For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. At 10:40 on the evening of Easter Tuesday 1941 air raid sirens sounded across Belfast, sending people across the city scrambling for safety - in one of the 200 public shelters in the city or the thousands of shelters or other "safe" spaces in private homes. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the governments dire predictions. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours. 1. The first was on the night of 7-8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. Gring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the citys formidable air defense network. In Bristol, the bombed-out ruins of St Peter's Church were left standing with added memorial plaques to the civilians who were killed. "Through resources such as the Public Records Office and ancestry and genealogy websites I managed to get about 100 photos - which is about one tenth of the victims," he says. The ill-fated ship was built in the city in 1912, and to this day, there is a museum dedicated to its building and the lives of all of those on board. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germanys invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. The telegram was sent at 4:35am,[citation needed] asking the Irish Taoiseach, amon de Valera for assistance. The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End. 8. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. 2. It lies where the Lagan River flows into a part of the Irish Sea. Interesting facts about Belfast | Just Fun Facts Belfast's Albert Clock tower is sinking - it leans by four feet.