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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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A Belfast Blitz

by CSV Media NI

Contributed by听
CSV Media NI
People in story:听
Sam Magee
Location of story:听
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A4044458
Contributed on:听
10 May 2005

This story was gathered and submitted by Roy Magee

鈥淚t鈥檚 not widely known today that Belfast was heavily bombed by the Germans during the war. said Sam Magee, my Dad. 鈥淭hey were after the shipyards and the industrial areas I think but their aim wasn鈥檛 that good. Most people only remember the IRA bombings but they鈥檙e only amateurs compared to the bloody Nazis.鈥
鈥淲e lived on the Shore Road right beside the railway shunting yard so we had an air-raid shelter in the back yard, just big enough for me and my Mum and Dad. When the sirens went we headed for the shelter and squeezed in. I remember my Mum鈥檚 knees knocking. Then we waited. 鈥淣ext came the droning of the German planes. That sound sent a chill down our spines, we knew what was coming. Then we heard the whistling bombs and the anti-aircraft guns started firing at the bastards. That heartened us. As we huddled together I noticed Mums teeth were chattering. She couldn鈥檛 help it.
鈥淭hen came a huge thud like a giant fist had punched the ground. The concrete roof of the shelter lifted a few inches letting in a flash of white light, revealing the fear written across my parent鈥檚 faces, then clunked back down. Then the deafening explosion itself ripped through the air. It went on and on with us not knowing if the next one would land on us.鈥淭he next day I found that my fish tank, which sat on the back window sill, was full of slates but my six goldfish had survived.鈥
鈥淎fter a few nights of that, we鈥檇 had enough and headed for my uncles house in Ligoniel just in time for another blitz. The Germans came in with the engines off.
We heard them swishing over our heads before dropping more whistlers on the Ardoyne.鈥 鈥淥ne night we decided to head into the fields. A lot of people were literally heading for the hills. Nowhere seemed safe. We had thick curtains over our heads to keep off the shrapnel from anti-aircraft shells. Many people thought the Germans were machine-gunning us but it was shrapnel from our own shells.
鈥淎ll the animals headed for the hills too and in the dead silence before the bombing all you could hear was the sound of hundreds of feet and hooves. Then when the bombs fell the people scattered or followed one another like sheep.
鈥淚n the confusion someone had abandoned a little girl only of three or four years old and wearing just her nightdress. I picked her up and wrapped her in one of the curtains and brought her to my Mum for safekeeping. She later took her to the police but I don鈥檛 know what happened to her after that, I hope she鈥檚 still alive and kicking somewhere.鈥

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