2. One of the most devastating effects of the Blitz was on the East End, because the majority of the bombs dropped on London were dropped there. Coventry is remembered as one of the most terrible bombing attacks, partly because the Cathedral was destroyed and became a symbol of the futility of war. A new Cathedral was built in Coventry alongside the ruins of the old one after the war to create a permanent reminder of the blitz.
Although propaganda suggests otherwise, the morale of most British people was at an all time low. Photos were only distributed if they portrayed an image of happiness on the faces of the people. Many photographs were published after the war presenting images of sadness and loss; these pictures were not published at the time because the government wanted high spirits and a positive outlook on the war.
Aside from the destruction was the enormous death count. In the first night 430 people were killed and 16,000 were seriously injured. Between the 7th September and new years day 13,339 people lost their lives and 17,937 were badly wounded. Over all about 15,205 citizens lost their lives.
One of the affects of the Blitz was homelessness for those who live to tell the tale of the horror-filled days and nights of the Blitz, many were confronted with the heartbreak of homelessness. Between September 1940 and May 1941, 1,400,000 Londoners were made homeless. In reality this meant that 1 in every 6 Londoners found themselves without a place to live. Those who lived in the poor areas such as the East End were affected particularly badly. Houses in these areas were in a bad state of repair to begin with and were destroyed easily by the bombs. By the 11th November 1940, 4 out of 10 houses in Stepney had been severely damaged. On the positive side, rebuilding after the war created houses for these people that were much better than they had before the war.
Another influence of the Blitz was the evacuation of the children from the cities even before the war had been declared on Germany, it was foreseen that the prime target of German aeroplanes would be the city of London. The government had invented a plan that all children, and all those women that were not on any variety of jobs should be sent to safer areas of Britain, away from any area that could be classed as dangerous. The places where these evacuees would be sent would be the safer places of the, many, English shires. Mainly in the countrified areas, away from any major towns or cities, were still under the threat of being bombed.
But although many children had been evacuated in the early months of the war, the biggest movement of evacuees left London starting at 5.30am on the morning of 1st September 1940. Included in the evacuees were: children up to the age of fifteen, mothers, expectant mothers, elderly and frail people, hospital patients and blind people. The government devised a system where it was possible to apply for evacuation aid, and they made all the necessary arrangements regarding future accommodation and travel. But many decided they would make their own arrangements, in fact figures show that one and a half million took advantage of the governments idea, while two million made their own independent arrangements. Posters were to be seen all over London advising "Mothers, send them out of London" with a picture of helpless and desperate children looking up in bewilderment (propaganda). All major railway stations were choked to capacity as trains on altered timetables, plus additional trains that had been scheduled to move the great amount of children out of London.
Even before the war had begun, the government had come up with a plan so that if it became necessary, a format where rationing had to be put into operation was at hand. Ration books in sufficient quantities for all the population were printed in 1937. This was known as 'The Food Defence Plans' Even though Britain is a large industrial and manufacturing country, it relies a lot on imports when it comes to food. Only a small proportion of the food consumed in Britain is actually produced there. Most food, especially fruit and meat was imported from overseas countries. With the bombing of ports and factories and the fear of attack on ships on the sea it made the plan a reality. In wartime, the importation of goods into Britain became a problem. Most ships that brought in the goods were in danger of being sunk, as well as this, some of the overseas countries that produced the food were either under enemy occupation or were in danger of being occupied, and another thing that has to be taken into account was the fact that if any goods did reach Britain, they would be stored in warehouses or bond stores and they would be in danger of being bombed.
Everyone was afraid that if the German bombers could see the lights of houses they would know they were over a town and would drop their bombs. For the first weeks of the war the blackout was very strictly enforced:
'All windows, doors, skylights or openings which would show a light must be screened so that no light can be seen from outside. Do not use a light in a room unless the blind or curtain is drawn, and remember that a light at the back of a house is just as visible from the air as the one at the front.' (Air Raid Precautions)
People had to buy thick, dark curtains. Some people stuck brown paper on their windows. In some factories all the windows were painted black and workers inside had the lights on all day. All streetlamps were turned off and headlights on cars were banned and if you had a torch it had to be covered with tissue paper.
There were 4,000 people killed in the first few weeks of the blackout because of road accidents so then cars were allowed to use hooded headlights. Fines for breaking the blackout were quite substantial.
The effect on the British public was quite substantial because people had to change the way they conducted themselves. The way in which people reacted to the blitz depended on the person, but on the whole people took it on the chin and got on with their daily routine (with the necessary precautions of course).
3. There were many ways in which the government tried to hide the effects of the blitz from the British people. The main way in which they concealed the damage of the industry was not to publish the pictures that would depress or horrify the British people.
There were many sorts of propaganda in the war: Radio, films and Churchill's speeches.
There were comedy programs on the 'Wireless' (radio), which put the public at ease. The government thought that if the community was laughing then their minds would be on other things. Vera Lynn was a famous singer who had a lot of airtime in the 1940's because of her upbeat songs like 'Roll Out The Barrel' and 'The White Cliffs Of Dover'. The people who created popular radio programs formed ENSA, an entertainment network who visited the troops all over the world to keep up their spirits.
In the 1940's the majority of the British populace were regular cinemagoers, this gave the government an excellent angle for propaganda films. Films were shown of the British army winning in battle and promising ideas were put on screen so that the public would feel at ease and think that their side was winning. Lord (Laurence) Oliviér acted, famously, in Henry v the reason this play of Shakespeare's was chosen was because of the renowned complimentary speech with the line:
" Once more into the Breach my friends, once more"
Posters were published in the thousands, from recruitment style in the 1st WW Lord Kitchener format to reminders of the need to keep secrets from the Germans – e.g. "keep mum, she's not so dumb". There were other styles of mind manipulation posters such as a pro-evacuation poster depicting lost or forlorn infants.
Churchill's speeches were one of the most memorable aspects of the war as many of them were recorded. Churchill was an exceedingly excellent speechmaker who was able to find words to express the grief, triumph and determination of the nation to keep fighting against the odds and in spite of serious setbacks like Dunkirk. Without an inspirational leader like Churchill, England might not have had the courage to carry on fighting – a leader like Neville Chamberlain might have given in to the Germans, as many people wanted to do. Some politicians (e.g. Oswald Mosely) tried to set up a fascist party in England that was a copy of Hitler's and they had many followers. Churchill spoke out against such moves and warned against the dangers of German re-armament before the war started, although many people did not want to believe what he was saying. It was partly because Churchill was proved right about German intentions that he was elected Prime Minister when war broke out.
