1941: Ireland, Northern

Nazi bombers carried the war to Northern Ireland with an all-out raid on the night of April 15, 1941. The attack lasted several hours and covered the whole of the country. Some sections sustained heavy attacks, while others escaped with little damage. A number of industrial plants were hit and residential sections suffered heavily. There were several hundred deaths.

Except for this raid, Ulster has felt that war chiefly in unprecedented pressure upon its shipbuilding and other industries. In sharp contrast to the depression which affected these industries during the whole of the decade of the thirties, the past two years have brought intense activity. Every facility for shipbuilding has been constantly in use and all skilled workers pressed into employment.

In the crisis the age old conflict between North and South Ireland has all but been forgotten. For the first time in years, union between the two Irelands was not a primary political issue. The issue did arise indirectly, however, in connection with a renewal of talk of extending conscription to Northern Ireland. In the middle of May, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced in the British Parliament that the Government was 'considering' the extension of the draft to the six counties of Northern Ireland. The announcement stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition, both in Eire and Ulster. Prime Minister de Valera summoned a special session of the Dail Eireann at which the leaders of Eire's three political parties united in registering opposition to the proposal. The new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James M. Andrews, hurried to London for a consultation with Mr. Churchill. The Ulster Labor Party called for a plebiscite to decide the issue. Mass meetings in opposition to the draft were held in the six counties of the North as well as in Eire. It was feared that riots and bloodshed would become widespread if action were taken.

A crisis was averted, however, when Prime Minister Churchill announced on May 27 that conscription would not be applied to North Ireland for the present. The Prime Minister's statement was as follows: 'I said last week that this matter had been engaging our attention and we have made a number of inquiries in various directions with the result that we have come to the conclusion that at the present time, although there can be no dispute about our rights or the merits of the case, it would be more trouble than it is worth to enforce such a policy.'

A report that the United States was establishing naval and air bases in Northern Ireland caused a mild flurry early in July. It developed, however, that report grew out of the fact that Great Britain was employing several hundred American technicians and skilled workers on work for the British armed services. Part of the cost of the work was defrayed out of lend-lease funds.

Following extensive military maneuvers held late in June designed to test tactical plans for combatting an invasion of Britain by way of Ireland, questions were raised in the House of Commons regarding the ease with which Nazi spies might cross the Eire-Ulster border. It was pointed out that German agents could obtain military information in Ulster and cross the border into Eire and send their reports in a sealed diplomatic pouch from the German Legation in Dublin. To meet this situation talks were held in the week of July 12 in which Prime Minister Andrews of Northern Ireland, Sir Dawson Bates, Northern Ireland Home Secretary, and Mr. Herbert Morrison, British Home Secretary, participated. As a result of these conversations, steps were taken to tighten the military control along the border between Eire and Northern Ireland.

Cahir Healy, a Nationalist member of the Northern Ireland Parliament, was arrested at his home in Enniskillen on July 11 under the defense regulations. Mr. Healy had been interned by the Northern Ireland Government without charge from May 22, 1922 to Feb. 11, 1924. He is an author of some note, having published a volume of verse and a number of short stories and essays.