10 facts about the belfast blitzwhat happened to steve weintraub
The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. High explosives were dropped. However Belfast was not mentioned again by the Nazis. 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." (Great War casualties) had died in hospital beds, their eyes had been reverently closed, their hands crossed to their breasts. Still, many in Northern Ireland believed no Luftwaffe attack would come. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. Between Black Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one alertas the alarms came to be calledand generally far more. The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. The past doesnt change, its just over.. From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain was subjected to sustained enemy bombing campaign, now known as the Blitz. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. 4. Many in Northern Ireland thought that Belfast was outside the range of the Luftwaffe. Belfast was largely unprepared for an attack of such a scale as 200 German bombers shelled the city on 15 April 1941. A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. The attacks by both V1's and V2's only ended as the Allies advanced up through Western Europe . Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparationshowever extensive they seemed to have beenwere inadequate. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. Accounts differ as to when flares were dropped to light up the city. 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. An air raid shelter on Hallidays Road received a direct hit, killing all those in it. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. Over 150 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Blitz'. But the raid of 15-16 April - the Easter Tuesday Raid - was on another scale. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which Londons peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. Over 20 hospitals were hit, among them the London (many times), St. Thomass, St. Bartholomews, and the childrens hospital in Great Ormond st., as well as Chelsea hospital, the home for the aged and invalid soldiers, built by Wren. 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. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. 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 a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. The "pothole blitz" is a common short-term initiative to combat storm weather damage. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. By the middle of December it had reached nearly 1,700,000 (adjusted for inflation, this was the equivalent of roughly 100 million in 2020). About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000 people homeless. Over the course of three days, some 1.5 million civiliansthe overwhelming majority of them childrenwere transported from urban centres to rural areas that were believed to be safe. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. At nightfall the Northern Counties Station was packed from platform gates to entrance gates and still refugees were coming along in a steady stream from the surrounding streets Open military lorries were finally put into service and even expectant mothers and mothers with young children were put into these in the rather heavy drizzle that lasted throughout the evening. 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. 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. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. These figures are based on newspaper reports of the time, personal recollections and other primary sources, such as:- "But there is no such equivalent in Belfast. "[22], In his opinion, the greatest want was the lack of hospital facilities. The most heavily bombed area was that which lay between York Street and the Antrim Road, north of the city centre. The danger faced in London was greatly increased when the V2 attacks started and the casualty figures mirrored those of the Blitz.. 3. Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. 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 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. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. Nurse Emma Duffin, who had served in World War I, contrasted death in that conflict with what she saw:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. This option had been forbidden by city officials, who feared that once people began sleeping in Underground stations, they would be reluctant to return to the surface and resume daily life. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) The attacks were authorized by Germanys chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. Video, 00:00:51Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom . [6] It was MacDermott who sent a telegram to de Valera seeking assistance. Taoiseach amon de Valera formally protested to Berlin. [12], There was little preparation for the conflict with Germany. It was solemn, tragic, dignified, but here it was grotesque, repulsive, horrible. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. At the beginning of the Blitz, British ack ack gunners struggled to inflict meaningful damage on German bombers, but later developments in radar guidance greatly improved the effectiveness of both antiaircraft artillery and searchlights. In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the governments shelter policy. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. Here are 10 facts about both the German Blitzkrieg and the Allied bombing of Germany. Added to this was the repair and refitting of 22,000 more vessels. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. In a survey of shelter use, it was found that, although the public shelters were fully occupied every night, just 9 percent of Londoners made use of them. So had Clydeside until recently. Only four were known still to be alive. It became a city by royal charter in 1888. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. The seeming normality of life on the Home Front was shattered in 1944 when the first of the V1's landed. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. Video, 00:01:09The Spitfire turns 80, The German bombing of Coventry. The city covers a total area of 132.5 square kilometers (51 square miles). After the war, instructions from Joseph Goebbels were discovered ordering it not to be mentioned. The Premier Online Military History Magazine, Re-printed with permission fromWartimeNI.com. 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'. 9. 1. The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. Belfast has the world's largest dry dock. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). [4], The Government of Northern Ireland lacked the will, energy and capacity to cope with a major crisis when it came. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. You can see the difference in those letters - post-Blitz is very much a grieving tone. Elsewhere in the skies over Britain, Nazi official Rudolph Hess chose that same evening to parachute into Scotland on a quixotic and wholly unauthorized peace mission. Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland . The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. 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. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. headquarters, Toynbee hall and St. Dunstans; the American, Spanish, Japanese and Peruvian embassies and the buildings of the Times newspaper, the Associated Press of America, and the National City bank of New York; the centre court at Wimbledon, Wembley stadium, the Ring (Blackfriars); Drury Lane, the Queens and the Saville theatres; Rotten row, Lambeth walk, the Burlington arcade and Madame Tussauds. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. There were few bomb shelters. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities. [18], Over 900 people died, 1,500 people were injured, 400 of them seriously. 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. 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. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."[20]. Just before Easter 1941, Anna and Billy Burdett and their 12-year-old daughter, Dorothy, returned to Belfast from England to visit Anna's family. The city has been a leader in women's rights. For two hours on the first day, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters blasted London. Under the leadership of amon de Valera it had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. When incendiaries were dropped, the city burned as water pressure was too low for effective firefighting. As the UK was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. 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. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 In Newtownards, Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Antrim many thousands of Belfast citizens took refuge either with friends or strangers. On the 60th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz, Luftwaffe Pilot Gerhardt Becker spoke to BBC Northern Ireland about his mission over Belfast in 1941. By the. The M.V. 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. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. O'Sullivan reported: "There were many terrible mutilations among both living and dead heads crushed, ghastly abdominal and face wounds, penetration by beams, mangled and crushed limbs etc.". Another attacked Bangor, killing five. Read about our approach to external linking. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. Read about our approach to external linking. The district of Belfast has an area of 44 square miles (115 square km). When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. 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. 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. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. 55,000 houses were damaged leaving 100,000 temporarily homeless. 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. 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. Belfast, the city with the highest population density in the UK at the time, also had the lowest proportion of public air-raid shelters. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. Everything on wheels is being pressed into service. 7. When the house was hit William, Harriette, Dorothy, 36-year-old Dot and 41-year-old Isa were all killed. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. Sometimes they were trying establish a blockade by destroying shipping and port facilities, sometimes they were directly attacking Fighter Command ground installations, sometimes they were targeting aircraft factories, and sometimes they were attempting to engage Fighter Command in the skies. It targeted the docks. The A.R.P. Some 27 percent of Londoners utilized private shelters, such as Anderson shelters, while the remaining 64 percent spent their evenings on duty with some branch of the civil defense or remained in their own homes. The famous Harland and Wolff cranes are called Samson and Goliath. At the core of this book is a compelling account of the Luftwaffe's blitz on Belfast in April-May 1941. 50,000 houses, more than half the houses in the city, were damaged. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. That evening over 150 bombers left their bases in northern France and the Netherlands and headed for Belfast. As well as photographs, the Luftwaffe gathered information on landmarks, potential targets and defences or lack thereof. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. The sense of relative calm was abruptly shattered in the first week of September 1940, when the war came to London in earnest. There was no opposition. More than 500 German planes dropped more than 700 tons of bombs across the city, killing nearly 1,500 people and destroying 11,000 homes. Once more, London was targeted and children were victims. Despite the military and industrial importance of the city, the Luftwaffe described the defences asweak, scanty, insufficient. What happened in 1941 changed the city forever. [27] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. Video, 00:00:51, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine, Thanks, but no big speech, in Ken Bruce's sign off. About 1,000 people were killed and bombs hit half of the houses in the city, leaving 100,000. Published: September 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm. 11 churches, two hospitals and two schools were destroyed. Because basements, a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. [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. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. 19.99. Read about our approach to external linking. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. 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. 13 died, including a soldier killed when an anti-aircraft gun, at the Balmoral show-grounds, misfired. Over 500 received care from the Irish Red Cross in Dublin. 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. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. 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. Some had received food, others were famished. 6. 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. Nearby residential areas in east Belfast were also hit when "203 metric tonnes of high explosive bombs, 80 land mines attached to parachutes, and 800 firebomb canisters containing 96,000 incendiary bombs"[16] were dropped. Belfast is located on the island of Ireland. So had Clydeside until recently. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. Weighing 46,328 tonnes, Titanic was to be the largest manmade moveable object the world had ever seen. Around 20,000 people were employed on the site with 35,000 further along in the shipyard. 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. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. A Raid From Above Brian Barton of Queen's University, Belfast, has written most on this topic.[19]. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The wartime output of the yard included aircraft carriers HMS Formidable and HMS Unicorn, cruisers such as HMS Belfast and more than 130 other vessels used by the Royal Navy. Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. 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." "Liverpool, Clydebank and Portsmouth all have a memorial to their victims of the Blitz. 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. 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. I felt outraged, I should have felt sympathy, grief, but instead feelings of revulsion and disgust assailed me. Wave after wave of bombers dropped their incendiaries, high explosives and land-mines. Ulster Historical Foundation. Video, 00:00:46, Hong Kong skyscraper fire seen on city's skyline, Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds. 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. 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. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin strings of glass and are generally about one-tenth the width of a . In addition, there simply was not enough space for everyone who needed shelter in one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. 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]. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. Other targets included Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. San Francisco Giants Aaa Roster,
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