Preparations for War

When the war was under way the government still was slow to react. It wasn’t until well into 1941 that the majority of NI was covered by Radar and steps had been taken to introduce anti-aircraft batteries. There were still far from enough anti-defence structures in place to keep NI safe.

RAF Reorganisation

By June 1940, the Nazis had defeated France and reached the Channel. Therefore air attacks were more likely to happen. This lead to reorganisation of the RAF which included:

• Increase in squadrons within NI
• Hurricane Fighter Aircraft
• Construction of airfields in Aldergrove and Ballykelly.

This did help in the defence of Northern Ireland from the Luftwaffe but still the RAF was too small to completely defend the whole of the state.

Prepared for Enemy Attack?

Northern Ireland didn’t compare to the wide-range of evacuation and air raid protection the rest of Britain had to offer prior to the outbreak of war.

• The Air Raid Precautions Act of 1938 didn’t make local council provisions of civil defence measures compulsory.
• ARP wardens had the job of enforcing blackouts, but didn’t seem to take this job seriously.
• NI didn’t carry masks until after the Belfast blitz.
• In July 1940, only 10% of a possible 70,000 children would be evacuated from Belfast.
• After 1 year of war only 15% of Belfast households got an Anderson Air Raid Shelter.

MacDermott’s Reforms

In June 1940, he was made the Minister of Public Security. He organised:

• Rapid increase of public air-raid shelters
• Reinforcement of the emergency services
• Efforts to evacuate children from Belfast

However it was too late. In April and May 1941, the Luftwaffe bombed Belfast. They were still very much too poorly equipped to be ready for the attacks with their defences and many people died.