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. 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. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. 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." 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. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. The Belfast Blitz - KS3 History (Environment and society) - BBC 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. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. 2. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. 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. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. 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. . Corrections? Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. Belfast Blitz - Wikipedia In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. Video, 00:01:23, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.. 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. Horrendous Belfast losses during World War Two bombing blitz In another building, the York Street Mill, one of its massive sidewalls collapsed on to Sussex and Vere Streets, killing all those who remained in their homes. The crypt under the sanctuary and the cellar under the working sacristy had been fitted out and opened to the public as an air-raid shelter. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. 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 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. 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}. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. 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. The refugees looked dazed and horror stricken and many had neglected to bring more than a few belongings Any and every means of exit from the city was availed of and the final destination appeared to be a matter of indifference. The 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 BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. This hub of industry and trade represented a legitimate military target for the Germans, and some 25,000 bombs were dropped on the Port of London alone. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. ISBN 9781909556324. The city has been a leader in women's rights. The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. 10 Facts about Belfast City. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . 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. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. The Blitz | Facts, History, Damage, & Casualties | Britannica Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. The past doesnt change, its just over.. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. 1. Elsewhere in the skies over Britain, Nazi official Rudolph Hess chose that same evening to parachute into Scotland on a quixotic and wholly unauthorized peace mission. Targets identified included: the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory; the Belfast power station and waterworks; Other maps uncovered following the Second World War also showed the parliament and city hall, Belfast gasworks, a rope factory and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. 6. ", 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. 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. Belfast Blitz: The Luftwaffe attacks Northern Ireland - WartimeNI 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. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. 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. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. 55,000 British civilian casualties were sustained through German bombing before the end of 1940 This included 23,000 deaths. "A lot of the people I spoke to were relatives who ended up donating images and handwritten letters from before and after the Blitz. There is no slacking in our loyalty. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Mr Freeburn set out to find out more about those who died, their personal stories and the tales of those left behind. Read about our approach to external linking. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. 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. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. 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.. 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. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. ", Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, apparently refused to reply to army correspondence and when the Ministry of Home Affairs was informed by imperial defence experts in 1939 that Belfast was regarded as "a very definite German objective", little was done outside providing shelters in the Harbour area.[14]. Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. There are other diarists and narratives. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. The fourth and final Belfast raid took place on the following night, 56 May. 8. Video, 00:03:09, Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. 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; While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. Van Morrison is from the east part of the city. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. 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." 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. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. In the east of the city, Westbourne and Newcastle Streets on the Newtownards Road, Thorndyke Street off the Albertbridge Road and Ravenscroft Avenue were destroyed or damaged. 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. High explosives were dropped. The creeping TikTok bans. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. The Titanic was built in Belfast. In every instance, all stepped forward. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. The Belfast Blitz: April-May 1941 - History Ireland The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. 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. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. [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]. Learn how your comment data is processed. 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). 9. Omissions? Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. Thank you. Belfast suffered a series of bombing raids in the spring of 1941, which became known as the 'Blitz of Belfast'.