2. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. The Belfast Blitz: April-May 1941 - History Ireland The creeping TikTok bans. [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. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. There was no smokescreen ability, however there were some barrage balloons positioned strategically for protection. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. The famous places damaged include the palace of Westminster and Westminster hall, the County hall, the Public Record office, the Law Courts, the Temple and the Inner Temple library; Somerset house, Burlington house, the tower of London, Greenwich observatory, Hogarths house; the Carlton, Reform, American, Savage, Arts and Orleans clubs; the Royal College of Surgeons, University college and its library, Stationers hall, the Y.M.C.A. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. 9. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Video, 00:02:54, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The area included the Harland and Wolff Ltd. Shipyard, the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory, and the airfield at RAF Sydenham. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. 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. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. 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. 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". Brides, Fleet St.; St. Lawrence Jewry; St. Magnus the Martyr; St. Mary-at-hill; St. Dunstan in the East; St. Clement [Eastcheap] and St. Jamess, Piccadilly). 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. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. Corrections? 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. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. [17] A stray bomber attacked Derry, killing 15. Video, 00:00:46Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. 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 Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. Compared to other cities, Belfast was virtually undefended. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. Read about our approach to external linking. ", 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]. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. 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. 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. As well as these two major targets, other firms in Belfast produced valuable materials for the war effort including munitions, linen, ropes, food supplies and, of course, cigarettes. When war broke out in 1939 the city did not expect to be attacked by German bombers: it was geographically remote and deemed a relatively . Read about our approach to external linking. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. At the time of the first attack in April 1941, there were no operational searchlights, too few anti-aircraft batteries and scarcely enough public air raid shelters for a quarter of the population. 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. Incendiary bombs predominated in this raid. The first attack was against the city's waterworks, which had been attacked in the previous raid. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. 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. 1. 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. The working-class living close to industrial centres suffered more than anyone over the course of the four raids. All were exhausted. 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. 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. There are other diarists and narratives. 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. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. There were Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 17s. 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. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. 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." Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". 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]. 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). 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. 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. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. He was replaced by 54-year-old Sir Basil Brooke on 1 May. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. 2023 BBC. Few children had been successfully evacuated. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational.
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