Background
Belfast had an enviable engineering tradition. As the United Kingdom was preparing for the conflict, the factories and shipyards of Belfast were gearing up. Belfast made a considerable contribution towards the Allied war effort, producing many naval ships, aircraft and munitions; therefore, the city was deemed a suitable bombing target by the Luftwaffe.
Meanwhile, unlike Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland was no longer part of the UK. The Free State had declared its neutrality during the Second World War. Although it arrested German spies that its police and military intelligence services caught, the state never broke off diplomatic relations with Axis nations: the German Legation in Dublin stayed open throughout the war.
Read more about this topic: Belfast Blitz
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