The risk of encountering unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the UK as a result of World War II is not limited to London. Through a series of posts, Artios looks at the potential of UXO contamination at different locations across the UK.

A recent impartial Preliminary UXO Risk Assessment conducted for a client’s site in central Belfast brought to our attention the ‘Belfast Blitz’ of the summer of 1941, and how this links to other locations in the UK that were subjected to wartime ‘Strategic’ Bombing by the Luftwaffe, away from the well documented London Blitz.

Why belfast?

The famous “Adolf Hitler’s British Holiday Snaps” recovered after the war showed hundreds of secret aerial photographs of the UK taken during Luftwaffe reconnaissance operations to inform the planning of bombing raids. From these photographs we know that Luftwaffe flights over Belfast in November 1940 identified its manufacturing facilities as credible targets with high importance to the Allied war effort. It also appeared to the Luftwaffe that these facilities in Belfast were poorly defended by anti-aircraft batteries and RAF fighter support, in comparison to elsewhere in the UK. This lack of defences may have been due to an assumption on the part of the Allies that Belfast was on the fringes of the range of Luftwaffe bombers operating from aerodromes in Northern France and The Netherlands.

In April 1941, a small scale bombing raid conducted prior to the actual ‘Belfast Blitz’ caused relatively little damage, but it did confirm to the Luftwaffe that Belfast did lack defences. The Luftwaffe crews returning to base after this raid reported the defences were: “inferior in quality, scanty and insufficient”.

belfast blitz

On the evening of the 15th April 1941 over 150 bombers left their bases in occupied France and The Netherlands heading for Belfast. There are reports the group of bombers navigated using the lights of Dublin, which as a neutral country were not blacked-out, although it is likely the bombers predominately navigated by their tried and tested radio guidance beams and used the topography of the distinct Belfast Lough, with Belfast City at its end.

“They had no opposition, bombs continued to fall for five or six hours (an estimated 200 tonnes of high explosive bombs).”

At 10:40pm the bombers were spotted, and air raid sirens sounded across the city. As was the tactic of the time, flares and incendiary bombs were dropped initially to light up the city, followed by high explosive bombs. There were a number of types of bombers in the group which leads to the assumption that the full range of bomb sizes were dropped. Wave after wave of bombers attacked the city, destroying harbours and shipyards, public buildings and hospitals, power stations and factories. They had no opposition, bombs continued to fall for five or six hours (an estimated 200 tonnes of high explosive bombs).

A number of residential streets were heavily bombed during the raid. These explosions caused the majority of casualties that night, and it has been reported there were relatively few air raid shelters available. In total over 900 lives were lost that night. There was a second raid three weeks later and a similar amount of bomb tonnage was dropped, this time from a greater height by a more cautious Luftwaffe sortie. The air raid sirens sounded much earlier allowing the population to seek shelter, although this second raid still resulted in over 150 people losing their lives.

The Belfast raid was part of Hitler’s Directive 23, ‘Directions for operations against the British war economy’ made in March 1941 that also saw an increase in raids on coastal centres in Portsmouth, Plymouth, Liverpool, Southampton, Bristol, Hull, South Wales, the North East and Clydebank.

“This period of bombing accounted for smaller scale raids on Exeter, Bath, Norwich, Kings Lynn, York, Cowes, Poole, Grimsby, Canterbury, Ipswich, Weston-super-Mare and Colchester.”

Targeting of the civilian population by the Luftwaffe then increased after March 1942 in response to a significant Allied bombing raid on Germany which enraged Hitler. This strategy of Luftwaffe ‘Terror’ bombings lead to an even wider range of targets and it is believed a popular pre-war German travel guide for the British Isles, called the “Baedeker Guide”, was used by Luftwaffe command to identify culturally and historically important towns and cities. This period of bombing accounted for smaller scale raids on Exeter, Bath, Norwich, Kings Lynn, York, Cowes, Poole, Grimsby, Canterbury, Ipswich, Weston-super-Mare and Colchester.

Relevance of a UXO Desktop survey

A construction professional breaking ground outside of central London may often underestimate the potential for unexploded wartime bombs to be present. Although they are a relatively rare occurrence, an encounter is likely to cause significant business interruption to the project. An impartial Preliminary, and if required Detailed, UXO Risk Assessment will provide confidence that the UXO risk is managed safely, effectively and efficiently.

Get in touch