People at risk who lived in large cities were moved from the Evacuation Areas (areas likely to be bombed) to Reception Areas (safe areas). These people consisted of children, their teachers, pregnant women and the elderly, which all added up to about 1.4 million people. Children each carried one suitcase containing their belongings, a label around their neck with name and other information, and each would also carry a gas mask around their neck inside a little box in case they experienced a gas attack. Although it was hard for families to let their children go, it was a positive move. Children from working class families went to live in middle class houses and vice versa. Many of the children were better off after the evacuation and they experienced a happy side to the war.
Britain imported a huge bulk of its food from foreign countries, such as America. During the Blitz, many of the ships carrying this food across the ocean were sunk and so Britain’s food supply began to go scarce and there wasn’t enough to go around. Rationing was introduced in January 1940 and continued until some time after the war. Foods like butter sugar and bacon were the first to be rationed, but many others such as sweets, jam, cheese, tea and eggs were all added over the years. In addition, clothes and petrol were rationed. The ‘Make Do and Mend’ campaign was introduced to encourage people to alter old clothes instead of buying new ones, and cars were driven less to cut down on petrol. This helped British people to stay healthy and so they were fit to work and not using hospital care so the war effort was helped enormously.
Each family was also responsible for themselves. They were all told to build Anderson shelters in their gardens and sometimes Morrison shelters in their houses as well. These were designed to prevent people getting hurt or killed during air raids. Those people that couldn’t make shelters sometimes took to sleeping in the Underground, although most people stayed in their homes. The effect that this had on people’s everyday life is that they often felt much safer and they would always have somewhere to go when the heard the air raid sirens ringing. In some areas rest centres were set up to look after people who had lost their homes as a result of the bombing. Schools were often used for this as the students had all been evacuated.
The people of Britain all had to work together so that they could maintain a high morale and get through the troubles of the war. This caused women to be treated equally and this was of course a good aspect for them. The government also gave more support to the people and began to have a bigger impact on people’s lives. As a result of this, they began to come closer and the social classes began to mix a bit.
At the beginning of the war they all tried to have a good time and most of them did. In London, people still went to dance halls in the evenings and went on trips to the theatre. This raised the morale of the people and kept them on a high note for a while. However, as people saw the reality of the war, they began to feel terror and became very depressed. Some even wished that they were dead as they had no job, family or home.
- In what ways did the British government attempt to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain?
On the 7th and 8th September, Britain experienced the first big raids on London. It was at this time that Churchill realised he needed to maintain a high morale among the people. He introduced a procedure of censorship and propaganda to do this.
The Ministry of Information and the government both worked to eliminate news being published if they thought it might have a negative effect on the people or gave away any confidential information. Photographs which showed high numbers of casualties or any serious damage were withheld and never published. Letters written by soldiers to their families or vice versa all went through a censorship system to eliminate any information stating positions of soldiers, morale of families and other such things. This was so that spirits would stay high and also so that if the letters were found by the enemy they would not obtain any useful information from them. The same was done to newspaper articles and films.
On the other hand, photographs or articles that showed heroism were put straight on to the front pages of newspapers, such as the picture of St. Johns Cathedral surrounded by flames and smoke.
Documentaries were created, which showed reminded people of their old way of life, and showed them how they can still have a good time. This was supposed to raise the morale of the people by giving them only the positive sides to the war. All the negative effects which may have stood in the way were all left out and not mentioned even in the slightest.
Assignment Two: Objectives 2 and 3
- What can you learn from Source A about the response of the British people to the effects of the Blitz?
Even during the most depressing of times, the people of Britain still managed to remain determined to overcome their difficulties in the changed way of life. The more Britain was bombed and destroyed, the more the people wanted to feel like heroes, so refused to give up. They continued to try and live their old way of life without concern to the tragedy of the effects of the Blitz. In London, people still went to the theatre and dance halls to keep up their morale and stay positive.
Another important aspect towards keeping a good morale was people’s sense of humour. Of course there was nothing to be happy about; their lives were being destroyed by the Blitz. However, they did not want this to get them down and thought that if they were going to die then they may as well die happy. They had no idea what was really happening in the war or the extreme number of deaths that were a result of it. This information was all censored and was never seen by members of the public. This is how they managed to stay so positive and happy during the worst of times.
- How useful are Sources B and C in helping you to understand the effects of the Blitz on people in Britain?
These two sources can be used together to show the effects of the Blitz on the people in Britain. Source B shows us the reality of the Blitz that many people in Britain were never able to see, as it is a censored photograph.
The photograph illustrates the common scene of a bombed building with many bodies in sacking lying on the floor. This was censored because it would have depressed the public and shown them how many people were being killed. However, people living close to this bombed school would have seen this anyway, and so although I know the people were enthusiastic and tried to stay positive, the Blitz must have been a very depressing period with the high numbers of deaths and homeless people as a result of the bombing.
Source C shows a photograph of this courage and determination. There are many families in the photo who are all smiling and looking positive after their houses were bombed the night before in air raids. After looking at the photograph in Source B, this shows us the difference between the reality and the people’s view of the war. Although their houses were bombed and destroyed their lives, they still managed to find something to be happy about and focused on this rather than the reality.
These two sources show us the difference between the two sides of the war and therefore give us a good understanding of the effects on the people of Britain.
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Does Source D support the evidence of Sources B and C about the damage done during air raids?
I think that Source D does support the evidence of Sources B and C to some extent. The latter two are photographs showing the destruction of a London school and a group of families who have just lost their homes and are all smiling, showing their British “grit”.
Source D is also a photograph, showing the destruction in Coventry during the air raids in November 1940. It shows the sky full of dust and debris, over a city with several buildings destroyed and their belongings scattered over the streets. The people in the photograph look as though they are lost and confused. The attack was unexpected and now many of them had lost their houses along with any shops or businesses they may have owned.
Therefore, these people in Source D are sad, depressed and the complete opposite to those in Source C. However, it does support Source C in some way, as they both show that many people lost their homes during the Blitz and then had to gather their belongings and find another place to live.
Source D supports the evidence in B as they both show the two common scenes of death and destruction. For that reason, I think that these sources could be quite reliable for illustrating the damage done in the Blitz.
- Use Sources E, F and G, and your own knowledge, to explain why the government was concerned about the morale (spirit and attitude) of the British people in the autumn of 1940.
During the autumn of 1940, the British government faced many problems with the public. Many of them were turning against the Royal family and government, and also escaping to places like Epping Forest during the severe bombing attacks of London. However, the government needed the people to work for them in making planes, tanks and in other military assembly lines. Therefore, it was important to keep the morale of Britain high to encourage people not to leave.
5. “The impression that the British faced the Blitz with courage and unity is a myth.”
Use the sources, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this statement.
Britain showed great pride towards their country during the war and especially throughout the Blitz in October 1940. The British army was determined and strong, as they got through hard battle which didn’t look too promising for them.
In September 1940 there was a raid on London, some people lost everything; their homes, their belongings and sometimes even their loved ones, though a photograph taken on the 15 of September shows many tenants showing the British grit. After loosing most of their belongings how could people still show grit and pride when everything they have is gone? Most would expect the tenants to be devastated and destroyed, though they still have brave faces and high spirits.
In January 1943, another air raid was launched against London. Devastatingly, Catford Girl’s school was hit by a bomb. In a photograph that was dated 21 January 1943, it shows the ARP putting dead bodies into bags with many other bags lying around the floor. As quoted in source B, “photographs with had anything to do with the war had to be approved before it could be published.” This shows that not all information that was collected was used. At which, the editors could have: 1) kept the photos and information that would expose the real truth about what was happening with the war or 2) change it so that it wouldn’t appear as bad as it was. This would help the British people so they could keep up the British grit and high spirits, so that the information that they were shown was the truth but not the whole truth so they could keep their brave faces and not be dispirited by the Germans.
Many thought of the Blitz as a time that the British showed courage and pride, as photos show tenants still happy and proud even when their homes were destroyed, though others believe it was a myth rather than showing the truth, as many don’t see how people can still smile after everything they own is gone.
The Blitz brought out British, to see what type of country it was, everyone worked together to try and win the war against Germany. “….don’t have to be in uniform to be heroes” showed that the citizens of Britain defended their country and show unshakeable determination to win the war. However, many British people fled the country thinking of themselves and not their country.
As homes and houses were bombed so were the streets of London. A photo dated 15 November 1940 shows a photos at which people are on the street seeing what they can scrap up from the bombing of there’s. The sirens still going off as people ran madly for shelters. Many panicked and couldn’t stand the war life, at which the fled from their homes if it was still standing and left to go to the country side or to the London railway station to go somewhere else.
In the war many didn’t have any feeling for the king and queen as they didn’t do anything to stop the war. The British people usually looked up to the king and queen but in this case they couldn’t because they were weak and scared.
For Britian in 1940 is important to keep up hope and high spirit as Dunkirk was a miracle defeat but also a victory that Britain had survived. Many felt differently about he war as many had high hopes and great hope that Britain would win. Many stayed in London and helped to fight off Germany and keep the economic welfare and life alive. They stayed went times were hard and put their country before themselves. Where, others especially women and children left their homes and loved ones to leave the city so that they would save themselves before they died. These people courage and British grit was gone.
I believe that the British grit was true but also a lie. I believe that they kept up faith and hope that they would win the war. Even though times were hard and they felt that they lost the war, they came back with a better attitude. Time was hard during the blitz in 1940 and many people died, but the British grit was still alive and many people didn’t give up hope. The British grit was high and strong in September 1938, during the Munich Crisis. They had to prepare for war, which involved digging trenches, changing London parks to air raid shelter, anti-aircraft guns at, which were set up. The got prepared at which they got 38 million gas masks at which was issued to every, even though they never had a gas mask problem. As many precautions were made and strict rules. Many gave up their time and effort to help in what needed to be done. However, not all was successful. Many stood proud of Britian and never gave their grit away, though others did.
As many lost homes and loved ones during the time of the war, many people’s courage and unity was decreasing, as people fled from the country to start a new life somewhere else in England. During the Blitz showed that Britian was weak and scared though, the British government wanted to do whatever possible so that the British grit would be strong. I believe that editors of newspapers changed information around so that the British people wouldn’t be scared and leave London. I also think that they put in pictures that weren’t taken during the war but before the war at which army people were excited and high spirited and used these photos, to show the British people that others still have British grit and believe the could win. I think that editors used newspapers and advertisement to miss interrupt what was actually happening to keep up Britain’s pride, courage and unity.
