In the urban areas, to reduce the risk of casualties, people were ordered to stay off the streets and all cinemas and theatres were closed during the blackout, due to their vulnerability. For the first time people had to endure blackouts. All houses had to have blackout all over the windows and all lights and street lights were extinguished. During the blackouts it was hard for German bombers to see what they were trying to bomb. Air Raid Precautions were put into place to make sure people were safe inside their houses. It also ensured that people were not harmed from broken glass and shrapnel, by taping up windows. Many people resented this, especially the poor, as some of them were not able to pay blackout fines due to their economical status. The A.R.P helped save many lives during the Blitz. They supplied the people of Britain with their services during the Blitz and became the backbone for the survival of the British people.
During the bombing, people had to shelter away from the danger. Londoners sheltered in the underground stations. People rushed to the stations after work and the area was fully packed inch for inch. Anderson shelters were provided, along with a grant for people to build them, by the government. These were built in backyards and protected the occupants from shrapnel and glass, but not falling masonry. Morrison shelters were domestic shelters that fitted under a steel table top and the occupants were caged in. After emerging from shelter in the morning, many people found they had no home to go to. Rest centres were opened. They were uncomfortable, by design, to discourage long stays. Many people hated the rest centres, but it was their only option.
The Germans also targeted British ports and land ports during the Blitz. This was Hitler’s ploy to starve the British nation of food. He was also trying to deplete their raw materials. Major raids took place on Southampton and Portsmouth. These were critical blows to British markets. For this the government introduced a number of solutions. British farming needed to produce as much food as possible. The government encourage people to grow vegetables and keep chickens and pigs. Private gardens and recreational grounds were turned into grounds for food and scraps were collected for pigs. Private motoring was banned and rail travel was discouraged. State regulation affected the British mindset during the Blitz. Rationing continued throughout the war. At first only certain foodstuffs, but clothing, soap and petrol were added. This helped some people’s diets and also had a profound effect on government policy. However, many shopkeepers kept goods ‘under the counter’ for their best customers. Those who managed to secure rationed or unrationed food that was in short supply sold it for large amounts of money.
One aim of government policies was to keep prices down, to prevent the appalling inflation in WWI. Prices rose and since wages increased slightly more, unemployment almost vanished. Therefore the government began to tax everyone more, including the working classes. The nation resented Austerity.
In the end, Hitler’s Blitz achieved one major affect – devastation, destruction and death. Most of this was in the targeted cities and did more to highlight inequalities then to breakdown class barriers. Coventry suffered thousands of deaths, while in London, the industrial East End was targeted by the Luftwaffe. Many people saw this as only the working class being bombed to pieces and the rich, snobby, upper class, suburbanites were safe in their manors. This bitterness was evident when the Royal Family visited the Easy End and was jeered, but all was soon changed when Buckingham Palace was hit a few months later and the Royal Family were seen as heroes. It was at this time everybody’s fear was hidden behind a normal face and trust in the government was few and far between.
