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. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. When Germany bombed Belfast as part of the Blitz during World War Two, the massive air raids left more than a thousand people dead. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. 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. Video, 00:01:03One-minute World News, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages. The night raids on London continued into 1941, and January 1011 saw exceptionally heavy attacks; the Mansion House (residence of the lord mayor of London) and the Bank of England narrowly avoided destruction when a bomb fell directly between them, creating a gigantic crater. The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. [citation needed], Casualties were lower than at Easter, partly because the sirens had sounded at 11.45pm while the Luftwaffe attacked more cautiously from a greater height. 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). There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. 15 Powerful Photos Of The WW2 Blitz | Imperial War Museums 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. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. 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. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; [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]. Another large-scale attack followed on March 19, when hundreds of houses and shops, many churches, six hospitals, and other public buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. ISBN 9781909556324. 2023 BBC. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. 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]. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. [9], War materials and food were sent by sea from Belfast to Great Britain, some under the protection of the neutral Irish tricolour. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help 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. 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). The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. 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. 2. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). Death had to a certain extent been made decent. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. The creeping TikTok bans. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. Read about our approach to external linking. Simpson shot down one of the Heinkels over Downpatrick. Find out how it began, what the Germans hoped to achieve and how it severe it was, plus we visit nine places affected by the attacks. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. 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." Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. Video, 00:03:09Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz, Belfast City Hall in darkness as the Blitz is marked, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. 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. [13] However at the time Lord Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921, said: "Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be." As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. 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. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. By 1941, production of the Short Stirling Bomber and the Short Sunderland Flying Boat was underway. Roads out of town are still one stream of cars, with mattresses and bedding tied on top. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. 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. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. ", 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. 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. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. 6. 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. The Belfast blitz. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Singer-songwriter Van Morrison was born here. With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germanys sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel. The next took. Later, guided by the raging fires caused by the first attack, a second group of planes began another assault that lasted until 4:30 the following morning. His death (along with preceding ill-health) came at a bad time and arguably inadvertently caused a leadership vacuum. Ulster Historical Foundation. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Sir Basil Brooke, the Minister of Agriculture, was the only active minister. 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. [citation needed]. Belfast | History, Population, Map, Landmarks, & Facts Belfast is famous for being the birthplace of the Titanic. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. 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". Interesting facts about Belfast. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. 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. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. John Wood Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in Belfast in 1887. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. 19.99. Few children had been successfully evacuated. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. 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. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. 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. He spoke with Professor Flynn, (Theodore Thomson Flynn, an Australian based at the Mater Hospital and father of actor Errol Flynn), head of the casualty service for the city, who told him of "casualties due to shock, blast and secondary missiles, such as glass, stones, pieces of piping, etc." 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}. 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. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. Belfast has the world's largest dry dock. "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. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). [citation needed], Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. 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. Londoners enjoyed three weeks of uneasy peace until May 1011, the night of a full moon, when the Luftwaffe launched the most intense raid of the Blitz. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister to Ireland, visited the Irish Ministry for External Affairs to offer sympathy and attempt an explanation. 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 Belfast blitz is remembered. 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. Victory for the Royal Air Forces (RAFs) Fighter Command blocked this possibility and, in fact, created the conditions for Britains survival and the eventual destruction of the Third Reich. Between Black Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one alertas the alarms came to be calledand generally far more.