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. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. "Through resources such as the Public Records Office and ancestry and genealogy websites I managed to get about 100 photos - which is about one tenth of the victims," he says. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). 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. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. 7. 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. 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. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. 2. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. Government apathy, a lack of leadership and a belief the Luftwaffe could not reach Belfast lead to the city lagging behind in terms of basic defences. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. [21] Mass graves for the unclaimed bodies were dug in the Milltown and Belfast City Cemeteries. BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | The Belfast blitz is remembered Video, 00:02:12, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. 2. All were exhausted. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. Of the churches, besides St. Pauls cathedral, where at one time were five unexploded bombs in the immediate vicinity and the roof of which was pierced by another that exploded and shattered the high altar to fragments, those damaged were Westminster abbey, St. Margarets Westminster, Southwark cathedral; fifteen Wren churches (including St. 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. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. 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. ", 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. Mr Freeburn set out to find out more about those who died, their personal stories and the tales of those left behind. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . 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. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. Updates? The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. Heavy jacks were unavailable. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. "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. Belfast Blitz: Facts In total there were four attacks on the County Antrim city. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. 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. [citation needed] However on 20 October 1941 the Garda Sochna captured a comprehensive IRA report on captured member Helena Kelly giving a detailed analysis of damage inflicted on Belfast and highlighting prime targets such as Shortt and Harland aircraft factory and RAF Sydenham, describing them as 'the remaining and most outstanding objects of military significance, as yet unblitzed' and suggesting they should be 'bombed by the Luftwaffe as thoroughly as other areas in recent raids'[28][29], After three days, sometime after 6pm, the fire crews from south of the border began taking up their hoses and ladders to head for home. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. 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. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. 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. [citation needed]. 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? The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. Three nights later (April 1920) London was again subjected to a seven-hour raid, and the loss of life was considerable, especially among firefighters and the A.R.P. Sometimes they were trying establish a blockade by destroying shipping and port facilities, sometimes they were directly attacking Fighter Command ground installations, sometimes they were targeting aircraft factories, and sometimes they were attempting to engage Fighter Command in the skies. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. 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. 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". 4. 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. 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. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. 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). At 10:40pm the air raid sirens sounded. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. 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. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. 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. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. 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). Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. Belfast was Ireland's industrial home, famous for tobacco, rope-making, linen, and ship-building, which made it the powerhouse it was. By 1941, production of the Short Stirling Bomber and the Short Sunderland Flying Boat was underway. 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. The first (April 7 -8), a small attack, was most likely carried out to test the city's defenses. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. 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. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. Another attacked Bangor, killing five. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) Harland and Wolff: The troubled history of Belfast's shipyard The Belfast Blitz: the city in the war years - History Ireland parliament: "if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'". By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. It remains a high death toll - a shocking number of people killed in just a few weeks. The creeping TikTok bans. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. The A.R.P. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. "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. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. 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. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. So had Clydeside until recently. 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. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. 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. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. 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. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24].