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By the end of June 1940, Britain stood alone against Germany.

However, Britain’s army lacked the numbers and the equipment needed to defend against an invasion.

As a result:

• Factories worked multiple shifts to produce aircraft, tanks and heavy weapons. Their efforts were boosted by the introduction of a government campaign for scrap metal.
• Over 500,000 rifles were ordered from the USA.
• The Local Defence Volunteers (later renamed the Home Guard) was established in May 1940. In just over a year it had over a million members.

Although the Royal Navy had begun a blockade of the North Sea and was patrolling the Channel to defend against the German navy, the RAF was in a stronger position than other branches of the military due to ongoing improvements since 1935.

Radar provided advance warning of the approach of enemy aircraft while the RAF was reorganised into three sections:

1. Fighter Command.
2. Bomber Command.
3. Coastal Command.

In July 1940, Britain rejected Hitler’s offer of a peaceful end to the war in return for Britain recognising Nazi domination of Western Europe.

Hitler responded by ordering the implementation of Operation Sealion: the invasion of Britain.

Before this could start, the RAF would have to be destroyed as its control of the skies over the English Channel would prevent a successful sea invasion being launched from northern France.

• 12 August 1940: The Luftwaffe launched Operation Eagle, its attack on the RAF. This aimed to gain air supremacy by bombing RAF airfields and destroying planes on the ground. If any aircraft were able to take off, they would be shot down by German fighters. Although initial Luftwaffe losses were greater (225 aircraft against the RAF’s 117), it had significantly more aircraft and so it is likely that if these attacks had continued the RAF would eventually have been worn down.

• 7 September 1940: The Luftwaffe switched tactics in response to recent RAF raids on Berlin and started to bomb London. The raids continued for months and were extended to include cities such as Coventry, Liverpool and Glasgow. While the nightly blitz caused massive devastation, the change of tactics allowed the RAF to reorganise and obtain newly manufactured aircraft. This meant that the RAF continued to control the skies over Britain.

• 17 September 1940: Operation Sealion was postponed. Apart from the decision to stop bombing RAF bases, the RAF’s victory was ultimately due to its use of radar and the superiority of the Spitfire as an aircraft.

The Battle of Britain was significant for a number of reasons:

• It was the first important military campaign to be fought entirely by aircraft, showing how technology was changing the nature of war.
• It was the largest and most continuous aerial bombing campaign to have been undertaken.
• It marked the first time that Hitler’s military forces had tasted defeat since the start of the World War Two.
  • The German leader now made the decision to switch his attention to the invasion of the USSR, a decision that would ultimately play a significant part in the defeat of the Nazis.
• It was a significant morale boost to the people of Great Britain, reinforcing their decision to keep going in their fight against Germany.

From early on in the War, Germany began bombing cities and industrial sites in Britain.

At first, the Luftwaffe largely concentrated on London, but before long other cities, ports and industrial areas were targeted.

Northern Ireland was not initially targeted, but then in April and May 1941, Belfast was hit in four major German air raids (7-8 April, 15-16 April, 4-5 May and 5-6 May).

The most devastating raid was on 15-16 April, which caused serious damage and heavy casualties.

Over 150 planes were sent to attack Belfast.

The Germans had good reconnaissance photographs which helped pin-point targets.

On the night of the second raid a full moon and the lack of cloud cover meant the Luftwaffe pilots were able to see their targets clearly.

During one raid, strong winds blew German bombs into residential areas.

Northern Ireland had the lowest number of air raid shelters of any city in the United Kingdom.

This was partly because Belfast was built on bogland which meant underground shelters were difficult to build.

People avoided using the public shelters, because they were often vandalised and Anderson shelters sometimes collapsed inwards.

There were both local and international reasons for Germany attacking Belfast.

• By 1941, the war was not going well for Germany. Hitler desperately needed to disrupt the convoy system and win the Battle of the Atlantic. He hoped to do this by attacking Belfast which was playing an important industrial role in the war.
• The concentration of prime targets within a one-mile radius made Belfast a tempting target.
• Belfast was also a soft target. Reconnaissance flights by the Germans revealed it was defended by only one fighter squadron and 22 heavy aircraft guns. There were no search lights, no night fighters, no smoke screen and very few barrage balloons.

• Stormont and Westminster argued about who should pay for civil defence, which delayed action.

• Stormont ministers believed Northern Ireland would not be bombed.

They thought:

• It was too far away from mainland Europe.
• The Luftwaffewould concentrate on the more valuable industrial and strategic targets in Britain.
• When Éire declared neutrality in September 1939, some Ministers were sure Hitler would not bomb Northern Ireland because it might result in Éire entering the war and strengthening to the Allied Forces.
• Some unionists also suspected de Valera had done a deal with Hitler, preventing bombing in Belfast in order to protect nationalist areas.

For these reasons, Northern Ireland's preparations for the protection of its civilians were inadequate.

In Northern Ireland, in 1939, there were:

• no RAF night fighters.
• no searchlights.
• no smoke screen.
• very few anti-aircraft guns.
• two small barrage balloons.
• too few air raid shelters.

Even when war was declared, Stormont was slow to take decisive action.

Indeed, government officials returned Air Raid Precautions (ARP) equipment to Britain, thinking it would not be needed.

There was a shortage of water for fighting fires because:

• German bombs shattered the city's old clay water pipes and reduced the water pressure;
• Luftwaffe pilots targeting the docks mistook their target and bombed the Belfast waterworks instead - damaging the water supply.

As a result, fires raged out of control in the second and third raids.

During the first raid many people either stayed in their homes or reacted so slowly to the sirens they did not get to the air raid shelters in time.

There were too few air raid patrol (ARP) wardens and many were not properly trained.

Some deserted their posts and left the city with other civilians.

The fire crews from Éire were not familiar with the city and lack of compatibility of equipment between the two parts of Ireland hampered firefighting.

These difficulties for emergency services led to higher numbers of casualties in Northern Ireland during theBlitz, some of which could have been prevented.

In Belfast, people lived in close proximity to their workplace.

The bombing of industrial sites meant large numbers of workers' houses were also hit.

In addition:

• Most dwellings were Victorianterraces which simply collapsed when bombs shook the ground.
• The population density in Belfast was higher than in other cities.
• Higher numbers of people living in a smaller area meant the number of fatalities were greater when the bombs hit.

The Blitz had a devastating impact.

• In Belfast, 955 people were killed and 2436 people were injured.
• More than 50% of houses were damaged or destroyed. 100,000 people were made homeless temporarily. 15,000 people lost their homes permanently.
• The damage was so severe in the shipyards and factories that industrial production did not return to normal for six months.
• Complacency among the population and government quickly ended.
  • People were terrified of more attacks. At night, they fled from the city to the hills around Belfast due to fears of further attacks. They were known as 'ditchers'.
  • Large numbers of people permanently left Belfast. Thousands crossed into Éire.
  • Thousands of others left the city to live with family or friends in places like Bangor, Larne, Carrickfergus and Antrim.

Belfast's air defences were strengthened and more shelters were constructed.

There was a temporary easing of sectarian tension because:

• The assistance of Éire’s fire brigades during the Blitz helped unionists feel less threatened.
• There was cross-community co-operation during the Blitz between the Falls and the Shankill Roads because both communities were concerned with protecting all the public from a common enemy.

The Blitz also exposed the scale of poverty in large areas of Belfast and how inadequate the government’s social policies had been in the past.

• Most workers were crowded into flimsy back-to-back Victorian houses which had no bathroom and only a shared outside toilet.
• Tuberculosis was a common disease and accounted for 49 per cent of all deaths of 15-25 year olds.
• The risk of death giving birth was 60 per cent higher than in Britain.
• One in eight babies died in Belfast which was double the number in places like Manchester.

Relatively speaking, Belfast suffered more from Luftwaffe attacks than other British cities had up to that point.

The 745 deaths that resulted from the raid of 15-16 April was greater than the deaths resulting from a single raid elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Other parts of Northern Ireland also suffered, including Derry/Londonderry, Bangor and Newtownards.

The attacks also exposed the poverty, poor quality of housing and poor health, particularly in urban areas.

A review showed that massive improvements to existing housing were needed, alongside a substantial programme of house building.

It also recommended improvements to health and education.

In light of the extremely poor health of many of its poorest citizens, Stormont established a new Ministry of Health and Local Government in 1944.

When war began in September 1939, Éire declared it would remain neutral during what it referred to as ‘The Emergency’.

It resisted pressure from Britain, and later from the USA, to join the war.

Despite neutrality, there remained the possibility that Germany might invade Éire before invading Britain.

This possibility - discussed by representatives of both governments - also made it likely that British Army units would move into Éire to secure its vulnerable western flanks.

• Éire’s defences were strengthened. The army was expanded from 19,000 men to over 40,000, and new armoured cars were acquired.
• A Local Defence Volunteers reserve force was established, though it was poorly equipped.
• Six light torpedo boats were purchased, and war ships and submarines belonging to other nations were not allowed in Éire’s territorial waters. Fishermen and amateur yachtsmen formed a Coastal Patrol to watch for signs of invasion.
• An air force was established.

De Valera also moved against the IRA as he was determined its activities would not anger the British and so endanger Éire's neutrality.

He had already declared the IRA illegal in 1936, but its activities continued in Britain and in Ireland when the war began.

Using the Offences against the State Act, internment was implemented against up to 1,000 suspected IRA members.

Six IRA members were hanged and when a further three went on hunger strike nothing was done to prevent their deaths.

De Valera’s stance - which broke the IRA - was supported by the vast majority of the population.

The war – or ‘the Emergency’ as it was called – impacted on Éire as follows:

• Poor Luftwaffe navigation led to Dublin being bombed several times. In one attack (May 1941), 28 people died (estimates vary) and hundreds of houses were damaged.
• The Ministry of Supplies was set up under Seán Lemass. He established the Irish Shipping Company to carry supplies previously brought in by British ships. However, factories still had to close because they could not get hold of sufficient natural resources or manufacturing equipment.
• The closure of factories had an impact on employment and many people left for Britain. It is estimated that between 1939 and 1945 about 200,000 Irish people emigrated.
• Petrol and coal were in particularly short supply. Therefore, usage of public transport increased whilst the use of peat as fuel increased many times over.
• Ireland benefited from a food surplus. However, the lack of available artificial fertilisers damaged productivity even if much more land was being used to grow crops. Attempts to increase wheat production failed due to the climate and the lack of artificial fertilisers. For these reasons rationing had to be introduced.
• The lack of corn meant that home-grown grain had to be used to feed livestock.
• Tea and sugar were rationed while fruit and chocolate became unavailable. Cross-border smuggling therefore increased and a black market emerged. However, the availability of most meat and dairy produce (and the potato) meant that most people were able to survive.
• Inflation increased while wages were kept down by the government. The fall in living standards impacted on the poor in particular and diseases such as TB became more common.

At the same time, there were no wartime blackouts in Éire and cinemas and theatres remained open for business – including to patrons from Northern Ireland.

Despite the support for neutrality, harsh conditions meant that de Valera's party, Fianna Fáil, lost ten seats in the 1943 general election.

Within a year, all but one of these seats had been regained in another election, called by de Valera to take advantage of the increased popularity of his government as a result of the Allies’ decision to isolate Ireland in advance of D-Day.

This was due to de Valera’s refusal to close the German and Japanese embassies in Dublin to prevent leaks of the Allied invasion plans.

Nevertheless, the people of Éire were affected less than those in Britain and Northern Ireland.

The devastation highlighted how inadequate the actions of the government had been under the leadership of Craigavon and later J.M. Andrews (who had become Prime Minister in 1940).

This eventually led to a change in leadership of the government.

1. The Unionist Party lost two safe seats in by-elections in 1942.
2. By 1943, continued disappointment with the leadership led to Andrews’ most qualified ministers threatening to resign.
3. In April, Andrews finally stood down and was replaced by Basil Brooke.

Relations between nationalists and unionists fluctuated.

Shared experiences and mutual help during the raids helped reduce tension, but false rumours that the lights on the Catholic Falls Road had been left on so the Luftwaffe could locate the Protestant Shankill Road increased ill feeling.

There was also resentment between the two communities because of, on the one side, the Protestant-dominated Home Guard, and on the other, IRA activities and pro-German slogans on walls in nationalist areas.

The relationship between Northern Ireland and Britain became very strained at times during the war.

1. There were disputes over which government should pay for civil defences.
2. At the beginning of the war, unionists were hurt by Churchill’s criticism of Northern Ireland’s contribution.
3. Unionists resented Britain offering to end partition in return for Éire entering the war, while Craigavon was particularly disappointed conscription was not introduced.

However, Northern Ireland’s overall economic and strategic role in the war effort helped improve relations with Britain.

1. The awarding of defence contracts to Northern Ireland’s shipping and aircraft companies, and the 30,000 jobs they brought, was appreciated.
2. In 1945, Churchill praised the ‘loyalty and friendship of Northern Ireland’ and its contribution to the war effort.

As a result, after the war, Northern Ireland was granted equality with Britain in health, housing and education, which helped transform the region after 1945.

Overall, the relationship between Northern Ireland and Éire was tense.

However, there was gratitude because de Valera sent fire fighters from Dundalk and Drogheda to help in the Belfast Blitz.

The people of Northern Ireland were unaware of Éire's secret help to Britain during the war.