[citation needed]. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. 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. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. 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.. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In the east of the city, Westbourne and Newcastle Streets on the Newtownards Road, Thorndyke Street off the Albertbridge Road and Ravenscroft Avenue were destroyed or damaged. 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. Prior to the "Belfast Blitz" there were only 200 public shelters in the city, although around 4,000 households had built their own private shelters. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War, an invitation was received by the Dublin Fire Brigade for any survivors of that time to attend a function at Hillsborough Castle and meet Prince Charles. 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. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. "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.". When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed.
10 fascinating facts about Belfast that you probably didn't know Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Belfast was not properly prepared for the attacks, with too few shelters and not enough anti-aircraft guns.
14 Breathtaking Facts about Belfast - Fact City All were exhausted. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. Train after train and bus after bus were filled with those next in line. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard.
The Blitz | Facts, History, Damage, & Casualties | Britannica Updates? The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. 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. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. 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." 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." MacDermott would be proved right. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Ulster Historical Foundation. 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. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. Only four were known still to be alive. 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." From their photographs, they identified suitable targets: There had been a number of small bombings, probably by planes that missed their targets over the River Clyde in Glasgow or the cities of the northwest of England. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight.
15 Powerful Photos Of The WW2 Blitz | Imperial War Museums 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". When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. Contributions poured in from every part of the world in such profusion that on October 28 its scope was extended to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. By 6am, within two hours of the request for assistance, 71 firemen with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dn Laoghaire were on their way to cross the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Many people who were dug out of the rubble alive had taken shelter underneath their stairs and were fortunate that their homes had not received a direct hit or caught fire. 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; Omissions? 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. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. 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? 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. 2023 BBC. Thank you.
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom .
Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts Video, 00:02:54, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. 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 amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. 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'. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. The Titanic was built in Belfast. 7. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. Poor visibility on the night meant that the accuracy of the bombers was hampered and the explosives were dropped on densely populated areas of Belfast. IWM C 5424 1. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. 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). Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. Lecturer of History, Queens University, Belfast, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belfast_Blitz&oldid=1136721396, During the war years, Belfast shipyards built or converted over 3,000 navy vessels, repaired more than 22,000 others and launched over half a million tons of merchant shipping over 140. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. 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. By then 250 firemen from Clydeside had arrived. 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. 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. Barton wrote: "the Catholic population was much more strongly opposed to conscription, was inclined to sympathise with Germany", "there were suspicions that the Germans were assisted in identifying targets, held by the Unionist population." Read about our approach to external linking. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. ", 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]. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. 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. 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. . Death had to a certain extent been made decent. [citation needed], Casualties were lower than at Easter, partly because the sirens had sounded at 11.45pm while the Luftwaffe attacked more cautiously from a greater height. His reply was: "We here today are in a state of war and we are prepared with the rest of the United Kingdom and Empire to face all the responsibilities that imposes on the Ulster people. But the RAF had not responded. 2023 BBC. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. 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. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. 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. 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. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
The Belfast Blitz: the city in the war years - History Ireland 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. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. 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. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. Up Next. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. But the Luftwaffe was ready. Video, 00:00:36Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. 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. Find out how it began, what the Germans hoped to achieve and how it severe it was, plus we visit nine places affected by the attacks. At the beginning of the Blitz, British ack ack gunners struggled to inflict meaningful damage on German bombers, but later developments in radar guidance greatly improved the effectiveness of both antiaircraft artillery and searchlights. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). 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. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. High explosives were dropped. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. 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. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz.
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. 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. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. William Joyce (known as "Lord Haw-Haw") announced in radio broadcasts from Hamburg that there will be "Easter eggs for Belfast". Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20].
Children and World War Two - History Learning Site 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. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. 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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