James Craig, Lord Craigavon, had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921 up until his death in 1940. The fourth and final Belfast raid took place on the following night, 56 May. On 28 April 1943, six members of the Government threatened to resign, forcing him from office. The Belfast Blitz consisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloonslarge oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail finsinstalled in and around major target areas. Six Heinkel He 111 bombers, from Kampfgruppe 26, flying at 7,000 feet (2,100m), dropped incendiaries, high explosive and parachute-mines. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. 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. 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. Video, 00:01:23Watch: Matt Hancock message row in 83 seconds, One-minute World News. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation. 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 British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. 29 - Belfast was once bigger than Dublin Death should be dignified, peaceful; Hitler had made even death grotesque. 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. An earlier flight on Oct. 18 allowed the crew to plot several targets in the city. The Battle of Britain He was asked, in the N.I. O'Sullivan felt that the whole civil defence sector was utterly overwhelmed. Neighbouring residential areas were also hit. to households. Anna and Billy returned to England and continued running the children's home. 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. From papers recovered after the war, we know of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance flight over Belfast on 30 November 1940. Blitz Fibre UK Blitz Fibre UK Published Mar 1, 2023 + Follow Fact 1- Small but Mighty . 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 Belfast blitz. There [is] ground for thinking that the enemy could not easily reach Belfast in force except during a period of moonlight. A force of 180 bombers dropped 750 bombs - including 203 tonnes of high explosives - and 29,000 incendiaries over a five-hour period. [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. At the start of World War Two, Belfast had considered itself safe from an aerial attack, as the city's leaders believed that Belfast was simply too far away for Luftwaffe bombers to reach - assuming that they would have to fly from Nazi Germany. 3. A Luftwaffe pilot gave this description "We were in exceptional good humour knowing that we were going for a new target, one of England's last hiding places. 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. His report concluded with: "a second Belfast would be too horrible to contemplate". 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. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. This raid overall caused relatively little damage, but a lot was revealed about Belfast's inadequate defences. At 10:40 on the evening of Easter Tuesday 1941 air raid sirens sounded across Belfast, sending people across the city scrambling for safety - in one of the 200 public shelters in the city or the thousands of shelters or other "safe" spaces in private homes. I was definitely one of the first over the target and as I flew in there was no great defence because there were not a great many aircraft over the target at that point, recalled Becker. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday. Around 1am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. 10,000 "officially" crossed the border. On 24 March 1941, John MacDermott, Minister for Security, wrote to Prime Minister John Andrews, expressing his concerns that Belfast was so poorly protected: "Up to now we have escaped attack. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. ISBN 9781909556324. 8. 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. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. 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; A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Miller Andrews, Northern Ireland remained unprepared. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), The Belfast Blitz Inside the Deadly 1941 Luftwaffe Raids on Northern Ireland, Dutch Weapons and American Independence How the United Provinces Made a Fortune Supplying Muskets in the Revolutionary War , USS Devilfish The Curious Case of the Only U.S. Navy Submarine to be Attacked by a Kamikaze, The Chinchas War Inside the Little-Known Conflict Between Peru and Spain Over Animal Turds, The Battle for Nassau Inside the First Overseas Mission for Americas Marines, Mustang vs. Corsair Inside the U.S. Navys 1944 Match-Up Between the Two Fighters, Stickin It To Em The Last of the Great Bayonet Charges, Bloody First Contact When Vikings Clashed with Native North Americans, Battlefield Stalingrad Four Maps That Tell the Story of World War Twos Pivotal Struggle. He was succeeded by J. M. Andrews, then 69 years old, who was no more capable of dealing with the situation than his predecessor. Mr Freeburn set out to find out more about those who died, their personal stories and the tales of those left behind. The Belfast blitz devastated a city that up until 1941 had remained unscathed during World War Two. The Belfast Blitz was a series of devastating Luftwaffe air raids that took place in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. Major O'Sullivan reported that "In the heavily 'blitzed' areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. Belfast was not properly prepared for the attacks, with too few shelters and not enough anti-aircraft guns. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. There is no slacking in our loyalty. Also, on Queens Island, stood the Short and Harland Ltd. Aircraft Factory. 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. Islington parish church, the rebuilt Our Lady of Victories (Kensington), the French church by Leicester square, St. Annes, Soho (famous for its music), All Souls, Langham place, and Christ Church in Westminster Bridge road (whose towerfortunately savedcommemorates President Lincolns abolition of slavery), were among a large number of others. Another attacked Bangor, killing five. 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. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, it became the seat of the government of Northern Ireland. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. "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. 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. Similar initiatives bearing the same name were ordered in the past decade by former mayors Libby . and Major Sen O'Sullivan, who produced a detailed report for the Dublin government.