The Belfast Blitz: Three Nights That Changed a City

Belfast was poorly prepared for aerial attack. The city had only 22 anti-aircraft guns — compared to over 100 in other British cities of similar size — and virtually no searchlights or barrage balloons. The authorities believed Belfast was too far north to be within range of German bombers.

They were wrong. On the night of 15 April 1941, over 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked the city in what became known as the Easter Tuesday raid. The bombs devastated working-class areas around York Street and the docks. Over 900 people were killed in a single night — proportionally the heaviest death toll of any UK city raid outside London.

A second major raid on 4-5 May 1941 targeted the shipyards and aircraft factory at Short & Harland. Fire brigades from as far as Dublin crossed the border to help fight the blazes. The Belfast Blitz displaced over 100,000 people and destroyed half the city's housing stock.