Hitler's plan was to annihilate all factories and warehouses. He wanted erase all evidence of our history, so he attacked our beautiful cities to achieve this. After all of this massacre Hitler thought that the British will surrender but in many respects it had the opposite effect. It built up the morale of the British people who became even more determined to fight on. This was the development of 'Blitz spirit', and made everyone think that they were involved in the war. People were also encouraged to take a more active part in the war by joining the Home Guard, or volunteering or the fire service etc.
The media played a large part in responding to the German attacks and keeping up spirits. Radio speeches from Winston Churchill made the people feel that something was being done in retaliation to Hitler. Public information films were being made so not to keep the public in the dark on British developments. These also, along with leaflets and posters informed the public on ARP (air raid precautions), notifying the public on the protocol in relation to preparing their own Anderson and Morrison air raid shelters, as well as sandbagging, white-taping windows and how to put on gas masks. Things like this, as well as encouraging group efforts such as the mass collection of pots, pans and railings for weapon metal and the collection of rose hips to make syrup for rationing kept the whole nation as one unit to stand up to the enemy.
- Describe the effects of the Blitz on everyday life in Britain.
The Germans decided to destroy the moral and confidence of people. They started bombing out the cities and factories, which affected the people a lot. These bombing out were called as the ‘Blitz’. More than 40,000 civilians had been killed in the Blitz. The British people were all cheerful in the face of adversity. German bombers often made mistakes and dropped bombs in wrong places. But when they did hit their targets there were fires and disaster to come along with it. On the 13th September 1940, Buckingham palace was hit by the explosive dropped by the German air force. This was an event that quickened feelings of solidarity among all classes. All the British people felt now that they had the courage and determination to see the blitz through to the end and not to give in and let the Germans think they can win. There was also a large fear of an invasion of Britain, which adversely affected the everyday life in Britain, as almost everybody feared the impending doom that seemed to be heading to Britain. This also caused widespread panic that affected lives as people tried to cope with the panicky attitude many people adapted to the Blitz lifestyle. During the Night-Time Raids, survivors of the Blitz talk about their senses being attacked with sounds, smells and their sight all were being challenged with new dimensions to cope with. Everybody was affected by the bombing of his or her senses and most people responded to it by gradually learning to take the bombing as an unpleasant but unavoidable part of life. Thousands of people suffered from sleep deprivation as bomb after bomb hit their cities.
Small rural towns and villages were put under enormous strain, as local resources were unprepared and unable to cope with the sudden arrival of such vast numbers of people. Many of those who took in children from the cities were horrified at the state of the children, many of whom were dirty, underfed and suffering from scabies. The Blitz was a major black mark in the history of Britain. The Blitz even though was a bad thing to happen it brought up the Britons to come together and have the determination and courage to fight for their own country. This was called the ‘Blitz Spirit’. The Blitz affected the Britons in many ways. The first major effect is the role of woman. Woman’s took the place of men same as the First World War. Women were now involved in almost all jobs. Such as
- Manufacturer/repair of cars and aircraft - nearly 37% of people in the job were woman.
- Fire Service – nearly 41% were woman.
- Chemicals and explosives – about 50% were woman.
- Farming - around 25% were woman.
- Banking and insurance – about 65% was woman.
- National Government Service – around 55% were woman.
The next reason was evacuation. As the German bombing was inevitable and when people came to know about them they evacuated from their places. Nearly a million people were evacuated from their own places. There was not much evacuation in the country side because it was not the target of the Germans. School children were the most to be evacuated (827,000); mothers with young children suffered a lot during the blitz. The bombings made people to loose their morale because of their lack of sleep and deficient in food. This made them give up their determination. One more major reason which affected the life of Britons is death and disruption. The major target of the Germans were the advanced cities such as London, Plymouth, Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry and some other major cities. London was the worst to be affected by the Blitz. London was bombed 75 of the 76 days of Blitz. This resulted in the huge amount of death, homeless and mental scars. The second major city to be affected was Plymouth as this was the dockland area where supplies were received. Manchester was also severely affected. 700 people were killed and over 2500 were injured. In Coventry 500 people were killed. The Blitz has affected Britain worse.
- In what ways did the British government attempt to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain?
After this, the British government attempted a lot of ways to hide the effects of the blitz from the people of Britain. The British government published many photographs of the King and Queen visiting normal men and women in shelters, giving the public the impression that everyone is involved with the war effort; even the monarchy. St Paul's Cathedral, a symbol of London, was actually part of a blaze that hit Britain. One special photograph taken of this scene was an image of St Paul's in the background with flames surrounding the edges of the photograph. This imaged was published as a metaphorical message to the people of Britain, saying that such a great symbol of London was not defeated by Hitler and so neither should you. However, it has been discovered that some of the flames were actually added to the image to enhance the ferocity of the blaze. One image that links slightly with propaganda, the other method of hiding the effects of the Blitz, is the photograph taken of a milkman delivering milk after an air raid, smiling as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened. This photograph gave a simple message; for the British public to carry on as normal, not allowing Hitler to see the effects that he was having. This is the basic message of nearly all propaganda during the Blitz. Propaganda also played an immense part during the war to help boost morale. The government fed the people of Britain propaganda morning, noon and night. As they controlled the news, radio and the cinema this was not hard and many posters were put up throughout Britain showing ways of how to get through the war.
The British government used Censorship to hide the effects of the Blitz. Censorship was when information was cut out from newspapers films or letters that could be negative and would damage the attempt to win the war. The government tried to hide the effect of the Blitz from the people by allowing only positive information such as stories, photographs and reports which showed the British people coping commendably with the Blitz. Instead of mentioning the devastation and commotion, the government wanted people to see how everyone was staying untied during the horrific Nazi attacks. The British government wanted to send inspiration out to others of these courageous act and hope that these stories would give others hope to continue. However censors and the Ministry of Information encouraged positive stories for war effort to continue.
Posters, film, radio and the press were all used to support the war effort. Rather than reporting effects of bombing the government used these to keep up morale and showed how people could support war effort. The Ministry of Information that published in newspapers showed the certainty of beating Hitler by writing articles. Radio programmes were made which showed people to look on the bright side of life such as a major hit called 'Its that man again', which poked fun at Hitler.
It reassured people to have such a programme. A lot of the radio programmes featured on the radio was very propaganda orientated. Many were humorous to help the people stay relaxed and stress-free. 'It's That Man Again', the' Brains Trust' and 'Lord Haw Haw' were favourites. The 'Brains Trust' gave intellectuals a chance to talk about something other than the Blitz. It featured topics like literature, history and science. It distracted people from what was going on around them. ‘Lord Haw Haw’ (William Joyce) was a large favourite. He was a British traitor in Germany who broadcasted to Britain to try to demoralise the people. It did not work though. The British people found the broadcasts funny. They believed the BBC and Winston Churchill over Joyce. Anybody who seemed as if they would broadcast material that would demoralise the public was banned. J.B. Priestley was one such person. He became too political so he was banned as the government feared people would become demoralised. The effect radio had on people's morale was the main factor that kept the country together. All these programmes and features kept up people's spirit and made them believe that everything was not that bad. It helped build the Blitz Spirit. The radio did not only have propaganda films. There were many propaganda songs. Vera Lynn became known as the forces sweetheart and she often performed songs. A good example of the governments propaganda are the films such as 'Heart of Britain,' 'Listen to Britain and 'A Diary for Timothy' produced by Humphrey Jennings. He produced many films for the government, advising people on how to go about carrying out all the regulations, but he also made many films to inspire the people and boost their morale. For example 'Heart of Britain' is meant to boost morale because it shows people not intimidated by Hitler and getting on with their lives and managing to have a good time and how every one aside from their normal jobs have separate jobs helping the country.
