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. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. 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. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. 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. Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. There were few bomb shelters. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. 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. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. 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. 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. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. The Germans established that Belfast was defended by only seven anti-aircraft batteries, which made it the most poorly defended city in the United Kingdom. workers. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. Although it arrested German spies that its police and military intelligence services caught, the state never broke off diplomatic relations with Axis nations: the German Legation in Dublin remained open throughout the war. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. 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. The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. 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. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. 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. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. 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. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. 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. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the 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. Updates? In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. Read about our approach to external linking. Londoners enjoyed three weeks of uneasy peace until May 1011, the night of a full moon, when the Luftwaffe launched the most intense raid of the Blitz. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. 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. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. However that attack was not an error. 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. MacDermott would be proved right. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. ", 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]. But the Luftwaffe was ready. 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. 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. 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. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. "Through cross-referencing a number of different sources I have been able to get the most accurate number of people who died in the Blitz," he says. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. Only four were known still to be alive. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. [citation needed]. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. 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. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. The city has been a leader in women's rights. 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. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. 1. Few children had been successfully evacuated. Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. 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. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. On the ground, there were only 22 anti-aircraft guns positioned around the city, six light and 16 heavy, and on the first night only seven of these were manned and operational. 7. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. 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. 29 - Belfast was once bigger than Dublin Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. 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. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. "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. So had Clydeside until recently. Streets heavily bombed in the city centre included High Street, Ann Street, Callender Street, Chichester Street, Castle Street, Tomb Street, Bridge Street (effectively obliterated), Rosemary Street, Waring Street, North Street, Victoria Street, Donegall Street, York Street, Gloucester Street, and East Bridge Street. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. 9. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. It targeted the docks. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. This type of shelteressentially a low steel cage large enough to contain two adults and two small childrenwas designed to be set up indoors and could serve as a refuge if the building began to collapse. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. to households. 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.. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." 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. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. It was not the first time the alarm had sounded to signify the presence of Luftwaffe bombers over the city. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. 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. There were still 80,000 more in Belfast. 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; Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. [citation needed]. 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." 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. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 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. Belfast was the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, the world' most famous ship which, when it was constructed in the early 1900s, was longer than the height of the world's tallest building at 882 feet and six inches in length. 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. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. 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. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. In every instance, all stepped forward. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. All were exhausted. 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. parliament: "if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'". 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. 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. For 57 nightsuntil November 2more than 1 million bombs were dropped on the capital city. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion. 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. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. He was asked, in the N.I. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. 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.