On the night of Easter Tuesday,15th April 1941, as the result of its loyalty to Britain and her Empire, Belfast suffered the greatest single tragedy in its history..160 bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacked the city. Some 900 people died and many were injured. In terms of damage to property, half the housing stock was affected. Thousands were left homeless. It was the the greatest loss of life, outside the City of London, in a night raid during the blitzing of the United Kingdom, and all sections of the community were affected.
Belfast was a prime target for the Nazis..Harland and Wolff was one of the largest shipbuilding yards in the world and constructed many ships for the Royal Navy, including the aircraft carriers HMS Formidable and HMS Unicorn; the cruisers, HMS Belfast and the HMS Penelope, as well as 131 other naval vessels. About 35,000 people were employed. During the War Belfast yards built or converted at least 3.000 naval vessels, repaired more than 22,000 and launched 140 merchant ships, over half a million tons.Harland's also designed and built the Churchill tank. At the same time Short Brothers made the Short Sunderland flying boat and the Short Stirling long-range heavy bomber. They had been re-equipping as early as 1936 for the manufacture of 189 Handley Page Hereford bombers. 20,000 people were employed.
James Mackie and Sons had been re-equipped in 1938 with new American machinery and became the prime supplier of Bofors ant-aircraft shells. Aero-linen for covering aircraft, such as the Hawker Hurricane, and military glider frames was manufactured by several Belfast flax spinning mills,such as The York Street Flax Spinning Co.; William Ewart's Rosebank Weaving Co.; Brookfield Spinning Co.; and the Linen Thread Co. The Sirocco Works at the Bridge End produced heating and ventilation equipment for the underground munition factories in Britain.Other factories manufactured gun mountings,ordnance pieces, aircraft parts and ammunition.
Belfast was ill prepared for the Blitz, with insufficient AA guns, few searchlights, inadequate air raid shelters,and far too few firemen,air raid wardens and civil defence members.It was like the Titanic disaster on the same day in 1912 all over again. The Government of Northern Ireland had neither the will or capacity to tackle such a major catastrophe. That Easter Tuesday few spectators would have noticed a lone Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-88b aircraft circling Windsor Park while Distillery F.C.were defeating Linfield F.C. by 3 goals to 1.The air- raid sirens first sounded at 10:40pm. Wave after wave of German bombers dropped tons of high explosive bombs, parachute mines and incendiaries on the well nigh defenceless city. By 4:00am the entire north of the city seemed to be in flames. At 4:45am a telegram was sent asking the Irish Premier, de Valera for assistance. Although Eire was neutral, de Valera responded quickly. In all 13 fire brigades were sent from Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Dundalk and Drogheda. As well as Belfast, casualties were sustained in Londonderry, Bangor and Newtownards.
To the Fire Fighters from the South, the most appalling sights were not even the twisted and burned bodies of the slain, harrowing as they were, but of the victims following the blowing up of the Gasworks. This created a hugh vacuum ,which sucked the living breath from its victims as well as debris from their houses. The people were found without blemish but with looks of pure horror on their faces as they died without air. Such was the immense suffering of the citizens of Belfast a mere 70 years ago. And, but for the heroic exertions of the Civil Defence Sevices, the toll toll of human life would have been greater and the tale of smoking ruins more terrible.
At 11:45 on the night of 4th May, the air-raid sirens sounded again. But on this occasion, by the time the first bombs fell at 1:02am, most people apart from the essential services were sheltering. The Luftwaffe was also more cautious and attacked from 9,000 -13,000 feet . But again waves of bombers came to target industrial sites and dropped 203 metric tonnes of high explosive bombs, 80 landmines attached to parachutes, and 800 firebomb canisters containing 96,000 incendiary bombs, so that the people called this the Fire-Blitz. Casualties were thankfully lower, with 150 killed and 157 seriously injured. Major damage, however, was inflicted on the Harbour Estate, the Shipyards and the Aircraft Factories.
This afternoon, as High Sheriff of Belfast, I laid a wreath on the striking Blitz Memorial in bronze at the War Memorial, 21 Talbot Street, Belfast .
Fifty survivors of the Easter Tuesday blitz recalled their experiences of 70 years ago at a lunch in the War Memorial . Most of those present were school children at the time but all remembered vividly the night of terror and destruction.
Among those present was Esther Fyffe, 2010 Belfast Telegraph Woman of the Year in the Voluntary Sector, who experienced the blitz as a girl of eight growing up in Belfast.
One 79-year old woman from Newtownabbey recalls ‘My mother, two brothers, and myself sheltered in the cupboard under the stairs and thankfully were all unhurt.’
A 77-year old woman had a different experience, saying ‘I was a patient in the Benn ENT Hospital in Clifton Street on the night of the blitz. I was taken along with other patients, including gas mask, to the air raid shelter where we spent the night. Next morning all the patients were sent home as the Benn Hospital was needed for those injured in the raid.’
The occasion was marked by a talk by John Potter about the blitz and its devastating impact on the city. He too witnessed the aftermath of the raid when he arrived in Belfast York Road station on the morning after the blitz on his way to school in England.
The lunch and talk were organised by the War Memorial. The Chairman, Lieutenant Colonel C T Hogg, said ‘The blitz memorial is a permanent reminder of the loss of over a thousand lives as a result of the blitz on Belfast and other towns in 1941.’