24 - The tyres Dunlop were invented in Belfast in 1887 25 - The two H&W cranes are named Samson and Goliath 26 - The Albert Clock is Ireland's leaning tower 27 - The mobile defibrillator was invented in Belfast 28 - Belfast's ice hockey team, the Giants, is one of the best in Europe. Belfast was bombed by the Nazis in World War II. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. Strand Public Elementary school, York Road railway station, the adjacent Midland Hotel on York Road, and Salisbury Avenue tram depot were all hit. This part of Belfast was the only one required to provide air raid shelters for workers. Brooke noted in his diary "I gave him authority as it is obviously a question of expediency". 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. While the balloons themselves were an obvious deterrent, they were anchored to the ground by steel tethers that were strong enough to damage or destroy any aircraft that flew into them. Given Belfast's geographic position, it was considered to be at the fringe of the operational range of German bombers and hence there was no provision for night-fighter aerial cover. Humanity knows no borders, no politics, no differences of religious belief. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. But these people all had families and friends and they had to deal with their loss for the rest of their lives.". 2023 BBC. The government was blamed by some for inadequate precautions. 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. Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet. On Nov. 30, 1940, a lone Luftwaffe plane flew across the Ards Peninsula unobserved and reported back to Berlin. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. When the war began, Belfast, like many other cities, adopted the wartime practices of rationing and blackouts. But the authorities were afraid that bombs might not be the. 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]. 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." 9. Video, 00:00:26, Living through the London Blitz. 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. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union. 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. 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. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. At 10:40pm the air raid sirens sounded. 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 Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government. 10 Facts about Belfast City. And even then, Westminster stated it was not ample provision; Stormont still worried about the costs to industry. [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. The most significant loss was a 4.5-acre (1.8ha) factory floor for manufacturing the fuselages of Short Stirling bombers. MacDermott would be proved right. 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. [citation needed], There was a second massive air raid on Belfast on Sunday 45 May 1941, three weeks after that of Easter Tuesday. Outside of London, with some 900 dead, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. 2023 BBC. 1. 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. 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'. "We can still see the physical scars of the Blitz in Belfast, that is what is left. Since 1:45am all telephones had been cut. All were exhausted. 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. Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts The past doesnt change, its just over.. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights from 7 September 1940 The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. It was the worst wartime raid outside of London in the UK. The period of the next moon from say the 7th to the 16th of April may well bring our turn." There was no opposition. James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East EndMickeys Shelter. No attendant nurse had soothed the last moments of these victims; no gentle reverent hand had closed their eyes or crossed their hands. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . Half of the city's housing was damaged over the course of all the raids. High explosives were dropped. He went to the Mater Hospital at 2pm, nine hours after the raid ended, to find the street with a traffic jam of ambulances waiting to admit their casualties. Video, 00:01:38At least 17 dead in Jakarta fuel storage depot fire, Australia's 'biggest drug bust' nets $700m of cocaine. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. The creeping TikTok bans. [13] However at the time Lord Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921, said: "Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be." The Battle of Britain Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. 7. The success of Mickeys Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing deep shelters and to create new ones. 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. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. 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. Fortunately, the railway telegraphy link between Belfast and Dublin was still operational. The firm had produced Handley Page Hereford bombers since 1936. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. NI WW2 veterans honoured by France. Days later a group of East Enders occupied the shelter at the upscale Savoy Hotel, and many others began to take refuge in the citys underground railway, or Tube, stations. At the time of the first attack in April 1941, there were no operational searchlights, too few anti-aircraft batteries and scarcely enough public air raid shelters for a quarter of the population. These shelters were vital as these factories had many employees working late at night and early in the morning when Luftwaffe attacks were likely. 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. The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Later, guided by the raging fires caused by the first attack, a second group of planes began another assault that lasted until 4:30 the following morning. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises, except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. 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. That night almost 300 people, many from the Protestant Shankill area, took refuge in the Clonard Monastery in the Catholic Falls Road. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a mill. The town of Dromara saw its population increase from 500 to 2,500. The Blitz of Belfast 1941 - History Learning Site He was asked, in the N.I. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located. 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. 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. 29 interesting facts about Belfast you never knew - BeeLoved City The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, to coventrate, to describe it. Yesterday the hand of good-fellowship was reached across the Border. KS3 History (Environment and society) The Belfast Blitz learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. ", Mapping the lives lost in the Belfast Blitz. Many "arrived in Fermanagh having nothing with them only night shirts". ", Dawson Bates informed the Cabinet of rack-renting of barns, and over thirty people per house in some areas.[24]. 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). Emma Duffin, a nurse at the Queen's University Hospital, (who previously served during the Great War), who kept a diary; When the bombing began, 76-year-old William and 72-year-old Harriette took refuge under the stairs along with Dorothy, Dot and Isa. Clydeside got its blitz during the period of the last moon. 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. Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. The database Mr Freeburn has compiled is, he believes, the most accurate list of those killed and includes 222 children aged 16 or under. Video, 00:00:36, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 6. Indeed, on the night of the first raid, no Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft took to the air to intercept German planes. Video, 00:02:12Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked Hancock's messages, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. 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: April-May 1941 - History Ireland 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. St George's Church in High Street was damaged by fire. Between April 7 and May 6 of that year, Luftwaffe bombers unleashed death and destruction on the cities of Belfast, Bangor, Derry/Londonderry and Newtownards. department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) Authorities had noted Queens Island in the cityas a vulnerable point as early as 1929. Belfast - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help 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.". 2. By then most of the major fires were under control and the firemen from Clydeside and other British cities were arriving. along with England, Scotland, and Wales. 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. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. "Through resources such as the Public Records Office and ancestry and genealogy websites I managed to get about 100 photos - which is about one tenth of the victims," he says. Beginning in September 1940, the Blitz was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by the Luftwaffe against British cities. Belfast Blitz: Facts In total there were four attacks on the County Antrim city. No searchlights were set up in the city at the time, and these only arrived on 10 April. 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. By 4 am the entire city seemed to be in flames. 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. ", US journalist Ben Robertson reported that at night Dublin was the only city without a blackout between New York and Moscow, and between Lisbon and Sweden and that German bombers often flew overhead to check their bearings using its lights, angering the British. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. 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. 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.