36ud

16/04/2026

15/04/2026

On Easter Tuesday 15th - 16th April 1941, the second Luftwaffe bombing raid during the Belfast Blitz took place. From 10:30pm until 05:00am 200 German bombers dropped high-explosive bombs and incendiaries on military and manufacturing targets causing mass destruction, and killing over 900 and wounding a further 1500.

Burke Street which ran between Annadale and Dawson streets in the New Lodge area, was completely wiped off the map with all its 20 houses flattened and all of the occupants killed.

By 6 am, within two hours of the request for assistance, 71 firemen with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dún Laoghaire were on their way to cross the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. In every instance, all stepped forward. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government.

In a German propaganda radio announcement “Lord Haw-Haw” stated that "The Führer will give you time to bury your dead before the next attack ... Tuesday was only a sample."

Three weeks after this attack on 4th - 5th May 1941 at around 1 am, Luftwaffe bombers flew over the city, concentrating their attack on the Harbour Estate and Queen's Island. Nearby residential areas in east Belfast were also hit when "203 metric tonnes of high explosive bombs, 80 land mines attached to parachutes, and 800 firebomb canisters containing 96,000 incendiary bombs"were dropped.

Over 200 people died in what became known as the 'Fire Raid'.

Casualties were lower than at Easter, partly because the sirens had sounded at 11.45 pm. Again the Irish emergency services crossed the border, this time without waiting for an invitation.

▶️ 36ud
💻 2026

🌺 Lest We Forget
🌍https://www.niwarmemorial.org/assets/documents/The-Belfast-Blitz-by-John-Potter-digital-download.pdf

15/04/2026

On Easter Tuesday, 15th April 1941 a large air raid was carried out by the German Luftwaffe on the City of Belfast.

This raid has been widely recorded however at the same time a raid took place targeting the Airfield at Newtownards. The blackout had been in force from 21:00 and the dreaded Air Raid siren was sounded at 23:00. As the aircraft of Kampfgruppe100 began bombing Newtownards fires blazed on Scrabo Hill with other bombs
falling on Green Road and Comber Road.

The airfield at Newtownards had been used as the Headquarters of 231 Squadron, Royal Air Force, since 15th July the previous year, was guarded by soldiers of 70th
(Young Soldiers) Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. (The Memorial in Court Square states Royal Irish Fusiliers - see photo)

These soldiers were too young for front line service and were used for homeland defence. The War Diary of the Battalion states:
“Newtownards Aerodrome was attacked with a considerable number of incendiary bombs and a few H.E. (High Explosive) bombs. One H.E. bomb fell in the hutments of “A” Company Headquarters. Casualties were 10 killed and 15 wounded”.

Warrant Officer Class II Alfred Penfold (36)
CQS William McMurray (27)
Lance Corporal Alexander Carlisle
Fusilier Ernest McNeill (17)
Fusilier William Bellamy (28)
Fusilier Samuel Burke (18)
Fusilier Andrew Copling (16)
Fusilier Hugh Fulton (17)
Fusilier George Graham
Fusilier Daniel Higgins
Fusilier Leslie Love (34)
Fusilier Samuel McFarland (19)
Fusilier Matthew Wright (18)

▶️ 36ud
📸 2026

14/04/2026

Join our Centenary Commemorations!

"He is not missing: He is here.”

In July 1927, these words were spoken by Field Marshal Lord Plumer at the unveiling of the Menin Gate. This was a promise made so that those who had fallen would never be forgotten.

Nearly one hundred years on, we keep this promise every day. Join us in July 2027 when we will be hosting a series of events to commemorate the centenary of this majestic Memorial to The Missing.

Save the date, register here and be the first to hear our plans: https://www.cwgc.org/newsletter-sign-up/

Evermore

14/04/2026

TITANIC MEMORIAL
Situated in the grounds of Belfast City Hall at Donegall Square, Belfast:

14th APRIL 1912 - GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS

Did you know over 2000 shipyard workers volunteered for service in the Great War, also:

SS NOMADIC
During WW1 and until 1919, SS Nomadic was requisitioned by the French government and she saw service as an auxiliary minesweeper
and patrol ship, also ferrying American troops to and from the harbour in Brest. The SS Nomadic has been restored to her original glory and is back home in Belfast’s historic Hamilton Dock in Titanic Quarter. Visitors can go on board and experience over 100 years of authentic maritime and social history.

RMS OLYMPIC
In October 1914 Olympic helped rescue
survivors from the British battleship HMS Audacious off the coast of NI.

In 1915, she became a troop transport and carried over 150,000 troops. Olympic was also attacked three times by German U-Boats, and even by an airplane, but survived each time. In May of 1918, the Olympic became the only merchant ship to deliberately ram and sink a U-boat when she sent U-03 to the bottom of the ocean.

RMS BRITANNIC
In November of 1915, the partially completed Britannic was taken over by the British navy and converted into a hospital ship. Britannic was set up to carry over 3,300 wounded
soldiers back to England. RMS became the HMHS (His Majesty’s Hospital Ship)

Britannic was the third “wonder ship” to be
built. Originally, the ship was to be named “Gigantic,” but due to the loss of the Titanic, her name was changed.

Britannic served in the Gallipoli campaign and was returned back to Belfast in June 1915 for a refitting as a liner and then was called back in to service.

Britannic left for the port of Mudros on 23rd December 1915. (Mudros is on an island in
the Mediterranean Sea) Over the next 11 months, the liner made 5 long voyages between Great Britain and Mudros, bringing over 15,000 wounded troops back home.

Her sixth voyage was never completed. The ship struck a mine (probably, it may have been a torpedo) near the Greek island
of Kea. She only lost 55 people, in spite of sinking faster than Titanic, demonstrating that the post Titanic improvements worked.

Britannic still rests off the Greek Island but there have been ongoing discussions to retrieve the ship or parts of the ship and bring them back to Belfast.

▶️ 36ud
📸 2016
💻 2026

🌍https://www.maritimebelfast.com/app/uploads/2018/11/WW1-Fact-Sheet-Titanic-Quarter-2018.pdf

14/04/2026

The following services will be taking place in France and Italy during May 2026:

Tuesday 12 May:

11:00 – A rededication service for Corporal Gilbert Nay Hamilton, 7th Battaion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, killed in action on 21 July 1943. This service will take place at Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy.

Tuesday 19 May:

13:30 – A burial service for Squadron Leader George M Fidler, 607 Sqn, Royal Air Force, who was killed in action on 19 May 1940. This service will take place at London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France.

Wednesday 20 May:

11.00 – A rededication service for Lieutenant Thomas Michael O'Neill, 43 Sqn, Royal Air Force and Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who was killed in action on 8 May 1918. This service will take place at Le Grand Beaumart Cemetery, Steenwerck, France.