10 facts about the belfast blitz

When Germany bombed Belfast as part of the Blitz during World War Two, the massive air raids left more than a thousand people dead. 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. Protection of the city fell to seven anti-aircraft batteries of 16 heavy guns and six light guns. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. 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. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. The 2017 film Zoo depicts an air raid during the Belfast Blitz. Heavy jacks were unavailable. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. But the Luftwaffe was ready. It targeted the docks. After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. 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. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. Ulster Historical Foundation. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. The Blitz | Facts, History, Damage, & Casualties | Britannica 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. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. . Read about our approach to external linking. 29 interesting facts about Belfast you never knew - BeeLoved City The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." Streets heavily bombed in the city centre included High Street, Ann Street, Callender Street, Chichester Street, Castle Street, Tomb Street, Bridge Street (effectively obliterated), Rosemary Street, Waring Street, North Street, Victoria Street, Donegall Street, York Street, Gloucester Street, and East Bridge Street. The past doesnt change, its just over.. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. By the end of the attacks, between 900 and 1,000 people were dead and thousands more were injured, homeless and displaced. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. Belfast made a considerable contribution towards the Allied war effort, producing many naval ships, aircraft and munitions; therefore, the city was deemed a suitable bombing target by the Luftwaffe. 2. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz, National Museums Liverpool - Merseyside Maritime Museum - The Blitz, The History Learning Site - The Blitz and World War Two. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. One, Tom Coleman, attended to receive recognition for his colleagues' solidarity at such a critical time. Video, 00:02:54Living through the London Blitz, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. He stated that "he would once more tell his government how he felt about the matter and he would ask them to confine the operations to military objectives as far as it was humanly possible. [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. "These people are often seen as a statistic but they were human beings, people who lived and grew up in - or moved to - Belfast and died in Belfast," Mr Freeburn, the museum's collections officer, says. In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. Thank you. 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. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. Belfast Blitz: Marking the lost lives 80 years on. The use of the Tube system as a shelter saved thousands of lives, and images of Londoners huddled in Underground stations would become an indelible image of British life during World War II. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. There was no opposition. ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. 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. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. 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, 00:03:09Mapping 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. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. 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 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 database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 planes fitted with Zeiss cameras captured high-quality aerial imagery. So had Clydeside until recently. Video, 00:01:37Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. It was not the last time Belfast would suffer. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. 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. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. A Luftwaffe terror bombing attack on the Spanish city of Guernica (April 26, 1937) during the Spanish Civil War had killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed much of the town. 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." The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Children and World War Two - History Learning Site London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. The creeping TikTok bans. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. By the. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. 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. 2. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion. Poor visibility on the night meant that the accuracy of the bombers was hampered and the explosives were dropped on densely populated areas of Belfast. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). A modern bomb census has attempted to pinpoint the location of every bomb dropped on London during the Blitz, and the visualization of that data makes clear how thoroughly the Luftwaffe saturated the city. 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. Liverpool, for example, protected by 100 guns. Omissions? Blitz, The - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. 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. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 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. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. 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. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. Belfast Blitz - Wikipedia department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) 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. While Anderson shelters offered good protection from bomb fragments and debris, they were cold and damp and generally ill-suited for prolonged occupancy. 10 Awesome Facts About Fibre - linkedin.com 19.99. Barton insisted that Belfast was "too far north" to use radio guidance. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. 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. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. 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. 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. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. Many bodies and body parts could not be identified. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. 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. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. Yesterday for once the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland .