Children and World War Two - History Learning Site The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. Targets identified included: the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory; the Belfast power station and waterworks; Other maps uncovered following the Second World War also showed the parliament and city hall, Belfast gasworks, a rope factory and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. 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. 1. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. 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. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. 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. 1. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. 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. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. 6. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. 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. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. 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. A Raid From Above 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. 7. 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. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. All were exhausted. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. J.P. Walshe, assistant secretary, recorded that Hempel was "clearly distressed by the news of the severe raid on Belfast and especially of the number of civilian casualties." ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. [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. ", US journalist Ben Robertson reported that at night Dublin was the only city without a blackout between New York and Moscow, and between Lisbon and Sweden and that German bombers often flew overhead to check their bearings using its lights, angering the British. But the RAF had not responded. [citation needed]. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Video, 00:01:38At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. 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. Ulster Historical Foundation. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. The Belfast Blitzconsisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfastin Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. 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. Given Belfast's geographic position, it was considered to be at the fringe of the operational range of German bombers and hence there was no provision for night-fighter aerial cover. 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. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. 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. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. 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). In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. 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." These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. 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 September 10, 1940, the school was flattened by a German bomb, and people huddled in the basement were killed or trapped in the rubble. Corrections? department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) MacDermott would be proved right. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. 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. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. 9. 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. 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. By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. The creeping TikTok bans. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. continuous trek to railway stations. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. 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. workers. 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. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. The Blitz: When Was It, Why Did It Begin And How Did It End Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About Belfast 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.. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. Heavy jacks were unavailable. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. The A.R.P. By the time the raid was over, at least 744 people had lost their lives, including some living in places such as Newtownards, Bangor and Londonderry. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. [citation needed]. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. headquarters, Toynbee hall and St. Dunstans; the American, Spanish, Japanese and Peruvian embassies and the buildings of the Times newspaper, the Associated Press of America, and the National City bank of New York; the centre court at Wimbledon, Wembley stadium, the Ring (Blackfriars); Drury Lane, the Queens and the Saville theatres; Rotten row, Lambeth walk, the Burlington arcade and Madame Tussauds. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. On November 14, 1940, a German force of more than 500 bombers destroyed much of the old city centre and killed more than 550 people. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. 10 Facts about Belfast City. The creeping TikTok bans. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. 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. Despite the attacks, Belfast continued to contribute to the war effort, and within less than a year the city witnessed the arrival of thousands of American troops. 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. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. By the middle of December it had reached nearly 1,700,000 (adjusted for inflation, this was the equivalent of roughly 100 million in 2020). When Germany bombed Belfast as part of the Blitz during World War Two, the massive air raids left more than a thousand people dead. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. Blitz, The - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help This hub of industry and trade represented a legitimate military target for the Germans, and some 25,000 bombs were dropped on the Port of London alone. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. 2023 BBC. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. 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. The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. 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 period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. In every instance, all stepped forward. 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. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. Most of the objectives laid out by the reconnaissance crews were of either military or industrial importance. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. 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. Subs offer. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. The Belfast Blitz - Inside the Deadly 1941 Luftwaffe Raids on Northern 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. 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. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. [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." At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. The city has been a leader in women's rights. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. . Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help 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 national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. 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. 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. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. [1][2], The third raid on Belfast took place over the evening and morning of 45 May 1941; 150 were killed. Omissions? The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. 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). 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). The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. 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. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. 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}. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. The Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News 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. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. 10 fascinating facts about Belfast that you probably didn't know 2. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. Brides, Fleet St.; St. Lawrence Jewry; St. Magnus the Martyr; St. Mary-at-hill; St. Dunstan in the East; St. Clement [Eastcheap] and St. Jamess, Piccadilly). The M.V. 2023 BBC. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. But the Luftwaffe was ready. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. High explosives were dropped. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. [25] He followed up with his "they are our people" speech, made in Castlebar, County Mayo, on Sunday 20 April 1941 (Quoted in the Dundalk Democrat dated Saturday 26 April 1941): In the past, and probably in the present, too, a number of them did not see eye to eye with us politically, but they are our people we are one and the same people and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows; and I want to say to them that any help we can give to them in the present time we will give to them whole-heartedly, believing that were the circumstances reversed they would also give us their help whole-heartedly Frank Aiken, the Irish Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures was in Boston, Massachusetts at the time.