What was the impact of the Belfast Blitz in April/May 1941 on the city?
There was a sheet from a child’s essay book, on the top of the page, it read ‘the end of the world’, it seemed appropriate as it was the end of the world as we knew it. – report from the Belfast telegraph after the fire raid on the 5th of May 1941.
The above quote shows the devastation that Belfast suffered after a major raid by the Luftwaffe in May 1941. As we will see this way a direct result of Belfast being completely unprepared for war with very poor protection. Outside of the city of London, Belfast suffered the greatest loss of life in one night raid during the Belfast Blitz. 900 people died and 600 were left injured after the second night of the raid. The government were poorly prepared for a potential attack from the german airforce and there were very few anti-aircraft guns and fire brigades and other emergency services were scant compared to other cities in the UK. Belfast was a major target for the German Luftwaffe because it housed the largest shipyard in the UK, ammunitions factories, an aircraft factory where 20,000 were employed, an engineering works which built churchill tanks and a linen factory which was important in producing military materials. The role of Belfast in the Second World War is not celebrated due to the fact that it was not a good time for the city mainly because they suffered greatly from the german attack due to being very unprepared.
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Additional Poems By Joseph Freeman Essay, Research Additional Poems By Joseph Freeman TO THE OLD WORLD If your forefathers have been wise and brave, And lit a thousand lights, it little matters: You are an aged king before his grave Whom his own folly has reduced to tatters. While the world tumbles down about your head, Your royal cloak, inherited of old, Slips from your shoulders by a broken ...
Belfast was a clear target for the German Luftwaffe because of its large manufacturing facilities, Harland and Wolff was one of the largest shipbuilding yards in the world and it had constructed many ships for the Royal Navy including aircraft carriers such as the unicorn. This made the area a key target. Belfast shipyards built and repaired many vessels. Short brothers manufactured aircraft in the city, churchill tanks were built in the city and linen was manufactured for the British Military. War materials were regularly sent to Britain, some under the protection of the Irish tricolour. This and the desire to weaken the Belfast public’s morale made the city a key target for the nazi’s. The northern government failed to accept the threat of an attack from Germany, which is reflected in this civil defence memo from june 1939, it contently proclaimed ‘It is possible that we may escape attack altogether.’ Belfast became a more likely target after the fall of France. Prior to this there was a sense of complacency as it was believed that the German airforces would not be able to fly from Germany and over the defences of Britain. However the german conquest of France and the blitz of british cities brought the threat closer, Belfast was now within reach of the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe did reconnaissance missions over the city where they took extensive photos and notes of potential bombing locations. Belfast was an obvious target for the german airforce however due to their refusal to accept the possibility of an attack Belfast was very poorly defended and was hugely impacted by the Belfast blitz of april/may 1941.
Belfast was first bombed on the 7th of april by 7 german bombers. Only 3000 people responded to the governments calls for evacuation, mainly due to the sense of complacency that was evident among the people of Belfast. 13 people were killed in this raid and there was not much damage, however this was more of an exploratory raid where the Luftwaffe wanted to test the defences of Belfast and there was much worse attacks still to come. A much more serious attack occurred on the 15th/16th april 1941, Belfast was bombed for 5 hours by 180 aircraft who dropped flares first and then the heavy explosives, incendiaries and parachute mines. Due to the smoke screens in the docklands the germans missed their target and hit the working class areas of the city. At least 900 people die, many were not identified and 600 people were left injured. There was attempts made to bury catholics and protestants separately. The impacts of the second raid included people leaving the city after the raid for fear of another attack, many people emigrated to the south of Ireland and people were leaving the city every night. The effects of the raid were so bad the government had no choice but to request help from dublin. De Valera sent 70 fire fighters to Belfast and this impressed unionists in the north. There was another attack on the 5th of may 1941 where incendiary and explosive bombs were dropped on the harbour and Harland and Wolff. Harland and Wolff was destroyed and did not resume production for 6 months. There was not as many casualties in the third raid as the second raid. Belfast suffered hugely from the blitz mainly due to how unprepared it was and the sense of complacency that was visible among the public of Belfast.
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In the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, showed a clash of two diffrent cultures. The two cultures are very close together but nothing alike. Two elements of culture that cause the clash between the primitive society and the advanced society, were technology and religion. Technology is the inventions that improve everyday life. The tools that a culture has reflects the advancement of culture. ...
In conclusion, the were a number of impacts of the Belfast Blitz. Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in june 1941 ended the danger of further bombing. Belfast suffered a huge loss of life and and destruction to the city. Overall throughout all three raids 1100 people were killed and half of the houses in the city were destroyed. There was £20 million worth of damages and the government was criticised for poor preparation and this was also one of the factors that led to the prime minister JM Andrews being replaced by Basil Brooks. Belfast suffered a huge loss following the blitz of april/may 1941, due to being very badly prepared and believing they would not be attacked however there was some positive impacts of the Belfast blitz including how the the blitz revealed the terrible slum conditions and this influenced the development of the welfare state after WWII.
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... Sunderland, Newcastle. Glasgow, Scotland, Belfast, and Northern Ireland were even targeted at. The Blitz left devastating results such ... churches. Many famous structures were damaged during the Blitz including, Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, and the Chamber ... Londoners homeless. According to the Duxford’s library The Blitz was separated into three different phases. The casualties ...
