10 facts about the belfast blitz

"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. Some had received food, others were famished. 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. William Joyce "Lord Haw-Haw" announced that "The Fhrer will give you time to bury your dead before the next attack Tuesday was only a sample." As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. By then 250 firemen from Clydeside had arrived. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. The Belfast Blitz - KS3 History (Environment and society) - BBC 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. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. 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. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. 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. 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. The Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | The Belfast blitz is remembered [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. The creeping TikTok bans. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. But the RAF had not responded. 29 interesting facts about Belfast you never knew - BeeLoved City The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. 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 first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. 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. 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The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. Fighter Commands efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. 1. 8. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. 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. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. 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. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude. 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." The next took. [1][2], The third raid on Belfast took place over the evening and morning of 45 May 1941; 150 were killed. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. 6. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. By Jonathan Bardon. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. 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. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. 150 corpses remained in the Falls Road baths for three days before they were buried in a mass grave, with 123 still unidentified. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. 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. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. 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. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. Corrections? What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. 1. 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. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow Before the war broke out, civilians had been issued with gas masks and Anderson shelters, which people were encouraged to build at the. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. Looking back on the Belfast Blitz, Oberleutnant Becker signed off with the following words: A war is the worst thing that can happen to Mankind. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. 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. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. There was no opposition. All were exhausted. 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. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. The Blitz: When Was It, Why Did It Begin And How Did It End St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. 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. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. Interesting facts about Belfast. to households. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. 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." Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? 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. 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 spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. While the balloons themselves were an obvious deterrent, they were anchored to the ground by steel tethers that were strong enough to damage or destroy any aircraft that flew into them. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 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. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. workers. 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. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About Belfast Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. It has been reported that on Easter Tuesday, Belfast suffered the highest loss of life of any city in the UK in a single raid. 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. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. 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). 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). 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 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. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. 4. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. 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. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. 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. ISBN 9781909556324. Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". Thank you. 2. 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. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. [citation needed]. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. 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. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. 14 Breathtaking Facts about Belfast - Fact City "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. But Mr Freeburn's research casts doubt on this. There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow 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. 10 Facts about Belfast City. 10 Facts about Belfast City | Fun Facts About Belfast | Europa Hotel Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. But the Luftwaffe was ready. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. 3. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. Read about our approach to external linking. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". 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. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. Prior to the "Belfast Blitz" there were only 200 public shelters in the city, although around 4,000 households had built their own private shelters. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. IWM C 5424 1. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. 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. 9. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. 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 were still 80,000 more in Belfast. The creeping TikTok bans. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. Video, 00:00:36Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 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. 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. 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. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. Updates? 7. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. Another attacked Bangor, killing five. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. He believed that key targets identified across the city were hit. 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. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. It targeted the docks. Initially it was thought that the Germans had mistaken this reservoir for the harbour and shipyards, where many ships, including HMS Ark Royal were being repaired. 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. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . 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. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. Up Next. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . In total over 1,300 houses were demolished, some 5,000 badly damaged, nearly 30,000 slightly damaged while 20,000 required "first aid repairs".[3]. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast.

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