In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. 2. People are leaving from all parts of town and not only from the bombed areas. The youngest victim was just six-weeks-old. Video, 00:02:54, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire. The bombing of British cities - Swansea, Belfast, Glasgow For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. In the course of four Luftwaffe attacks on the nights of 7-8 April, 15-16 April, 4-5 May and 5-6 May 1941, lasting ten hours in total, 1,100 people died, over 56,000 houses in the city were damaged (53 per cent of its entire housing stock), roughly 100,000 made temporarily homeless and 20 million damage was caused to property at wartime values. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. 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. [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. 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 House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. There wasn't enough room for Anna or Billy, so they sheltered elsewhere, a twist of fate that would save their lives. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. "There are plans for one but there isn't one yet. 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 Belfast blitz during World War Two - BBC News The Blitz Around Britain - World War 2 | Imperial War Museums Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. There was unease with the complacent attitude of the government, which led to resignations: Craigavon died on 24 November 1940. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. Moya Woodside[23] noted in her diary: "Evacuation is taking on panic proportions. 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. 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. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War, an invitation was received by the Dublin Fire Brigade for any survivors of that time to attend a function at Hillsborough Castle and meet Prince Charles. The creeping TikTok bans. [citation needed] However on 20 October 1941 the Garda Sochna captured a comprehensive IRA report on captured member Helena Kelly giving a detailed analysis of damage inflicted on Belfast and highlighting prime targets such as Shortt and Harland aircraft factory and RAF Sydenham, describing them as 'the remaining and most outstanding objects of military significance, as yet unblitzed' and suggesting they should be 'bombed by the Luftwaffe as thoroughly as other areas in recent raids'[28][29], After three days, sometime after 6pm, the fire crews from south of the border began taking up their hoses and ladders to head for home. Death had to a certain extent been made decent. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. Tommy Henderson, an Independent Unionist MP in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, summed up the feeling when he invited the Minister of Home Affairs to Hannahstown and the Falls Road, saying "The Catholics and the Protestants are going up there mixed and they are talking to one another. Government ministers in Northern Ireland began to realise the Luftwaffe may launch an attack, but it was too little, too late. Video, 00:00:26The German bombing of Coventry, Living through the London Blitz. 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. Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. Belfast Blitz: Remembering the ordinary people who lost their lives In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. Heavy jacks were unavailable. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. "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. 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. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. [citation needed]. This amounted to nearly half of Britains total civilian deaths for the whole war. 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.. 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. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. 6. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. 29 - Belfast was once bigger than Dublin Some are a total loss; others are already under repair with little outward sign of the damage sustained: Besides Buckingham palace, the chapel of which was wrecked, and Guildhall (the six-centuries old centre of London civic ceremonies and of great architectural beauty), which was destroyed by fire, Kensington palace (the London home of the earl of Athlone, governor general of Canada, and the birthplace of Queen Mary and Queen Victoria), the banqueting hall of Eltham palace (dating from King Johns time and long a royal residence), Lambeth palace (the archbishop of Canterbury), and Holland house (famous for its 17th century domestic architecture, its political associations, and its art treasures), suffered, the latter severely. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. 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. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He successfully busied himself with the task of making Northern Ireland a major supplier of food to Britain in her time of need.[5]. Train after train and bus after bus were filled with those next in line. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). By 1940, Short and Harland could shelter its entire workforce and Harland and Wolff had provision to shelter 16,000 workers. 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. Just eight days earlier, eight planes destroyed the aircraft fuselage factory and damaged the docks, with 15 people ultimately killed as a result of that raid. Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts The Titanic was built in Belfast. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. 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. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. 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. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. 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. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. 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. 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. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. 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 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. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. 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. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. So had Clydeside until recently. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good. 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." Horrendous Belfast losses during World War Two bombing blitz "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. "They have never been published before, never seen the light of day.". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Hitlers intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. 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. These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely. The creeping TikTok bans, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. Video, 00:01:41NI WW2 veterans honoured by France, The Spitfire turns 80. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . 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. 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. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. As of October 2020, the population of Belfast is about 350,000 people. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? The Germans, however, saw Belfast as a legitimate target due to the shipyards in the city that were contributing to Britain's war efforts. There was no opposition. 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. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. . Their Chain Home early warning radar, the most advanced system in the world, gave Fighter Command adequate notice of where and when to direct their forces, and the Luftwaffe never made a concerted effort to neutralize it.
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