The sky was clearing in Belfast on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, as 180 German bombers took off from aerodromes in northern France. The pilots were in high spirits: 'We were in exceptional good humour knowing that we were going for one of England's last hiding places. Wherever Churchill is hiding his war material we will go. Belfast is as worthy a target as Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol or Glasgow.' The city was woefully ill-prepared for attack, and the Luftwaffe bombed Belfast almost completely unopposed. At one point the chief fire officer was found beneath a table in Chichester Street fire station, weeping and refusing to come out. An eye witness recalled: 'The sky was red, pure red.