No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. 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. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. Few children had been successfully evacuated. The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. 2. 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. I was definitely one of the first over the target and as I flew in there was no great defence because there were not a great many aircraft over the target at that point, recalled Becker. . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. 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. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. It targeted the docks. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. 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. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. The M.V. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. Other Belfast factories manufactured gun mountings. From a purely military perspective, the Blitz was entirely counterproductive to the main purpose of Germanys air offensiveto dominate the skies in advance of an invasion of England. 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. [citation needed]. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. The Battle of Britain The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. 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. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. 8. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. 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. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. While some of the poorer and more crowded suburban areas suffered severely, the mansions of Mayfair, the luxury flats of Kensington, and Buckingham Palace itselfwhich was bombed four separate timesfared little better. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. 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]. The Belfast blitz. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. 2023 BBC. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. 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. The RAFs Spitfire was a superlative fighter, and it was not always easy for the Germans to distinguish it from the slightly less maneuverable but much more numerous Hurricanes. 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. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. 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. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. There is no slacking in our loyalty. 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. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. 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. The sense of relative calm was abruptly shattered in the first week of September 1940, when the war came to London in earnest. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. 9. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. 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. 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. There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. 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}. 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; The creeping TikTok bans. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. 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. Both planes quickly proved their mettle against German bombers, and Germanys best fighter, the Bf 109, was of limited use as an escort due to its relatively short operating range. [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]. 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. 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. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. "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. Raids between February and May pounded Plymouth, Portsmouth, Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Hull in England; Swansea in Wales; Belfast in Northern Ireland; and Clydeside in Scotland. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. 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. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. He described some distressing consequences, such as how "in one case the leg and arm of a child had to be amputated before it could be extricated. 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. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. 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. 6. Belfast has the world's largest dry dock. 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." 2. 4. In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. There was no opposition. to households. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. Updates? Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. In addition, there simply was not enough space for everyone who needed shelter in one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. So had Clydeside until recently. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. 24 - The tyres Dunlop were invented in Belfast in 1887 25 - The two H&W cranes are named Samson and Goliath 26 - The Albert Clock is Ireland's leaning tower 27 - The mobile defibrillator was invented in Belfast 28 - Belfast's ice hockey team, the Giants, is one of the best in Europe. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. 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. 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. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. 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 was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. Read about our approach to external linking. 19.99. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. The past doesnt change, its just over.. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. The World's Most-Famous Ship, The Titanic, was constructed here. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. Belfast was ill-prepared for the blitz. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. 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. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. Corrections? The A.R.P. 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. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. The Titanic was built in Belfast. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. By Jonathan Bardon. 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? After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. The Belfast blitz is remembered. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. 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. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. 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. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. Maps and documents uncovered at Gatow Airfield near Berlin in 1945 showed the level of detail involved. There were few bomb shelters. 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. 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.