Gas
Gas could be dropped from aeroplanes and was a very nasty weapon of use during the war. There were several types of gases, and all were poisonous. People would breathe in the gas, choke, and die coughing. Gas was largely used in the First World War. If gas was to be dropped onto Britain, many would die as there would be little protection.
The government decided that the best option was to distribute gas masks. Thirty-eight million gas masks were given out, they were easy to wear and they had to fit tightly around the face. They were made out of rubber and smelt, the eye window often steamed up, but could be cleaned with spit or soapy water.
Special models were designed for children. They were made of red rubber and the wearer often resembled Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Gas masks on babies were frightening and they hated being inside. They were airtight. Somebody would need to pump oxygen into the mask. If they stopped at anytime, the baby could suffocate. Even new-born babies had gas masks.
Mothers often worried for their child. If the person pumping the air in was injured the baby would die. Gas cannot be seen so special paint was put on the tops of pillar-boxes. The paint was yellow and could detect gas if it was in the air.
Gas masks had to be carried everywhere. They came with a cardboard box and a long strap of string. Some cinemas wouldn’t allow people in without a gas mask, but this was at the beginning of the war. Many were worried that Hitler would use gas. However Hitler didn’t use gas throughout the entire war. People became tired of carrying the heavy gas masks around, and chose to carry the box around with sweets or other such snacks or small items in.
Blackout
The blackout began two days before the war. Under blackout rules, everyone had to cover up their windows at night with special blackout material. The material could be bought at 10p (2s) a yard. This made it difficult for German bombers to find their targets in the dark. Housewives sadly dyed sheets black, if they didn’t buy the material, or as an extra. Others put up carpets, blankets or brown paper over the windows.
People spent hours making the new curtains, and made them only for the downstairs rooms. They went to bed in the dark. The edges of windows were painted black; the curtain would often leave a slit of light.
Factories, shops, schools and other such public or private buildings also had to have blackout preparations made. Pubs and shops were difficult to blackout; people were always going in and out.
Streetlights were switched off, and people fell off pavements, bumped into each other or lamp posts and suffered from accidents. Road accidents were at large at the beginning of the blackout but soon decreased. Some people drowned in ponds and rivers, the dark provided an evil death. People chose to crawl their ways home when they had to go by water. Sailors spent their evenings in the pubs. They had to be back at their ships at 10pm, and often drowned in the waters on their way back, and it was always possible that they would be drunk. Time curfews were extended to allow time for sobering up.
The people of Britain saw the blackout as an irritation; people were accused of being spies if they showed any light at all. Wardens patrolled the streets looking for any light. You could be fined for showing light. Torches were covered in two layers of tissue paper if they were needed and always were aimed directly at the ground. Cigarettes weren’t to be lit outside, they could have been interpreted as light, and people were in trouble if they were caught. Slowly the government realised that a cigarette burning couldn’t be seen by an aeroplane, they were allowed to smoke on the streets yet weren’t allowed to strike a match.
The darkness was liked by three groups of people, lovers, criminals and astronomers.
Many things were painted with white stripes. Corners of buildings, lamppost bases, pavement edges and even animals had stripes painted on them. The animals were generally in the country but were free to roam and could have easily been knocked down by passing vehicles. It proved impossible to mark them however!
Evacuation
The government knew that Hitler and his army would use bombs as a defence, they also thought that gas would be used. They wanted children and recent mothers to be safe, the endangered were sent to the country where they were less likely to be bombed. This system was called Evacuation.
Evacuation first started on the 1st September 1939. Throughout the autumn and summer the government evacuated at least 650,000 children and 25,000 civil servants from the dangerous places. Families could arrange their own evacuations, or children could be evacuated with their schools. Their teachers would go with them. Children under five would be allowed to travel with their mothers. On average, schools evacuated 2,000 a day. Organisation was very good. Trains took over one million evacuees from London.
Each child had an expected load.
By 1939 there had been few attacks on British cities, and many of the evacuees returned home. The Government distributed posters and other such advertisements in 1940, urging mothers to leave their children in the country.
The rich children and children of the poor were mixed and often were chosen to suit a home the opposite of their class. After the war people from the rich areas, saw the poverty that the others of the towns lived in, and set out to adjust living conditions.
When the children arrived in the country, they were often surprised by what they saw. Few had seen, or been to the country before. Brothers and sisters were split up on most occasions. To begin with children were home sick. They were staying with strangers and were a long way from their homes. Some of the evacuees settled down and learnt to love their new homes, others weren’t so lucky. They hated the country. It didn’t have the sights they were used to; fish and chip shops, Woolworths, cinemas and most of all, crowds.
Mothers missed their evacuated children and by Christmas, had them at home. When the bombs began to fall again, the children left for a second time. Sometimes they returned home for holidays and sometimes they returned home because they had runaway.
The Home Guard
Britain got ready to go to war with Germany. Eight months into the war, in May 1940 a part – time army had been set up, the ‘Local Defence Volunteers’ (LDV). Recruitment was called from the ages from 17 to 65. Soon the LDV’s name became the Home Guard.
By July, there were over 1.5 million volunteers for this new force. Spare time, outside of their usual jobs was spent training for combat, or guarding important sites such as factories, railways and bridges. These were main targets for destruction. The main job of the Home Guard was to ward off landings by German parachute troops. People of the towns were scared of being captured by the troopers.
Daily life had changed dramatically. Large military camps were set up, often in the old habitats of parks or large houses. Church bells were only rung as an addition to the air raid siren. They were a warning.
Barriers were set up to hold up enemy progress. Pillboxes were built mainly in Cumbria, and were built so strongly that they stand to this day, in the year 2000. Barbed wire was put on beaches of the south coast to prevent access. Civilians were encouraged not to go on the beaches, for their own safety. Trenches were dug in hilltops for soldiers to hide in and huge blocks were placed in roads and fords to obstruct entrance to towns.
Disused cars and lorries were spread all over fields in southern England to add an extra difficulty for German troops landing. Runways which German planes could use were broken up; scrap metal was also put on the fields.
Women weren’t permitted to join the Home Guard, but many formed fighting units and trained with guns.
All sorts of weapons were carried, mostly guns but even chair legs. There were just as a defence, incase the troopers became violent. The Home Guard designed and carried its own weapons. The ‘Molotov Cocktail’ was made in a bottle and was designed to blow up a tank, but usually just blew up the thrower instead. The ‘pike’ wasn’t used a lot by the Guards, it was a joke. A long, thick metal pipe, about 1-½ metres long, and had a bayonet at the end. It was for close range fighting.
By 1941, more guns, such as the Lewis gun were being carried.
Hand grenades were used and were deadly. Home Guards struggled to throw them, to their furthest. They could kill someone 20 metres away and were very dangerous if they fell short.
Observer Corps watched the skies and would telephone the army or RAF headquarters. The approach of aircraft could be spotted earlier than its arrival, thanks to the newly developed radar. Radio signals, sent out from tall metal masts, bounced off the aircraft and were picked up by a scanner.
Members of the Home Guard took down road signs, street nameplates, signposts and even footpath signs. They were stored during the war. This was to confuse any German who had managed to land.
The Home Guard would check the identification cards, that had to be carried by everyone. This was a precaution against spies and the Germans. If you didn’t have a card, you could find yourself in a great deal of trouble.
In 1940, there was a rumour that Germans would be parachuted into Britain dressed as nuns. Various ways were suggested of finding out if they were foreigners.
At first the Home Guard didn’t have a uniform, but an armband which had LDV on. By1941 the Government gave them a denim uniform so that people understood that they had authority. They still kept the armband. Home Guards had to share metal helmets, as there was a shortage.
By 1943 there were two million men in the Home Guard. Games without bullets were developed to put their skills into practice. The men had guns and had to fire at other teams. A referee said who was dead and who were not. The dead ones were given a chalked white cross on their backs. Wives and girlfriends laughed at the proceedings.
Battles were fought in the dark and this could prove difficult. Home Guards could fall over cliffs, in ponds or lead themselves into marshes and could simply die from foolish actions.
Parachutes were also dropped with bombs and this scared some of the Home Guards, 7,000 Home Guards were trained in bomb disposal. They were brave men and often took unexploded bombs to pieces. The Home Guard ended with the war. They never had to fight abroad and had worked very hard. They were unpaid.
Prisoners Of War
The Government were worried that there might be spies in Britain, so just in case, they rounded up over 60,000 Germans and Austrians that were in Britain. They also gathered up the Czechs and Italians just to be on the safe side. Sadly, this included foreign families who had lived in Britain for generations: others were refugees, many of them Jewish. They would have fought gladly alongside Britain.
The Government put the rounded people into three groups. A, B and C. Group A was immediately interned; the rest were mostly interned by the summer of 1940. Some killed themselves rather than face being locked up. Some of the aliens, as they were called, were kept out of camps and used for their skills. Some worked on the developments of a new top secret atomic bomb. They stayed free, but at a price. They weren’t allowed to own a car, a bike or map without permission.
Sir Claus Moser’s family were Jewish Refugees, but they were interned in 1940. In 1983 he recalled;
“I think the government of the day panicked. Of course, there might have been spies. But I can’t believe it was necessary to lock up thousands of people, some of them great scientists and engineers who could have been useful. Surely a couple of days, checking background, would have revealed that most of us had more reason to hate Hitler than the British.”
On the Isle of Man, the aliens were getting themselves organised. They set up their own university and soon were released to work in the industries or agriculture.
Another group of aliens were put in a camp and referred to as POW (Prisoners Of War). These were enemies caught after landing in Britain.
The POW believed Germany would invade Britain, and they could be freed, but their ideas were dashed. Most POWs didn’t go home till 1948. Even then some chose to stay, married local women and never returned to their homeland.
Rationing
One of the main aims of German operations in the battle of the Atlantic was to cut supplies of food and other goods to Britain.
The British Government knew that rationing would be necessary due to previous wars. They set up a special department; it was called the Ministry of Food. The man in charge was Lord Woolton. He helped people in Liverpool and owned a great superstore in Manchester before the role of Minister of Food.
He wanted to help housewives. He set out to make sure that everyone had food and did it forcefully. He spoke on the radio. Housewives believed he cared. He advertised in newspapers and used posters to tell what foods were good for people and a poem was written to develop good spirit.
“I saw three ships a-sailing
But not with food for me
For I am eating home-grown foods
To beat the enemy;
And ships are filled with guns
instead
To bring us victory.”
Mass Observation, May1941
(Taken from War At Home, Fiona Reynoldson)
Rationing was introduced in 1940. The Government realised we needed to be able to produce our own crops and be self-sufficient.
By January 1940, everyone had a ration book. Everytime you bought bacon, butter or sugar, the shopkeeper took a coupon from your book as well as the money. The end of 1941 added jam, meat and tea added to the list.
The Government introduced a point system; each person was allowed food valued at 16 points per month. Shopping became a difficult job; each food had a different number of points! Pregnant women and children got a greater amount of food and less pregnant women died during childbirth in the war than before it.
Poorer people had a better diet than before, and although some grumbled about the idea of rationing, they couldn’t do anything to stop it. People had a better diet than ever before, with 6% more fibre than before the war. Rationing provided a fair share to each and every one of the dieting British.
Restaurants could only charge 25p per meal; and meals were restricted to one course.
If you had more money, you could buy more food, but that was against the law. The place where you could get more food, tights and other things that were hard to buy, was called the Black Market. If you were caught buying or selling on the Black Market, you could be imprisoned.
Lunches and dinners became simple. Meat used, was often Whalemeat as many found out, when they befriended the local butcher.
Vida Evans remembered packed lunches (1987)
“I used to take a packed lunch sometimes to the factory. One day, I couldn’t recognise the filling in the sandwich. I didn’t like it very much but ate it because I was hungry.
When I got home I asked Mum what wasin the sandwich. She wouldn’t tell me at first, but then told me it was cow’s udders! I was nearly sick on the spot.”
Mass Observation,
May1941 (Taken from War At Home, Fiona Reynoldson)
Potatoes, carrots and bread were in the plenty, and so were not rationed. People were encouraged to eat them. Two cartoon characters were cultivated and appeared everywhere.
They said carrots and potatoes were good for you. It was important to see in the dark, Dr carrot helped you do so. Potato Pete was full of energy and was very healthy.
Bread was not rationed. British bread was often a grey colour! It could be made from British wheat, some weren’t happy about this.
They thought American wheat was a better crop but the ships were needed for different supplies. If people chose not to eat British bread, they were urged to eat more potatoes.
A Christmas potato fair was held in London 1942. Visitors had to sign a promise.
“ I PROMISE AS MY CHRISTMAS GIFT TO SAILORS WHO HAVE TO BRING OUR BREAD THAT I WILL DO ALL I CAN TO EAT HOME-GROWN POTATOES."
Recipes were devised for carrots and potatoes; Lord Woolton found and suggested knew ways of serving them and even made up a little rhyme to pass the time.
“Those who have the will to win
Cook potatoes in their skin
Knowing that the sight of peelings
Deeply hurts Lord Woolton’s
Feelings.”
A weeks diet looked like the following.
Beer wasn’t rationed. It was only thought that it was possibly watered down.
Dig for Victory
Many people made up for the shortages by growing food for themselves. The Government told them to ‘Dig for Victory’ Flowers beds were dug up and planted with potatoes instead. People kept chickens on their house roofs, they ate their pet rabbits and London Zoo even took in pigs.
Most people were very keen. Cabbages and beans filled the back gardens, in the front of the house, Lettuces were often visible alongside the footpath while potatoes took up the main grassland.
Vegetables could be grown on rubbish dumps, railway embankments and even bombsites were dug up and planted!
People needed meat as well as the vegetables. The Government encouraged that small animals were kept. Rabbit skin could be used to make gloves and gave as much as 2 ½ lbs. of meat. Children became fond of the rabbits and made the killing difficult. Hens however weren’t that loved but they posed the problem of where to get their feed?
Goats were kept in large back gardens, pigs were very popular and even a cow, but that needed a larger area to live in.
By 1944 there was twice as much potatoes grown, twice as much wheat and barley, the end result at the end of the war, was marvellous!
Entertainment
Radio
The BBC spoke out to the public regularly over the radio. In Britain there was no shortage of listeners. They were often in. In they evening because of the blackout and air raids.
Above all, most people listened to the news. Sometimes two-thirds of all the adults listened to the 9.00o’clock bulletin.
Even through the bombing, the news reporters showed determination and continued. Despite the Broadcasting House being bombed three times! The readers slept in bunks in an underground studio.
Comedy and variety shows were also popular. Perhaps the most famous show was named after a Daily Express headline about Hitler: IT’S THAT MAN AGAIN. People soon called it ITMA for short. The show was based around a Liverpool comedian called Tommy Handley. He was a fast talker, the show aimed a joke every eleven seconds! All ITMA shows were scripted.
The BBC also broadcast in foreign languages, at least forty alternative ones! People in many countries began to trust the BBC and were eager listeners. Some Germans listened to find out what was going on, even though it was banned.
Public places
Public places were closed including cinemas, theatres and dance halls. Even football matches, matches if a bomb fell during a game, thousands would die. However, as the bombs didn’t fall straight away, cinemas were re-opened as pubs and the radio grew tiresome.
The cinema then became very popular, it was also quite cheap. Only happy films and love films were wanted, people wanted nothing about the war to be seen.
Some people liked to dance; there were dances everywhere. All over the country there were thousands of sailors, soldiers and airmen. They all wanted to dance and meet girls. American soldiers brought over dances such as the jitterbug or the jive, the British loved to dance, and it was so energetic.
Football matches started again, only small crowds were allowed. Fifteen thousand fans could watch in some places. Bombs were still falling, but small crowds were at least safer and meant that less died.
Most of the football players were in the airforce or army, sometimes an army side might have been all international!
The Men and The Women
The Men
All fit, young men were ‘called up’ and had to leave home to join the army, navy or airforce. If they volunteered they had the option as to which they enlisted but if they were made under force, they were put into any one.
At first they had to be between the ages of 20-22, but this was changed to between 18-41. British men were sent to Africa, the Far East and Europe. Some of them were away so long, that their own families didn’t recognise them on their home arrival.
Men such as scientists and engineers did not join the forces, as their jobs were more important in wartime. Also the men, who were not as fit as expected, could join in other Special Forces, such as the home guard, the fire fighters or ARP Wardens.
The women
Women had volunteered to help during the first war, and had done the job well. Yet their achievement was not recognised by the male dominated world. However, their participation was called for again in the Second World War.
Domestic work was out and Factory work was in, it offered a freedom and the women were glad to be of help.
The women’s land army helped Britain to feed its population during the war years. The work was varied and tough. It included milking cows and doing diary work, taking care of animals, tractor driving, fieldwork, pest control, and fruit and vegetable cultivation and timber production.
To join the land army you had to be between the ages of 17-40 and be strong and healthy. You also had to be willing to be sent wherever in Britain you were needed and be willing to work well.
Lady Denman started the land army. There were 90,000 land girls by 1943, meaning that more land work was done by females then the males.
The land army was not well paid. In 1944 the girls were paid around £2.8s.0d (£2.40) per week. They paid half of that for board and lodging.
The woman’s air force was called the Woman’s Auxiliary Air Force or W.A.A.F for short. The army was called the Woman’s Auxiliary Territorial Service or A.T.S for short. The navy was called the Woman’s Royal Naval Service or for short WRNS.
The women did not usually fight. They worked as cooks typists or office girls. Some could drive cars, and while they worked the men were free to join up.
Posters were put up, propelling women to join.
Some women had very exciting jobs. They delivered aeroplanes; they then took them to the airfields from the factories.
Many women worked in the factories, they made guns, munitions
(shells and bullets), tanks, aircraft and had to work hard. A girl would need to start work at 8.00am and finish after 7.00pm. They often still had the energy to go dancing afterwards!
Munitions factories were very dangerous. Bombs were also made there, they were liable to blow up. Bombs were made in small huts that were spaced out, so if the bomb did go, it didn’t set the others off.
Once a female teacher had married, she had to resign. When the men went to fight, 30,000 female teachers resumed their jobs. Women taught at boys’ schools and even taught football.
Schools
Children found the war exciting. It was horrible to lose relatives and homes to bombs but as long as they were safe, they were enjoying themselves.
Schools were moved away from the cities, this usually meant going to a new place and often schooling was only half a day.
Children did not go to school for several reasons, firstly they may have had no home, the school could have been bombed or their mothers were working wartime jobs. This meant that the elder children needed to look after the younger. Children were also sent to queue for food.
Clothes were also rationed and the children may have not had shoes.
Many schools had air raid rules. Some schools had school shelters or the children would have to go home and return when the ‘all clear’ was given. Many didn’t return and came up with very poor excuses. Sometimes school would be closed till the next day, just as a precaution after a nearby bombing.
Some children did not like games or P.E so they were allowed to help out on the farms instead. They dug potatoes or helped milk the cows.
Children had a lot of freedom during the war, their mothers were working and their fathers fighting. The children enjoyed the freedom, but death and war were never to far away.
Make Do and Mend
Clothes were rationed during the war, just like food, petrol and soap. Clothing rationing began on 1st June 1941. Everyone was allowed 66 clothing coupons a year, which could get you a complete outfit each year. People who wore uniforms often gave up some of their coupons for their uniform. A nurse gave up 10 coupons for example. School uniform cost coupons too.
Some clothes were not rationed, Hats and men’s Braces weren’t rationed, both were difficult to find. Shops ran out of un-rationed items quickly.
Housewives made clothes from sheets; they could be dyed different colours. Shop clothes were made from as little material as possible.
People had to wear the same clothes for a long time. There was a well known
saying: MEND AND MAKE DO TO AVOID BUYING NEW.
Clothes were worn until they were old. Patches were used all over the place! Children’s coats were made from old adult coats and women made coats out of old blankets.
Mothers found it hard to dress growing children. No child liked to go to school dressed differently than the other children. Mothers would give up some of their own coupons to please their children. Other mothers made clothes from the cotton bags, flour came in. The sack material was covered in flowers and made a nice sized dress for a child.
Everyone sold or swopped clothes. It was a great thrill to get hold of shoes or new clothes!
Shoes were difficult to get. Adult’s struggled, the army needed boots and a lot of the shoe factories were closed and these were only two of the reasons for the shortage. People wore wooden clogs even though they were said to be uncomfortable.
There was hardly any stockings, girls painted their legs brown instead and used eyeliner to draw a fake seam up the back of their leg. The paint often washed off in the rain!
Conclusion
The Second World War ended after a period of six years. The fear of death and destruction was gone and nobody looked back with fond memories.
The people of Britain became more helpful and kinder towards each other. The rich noticed the poor and the country took in what was happening in the cities, people shared and had fun and kept the British spirit high.
Hitler lost and Britain was left undefeated.
The role of the women was looked at and the men realised that the women could work. Britain became a democracy between man and woman.
Biblography
Reader’s Digest Journeys into the Past: Life on the Home Front
War At Home (Fiona Reynoldson)
The Era on the Second World War (Robin Cross)
Encarta ’99
Life During WW2:
The Home Front (JF.Aylett)
The Home Front (Andrew Langley)
How Did The Blitz Affect Everyday Life In Britain