Unlike N Ireland, the Irish Free State was no longer part of the UK. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". Targets identified included: the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory; the Belfast power station and waterworks; Other maps uncovered following the Second World War also showed the parliament and city hall, Belfast gasworks, a rope factory and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. There are other diarists and narratives. The city has been a leader in women's rights. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. Anna and Billy were buried up their necks in sewage but were rescued and survived. The Belfast blitz. In the west and north of the city, streets heavily bombed included Percy Street, York Park, York Crescent, Eglinton Street, Carlisle Street, Ballyclare, Ballycastle and Ballynure Streets off the Oldpark Road; Southport Street, Walton Street, Antrim Road, Annadale Street, Cliftonville Road, Hillman Street, Atlantic Avenue, Hallidays Road, Hughenden Avenue, Sunningdale Park, Shandarragh Park, and Whitewell Road. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn.. 19.99. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Where they are going, what they will find to eat when they get there, nobody knows. At 10:40pm the air raid sirens sounded. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. 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. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. 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. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. Video, 00:01:37, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off, Tear gas fired at Greece train crash protesters. 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. By British mainland blitz standards, casualties were light. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. WW2: How did an elephant beat the Belfast Blitz? - BBC Teach TOP 10: Facts About Belfast You Didn't Know - Ireland Before You Die Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, Mother who killed her five children euthanised. 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. At 4:15am John MacDermott, the Minister of Public Security, managed to contact Basil Brooke (then Agriculture Minister), seeking permission to seek help from the Irish government. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. Nearby were the citys main power station, gasworks, telephone house and the Sirocco Engineering works. 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. The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. . During the first year of the war, behind-the-lines conditions prevailed in London. Video, 00:00:26, Living through the London Blitz. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. 10 Facts about Belfast City | Fun Facts About Belfast | Europa Hotel 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]. 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. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Jimmy Doherty, an air raid warden (who later served in London during the V1 and V2 blitz), who wrote a book on the Belfast blitz; to households. Video, 00:01:15The Belfast blitz, Up Next. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. 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. For more than six months, German planes had flown reconnaissance flights over Belfast. 10 fascinating facts about Belfast that you probably didn't know A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. 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. He gave an interview saying: "the people of Belfast are Irish people too". 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. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. 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. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. 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. The sense of relative calm was abruptly shattered in the first week of September 1940, when the war came to London in earnest. 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. Belfast was the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, the world' most famous ship which, when it was constructed in the early 1900s, was longer than the height of the world's tallest building at 882 feet and six inches in length. German bombing of London during the Blitz, Discover how the Third Reich attacked Great Britain during World War II's Battle of Britain, atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Watch President Roosevelt outline his Four Freedoms and learn how Britain defeated Germany's Luftwaffe. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. Many of those who died as a result of enemy action lived in tightly packed, poorly constructed, terraced housing. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. C.S Lewis was born in Belfast, and the nearby countryside helped inspire The Chronicles of Narnia. 150 corpses remained in the Falls Road baths for three days before they were buried in a mass grave, with 123 still unidentified. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. In the mistaken belief that they might damage RAF fighters, the anti-aircraft batteries ceased firing. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. THE BELFAST BLITZ was a series of four air raids over Northern Ireland during the spring of 1941. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. 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." 4. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About Belfast "It says a lot about how these people are forgotten that there is no Blitz memorial in Belfast," Mr Freeburn says. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. 6. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. 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. Belfast Blitz - Wikipedia Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. Interesting facts about Belfast. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. "There will always be people who will slip through the net but I am able to say at least 987 were killed across all raids.". After the war, when the first girl from the home got married Billy gave her away, having lost his only daughter. 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. 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. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. Video, 00:01:38, At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. 255 corpses were laid out in St George's Market. 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." The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. 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. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. 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. 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. Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. 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).