10 facts about the belfast blitz

[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. 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. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. The Titanic was built in Belfast. On 4-5 May, another raid, made up of 204 bombers, killed another 203 people and the following night 22 more died. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 Incendiary bombs predominated in this raid. 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. By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. Munster, for example, operated by the Belfast Steamship Company, plied between Belfast and Liverpool under the tricolour, until she hit a mine and was sunk outside Liverpool. Three vessels nearing completion at Harland and Wolff's were hit as was its power station. "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. 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." In The Blitz: Belfast in the War Years, Brian Barton wrote: "Government Ministers felt with justification, that the Germans were able to use the unblacked out lights in the south to guide them to their targets in the North." The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. 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'. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this site without expressand written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. The next took. Reviewed by: Geoffrey Roberts. Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. 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 period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow." James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. 2. Richard Dawson Bates was the Home Affairs Minister. 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. After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. 2023 BBC. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. continuous trek to railway stations. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. Only four were known still to be alive. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. In clear weather, targets were easily identifiable. Sixty years after the Germans bombed Belfast in World War II BBC News Online looks back and remembers the anniversary of the blitz. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Corrections? "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. Two of the crews received refreshments in Banbridge; others were entertained in the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Newry. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. British Spies and Irish Rebels by Paul McMahon, Report by the Garda Sochna 23 October 1941 IMA G2/1722, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Irish Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures, "Eamon de Valera and Hitler: An Analysis of International Reaction to the Visit to the German Minister, May 1945", "Extracts from an article, "The Belfast Blitz, 1941", "Historical Topics Series 2 The Belfast Blitz", "Your Place and Mine The Belfast Blitz", "Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies", "Belfast Blitz: The night death and destruction rained down on city", "Multitext - the Blitz - Belfast during the second World War", http://www.niwarmemorial.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The_Belfast_Blitz.pdf, http://www.proni.gov.uk/historical_topics_series_-_02_-_the_belfast_blitz.pdf, Extracts from an article on The Belfast Blitz, 1941. Men from the South worked with men from the North in the universal cause of the relief of suffering. Most of the objectives laid out by the reconnaissance crews were of either military or industrial importance. IWM C 5424 1. It is situated at on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. . Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. 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. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (lightning war). The Royal Air Force announced that Squadron Leader J.W.C. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. 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." 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. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". However that attack was not an error. 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. 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. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). In the subsequent years, this lack of preparation has often dominated the discussion about the Belfast Blitz, but a new project led by Alan Freeburn from the Northern Ireland War Memorial aims to shift the focus back to the ordinary men, women and children who lost their lives. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Historical Topics Series 2, The Belfast Blitz, 2007, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 20:18. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. workers. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, they provided effective shelter for those who had them. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. By 6am, within two hours of the request for assistance, 71 firemen with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dn Laoghaire were on their way to cross the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. 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. He was asked, in the N.I. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. These private air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters, constructed of sheets of corrugated galvanised iron covered in earth. That contrasts with the figure that is often given of more than 900 killed on Easter Tuesday alone. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. 1. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless.

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