A Raid From Above In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. The next took. Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. 2. With tangled hair, staring eyes, clutching hands, contorted limbs, their grey-green faces covered with dust, they lay, bundled into the coffins, half-shrouded in rugs or blankets, or an occasional sheet, still wearing their dirty, torn twisted garments. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. 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." In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. The bombs caused death and destruction across the city, affecting those of all religions and political backgrounds. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. The use of the Tube system as a shelter saved thousands of lives, and images of Londoners huddled in Underground stations would become an indelible image of British life during World War II. By the. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. [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 House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. He was asked, in the N.I. 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. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. In a survey of shelter use, it was found that, although the public shelters were fully occupied every night, just 9 percent of Londoners made use of them. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. The Belfast blitz is remembered. 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 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. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. 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." 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.". 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. In the course of four Luftwaffe attacks on the nights of 7-8 April, 15-16 April, 4-5 May and 5-6 May 1941, lasting ten hours in total, 1,100 people died, over 56,000 houses in the city were damaged (53 per cent of its entire housing stock), roughly 100,000 made temporarily homeless and 20 million damage was caused to property at wartime values. 8. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. 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. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. During the whole period, although the citys operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. 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. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. 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. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. 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. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. 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. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. At the start of World War Two, Belfast had considered itself safe from an aerial attack, as the city's leaders believed that Belfast was simply too far away for Luftwaffe bombers to reach - assuming that they would have to fly from Nazi Germany. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. 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; This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. 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." As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. 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). Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. William Joyce (known as "Lord Haw-Haw") announced in radio broadcasts from Hamburg that there will be "Easter eggs for Belfast". The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. 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. 2023 BBC. So had Clydeside until recently. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. 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. "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. 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". 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. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. 3. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. 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 success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. The "Hiram Plan" initiated by Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, had failed to materialise. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. 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'. [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. 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. When war broke out in 1939 the city did not expect to be attacked by German bombers: it was geographically remote and deemed a relatively . 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). For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. "These people are often seen as a statistic but they were human beings, people who lived and grew up in - or moved to - Belfast and died in Belfast," Mr Freeburn, the museum's collections officer, says. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. 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. The M.V. The Blitz began at around 4 pm on September 7, 1940, when German bomber planes first appeared over London. Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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? 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. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. 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. 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. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. 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. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. 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. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. 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. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. The city has been a leader in women's rights. 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. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. 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. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. Mr Freeburn set out to find out more about those who died, their personal stories and the tales of those left behind. 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. At 10:40 on the evening of Easter Tuesday 1941 air raid sirens sounded across Belfast, sending people across the city scrambling for safety - in one of the 200 public shelters in the city or the thousands of shelters or other "safe" spaces in private homes. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. 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). 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. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. 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. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. [citation needed]. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. 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. 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. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. 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. 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. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. 7. The creeping TikTok bans. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. 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. It targeted the docks. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. 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. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. 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." Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . 2. Read about our approach to external linking. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). [citation needed]. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. Burke Street which ran between Annadale and Dawson streets in the New Lodge area, was completely wiped off the map with all its 20 houses flattened and all of the occupants killed.[16]. 6. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . Omissions? 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). After the first week of September, although night bombing on a large scale continued, the large mass attacks by day, which had proved so costly to the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, were replaced by smaller parties coming over in successive waves. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning 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. By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. Read about our approach to external linking. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities.
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