchlights, too few anti-aircraft batteries and scarcely enough public air raid shelters for a quarter of the population. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. 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. "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. 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. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. 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. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. 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. "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. 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). 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. 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. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. 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. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. 4. 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. 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.". Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. 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.. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. 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. 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. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. 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. 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 firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. 8. 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. When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. 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. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." 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 sense of relative calm was abruptly shattered in the first week of September 1940, when the war came to London in earnest. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. 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. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. 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. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. Only four were known still to be alive. 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. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. The refugees looked dazed and horror stricken and many had neglected to bring more than a few belongings Any and every means of exit from the city was availed of and the final destination appeared to be a matter of indifference. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. 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. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 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. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. 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. 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. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. [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]. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News.
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