Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. 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. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Mr Freeburn set out to find out more about those who died, their personal stories and the tales of those left behind. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. 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.". Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. It would appear that Adolf Hitler, in view of de Valera's negative reaction, was concerned that de Valera and Irish American politicians might encourage the United States to enter the war. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. The shipyard was among the largest in the world, producing merchant vessels and military shipping. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. 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. The raids hurt Britains war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The M.V. 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. The ill-fated ship was built in the city in 1912, and to this day, there is a museum dedicated to its building and the lives of all of those on board. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. 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. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. There were still 80,000 more in Belfast. 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. 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. The city has been a leader in women's rights. 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 raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. 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, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. . 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. The "Hiram Plan" initiated by Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, had failed to materialise. The creeping TikTok bans. 1. Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. 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. 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. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. By 1941, production of the Short Stirling Bomber and the Short Sunderland Flying Boat was underway. ", 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. 29 - Belfast was once bigger than Dublin In his interview, Becker stated that only military objectives were aimed for. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. 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. 10 Facts about Belfast City. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. 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. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. 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. 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. The next took. Up to now, we have escaped an attack, said John MacDermott, the Minister for Security, Belfast, on March 24, 1941. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. By Jonathan Bardon. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. 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. 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. 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. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. 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.. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. Video, 00:01:41, The German bombing of Coventry. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. 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. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. 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. 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). The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. "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 Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. 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. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. Read about our approach to external linking. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. 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. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion. "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. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. The bombs continued to fall until 5am. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. The A.R.P. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. 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. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain was subjected to sustained enemy bombing campaign, now known as the Blitz. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. 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. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). Few children had been successfully evacuated. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. 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". 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. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. 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. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. Read about our approach to external linking. continuous trek to railway stations. 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. 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. 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. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. 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. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. 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. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. Only four were known still to be alive. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. 7. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. 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. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. 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. A Raid From Above The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. 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. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. So had Clydeside until recently. Read about our approach to external linking. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Historical Topics Series 2, The Belfast Blitz, 2007, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 20:18. Between April 7 and May 6 of that year, Luftwaffe bombers unleashed death and destruction on the cities of Belfast, Bangor, Derry/Londonderry and Newtownards. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. 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]. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. 2. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. By the. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. 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. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. 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. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. Video, 00:01:38At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. So had Clydeside until recently. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. 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. One of every six Londoners was made homeless at some point during the Blitz, and at least 1.1 million houses and flats were damaged or destroyed. 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. Up Next. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. While Anderson shelters offered good protection from bomb fragments and debris, they were cold and damp and generally ill-suited for prolonged occupancy. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . 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. the Blitz, (September 7, 1940May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. The Belfast blitz is remembered. Contributions poured in from every part of the world in such profusion that on October 28 its scope was extended to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. Belfast confetti," said one archive news report. 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. The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. 6. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. 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. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. 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. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. [citation needed]. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. 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. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive ordering the preparation and, if necessary, execution of Operation Sea Lion, the amphibious invasion of Great Britain. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The fourth and final Belfast raid took place on the following night, 56 May. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. On the 17th I heard that hundreds who either could not get away or could not leave for other reasons simply went out into the fields and remained in the open all night with whatever they could take in the way of covering. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) 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. "There will always be people who will slip through the net but I am able to say at least 987 were killed across all raids.". Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The couple, who ran a children's home, stayed with Anna's parents, William and Harriette Denby, and her sisters, Dot and Isa, at Evelyn Gardens, off the Cavehill Road, in the north of the city. IWM C 5424 1. Another attacked Bangor, killing five. 1. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. [19], 220,000 people fled from the city. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. 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).