Britain in the Age of Total War.

ALI RAJAH 11.W.

Britain in the Age of Total War

Assignment Two: Objectives 2 and 3

1. Study Source A

What can you learn from Source A about the response of the British people to the effects of the Blitz? (6)

Source A is an extract from a book published in 1990 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the blitz. The extract is taken from the publisher’s description of the book’s contents inside the front cover. This would imply that the extract would have a heroic and nostalgic theme to it, as this is the stereotypical approach towards this period in time, and would therefore appeal to a possible reader.

From this it is easy to presume that the extract will present a creditable and

audacious approach on the response of the British people.

The extract reads: “the British people showed that they didn’t have to be in uniform to be heroes.”

There it is comparing the typical civilians to a uniformed soldier.

“Out of terror and tragedy came courage and an unshakeable determination. Those at home in the most appalling circumstances kept their sense of humour.”

This extract tells us that regardless of the destruction caused by the bombing, for example the obliteration of many homes, there seemed to be no poignant effect whatsoever of the morale of the families whose were demolished.

The extract only provides one viewpoint, which is ambiguous, as in fact the majority of the evidence implies that there was widespread panic throughout British cities during the Blitz.

Study Sources B, C,

How useful are sources B and C in helping you to understand the effects of the Blitz on people in Britain? (10)

In many ways Source B is useful in helping you to understand the effect of the Blitz on people in Britain. For example, the photo was censored, as it was not “approved” for publication. The photo may have been “banned” because the images may well have weakened the morale of the nation.

Source B shows a photograph of Catford Girls’ School, dated 21st January, 1943.There are wardens and police officers assisting to secure dead bodies in sacking. This is exceptionally useful as evidence, as it illustrates how daily life was interrupted by the Blitz, for example children were killed while they were trying to get on with their everyday lives at school. There is also evidence from the photograph that wardens, policemen, and what appeared to be ordinary civilians, all had to help deal with dead bodies and casualties from the bombing, it must have been exceptionally demoralising and distressing for civilians to see the dead bodies of children, and the fact that the government censored this photograph suggests that the photograph was too graphic

Source C however, is more optimistic, as it shows a large group of people cheerful and laughing, giving a camera “thumbs up sign.” But this does not make it any less useful as evidence of government propaganda. The original caption of the photograph tells us that regardless of having their houses bombed, British people were still contented furthermore optimistic: “Their houses are wrecked but the tenants of the buildings still showed the British “grit”. This is evidence of the government printing pictures like this to keep confidence high and to hearten civilians to keep smiling and to be optimistic ...

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The dates of the two photographs are also extremely vital as evidence of government censorship and propaganda. It was taken on 15th September 1940. This indicates it was taken before the blitz. This is useful as it shows the government was printing pieces of propaganda such as that in source C, to try to keep morale high as possible. This would have been time of heavy bombing, so the government needed to encourage people to stay optimistic and at ease as possible to try to reduce the demoralising effects of the first air raids.

This contrasts with Source B, which is evidence of government censorship. This photograph was taken on 21st January 1943.

Study Sources B, C and D

Does Source D support the evidence of Sources B and C about the damage done

during air raids? (8)

In the 1940’s Coventry was a very significant industrialized area where engineering played a major part. Aircraft production was well known in this area, which is why Coventry was such an likely target. Source D is a photograph taken after the air raid on Coventry on 15th November 1940. In some ways Source D does not agree with sources B and C.

Only Sources D shows a sense of arguing, because source B and C show a united front. Hence Source D alone illustrates how morale was damaged in this way. Nevertheless, Source B shows air raid prevention, moreover people bagging dead bodies, which must damage their morale, but evidence of this is more apparent in Source D. This is because nobodies face can be seen in Source B, but a clear argument has broken out in Source D.

In other ways Source D does support the evidence of Sources B and C. Firstly, Source D agrees with Source C in a number of ways. Both of these sources show peoples belongings being gathered, the caption of Source C says, “Their houses are wrecked”. Despite Source C not showing pictorial evidence of this, it still agrees with what is shown on Source D, but in a less harsh way. This is because Source C is a staged photograph used most probably, for propaganda purposes. Source D evidently shows damage to buildings, which is still supported by the caption of Source C, even though it is not shown on the actual photograph.

Damage can be seen in several ways. There can be physical damage, damage to morale, deaths and casualties.

Between Sources D and B there are similarities in each aspect of damage. Firstly, both of these sources show damage to buildings and destruction in the scene. Both of them show complete destruction of a physical type of morale. They depict ruins of buildings and also the element of death and casualties. Source D and B were both not published at the time they were taken, which may suggest that they show a very true picture of the damage done during the Blitz, this is because they were both banned by the censors. This meant that the scenes they depict are too graphic. For morale, Source D and Source B both show people who are very serious and in a way unhappy. However, Source C does not support the other sources in this way, because it shows a group of people with their thumbs up and smiling, this suggest a sense of pretence and not really pragmatic. Source D and Source B also show death and casualties whereas Source C does not.

4. Study Sources E, F and G, and use your own knowledge.

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? (12)

Source E involves the Ministry of Information sending an extract from a secret report to the government. In the autumn of 1940, the government had an increasing concern for the morale of the British people. The people of Britain were in the midst of heavy bombings as consequence of the Blitz. Sources E, F, and G help to explore the reasons of why the government were so worried about the morale dilemma.

Firstly, Source E is a secret report written up by the National government of that time. This meant that this account was banned from being read by everyday people. The Ministry of Information controlled propaganda and the records that could be seen by the general public eye. “People run madly”, suggests people were panicking. The government is implying that there is chaos and that the attitude and spirits are low. Therefore also writing that kids were “hysterical” suggests fear and panic almost immediately and that people may not be in control. Many mothers with young children were behaving frenzied and were immediately ready to leave the East End. Taxis account of taking groups of people away from East London. Obviously the main concern of the government was to win the war and also to do this as soon as possible.

Consequently to be victorious, the ministry of Information needed people to remain on their side and not to lose the public support.

The government was concerned with the attitudes because they believed that the morale would begin to deteriorate if the act of terror grew. This report was given to the government on 10th September 1940. At this time the air raids had just begun so the government was beginning to build on morale. From the response of the people there is a feeling of a threat from invasion.

Looking at Source E there would be inconvenience with shelters as of insignificant fleeing from people. The government controlled the censorship of the war with the help from the Ministry of Information. Source E is an example of censorship. There is evidence from the source that supports the low morale because the civilians are panicked by the sounds of the sirens and were in immediate rush, they didn’t show the courage and determination. The extract enables us to understand that the situation at that present time was very bad. There were assumptions during the 1930s about the Second World War, which would result in a large scale of casualties.

The government’s main priority was to prevent civilian casualties as far as possible but at the same time prepare for the worst.

Source F is a passage taken from Harold Nicolson’s diary. This is dated 17th September 1940.the passage describes an urgency to deal with the people’s attitudes. Most of the East End was badly hit by the air raids and the people’s attitudes had differed from what the government had said to be happening. Although, I believe it is an extremely unique piece of verification, as Harold knew several members of the government, this meant that he knew their deeper concerns, worries and opinions; which he could then write into his diary confidentially, (at the time). Moreover the passage basically gives us an external view to how people are feeling. “Everyone is worried”, not only does this prove that the Blitz affected the ordinary people greatly

And caused people to change, but it also shows since the “worry” was over the feeling in the East London, it was not only the government that was worried about public morale. “Bitterness” is also very harsh, which sums up the peoples mood. I tells us that they were angry and were beginning to resent the fact that Britain was now properly at war

Most of the East End was badly hit by the air raids and the people’s approach had differed from what the government had said to be happening. The people booed the king and queen as they visited the East End. This suggests that the people are feeling furious about the progress towards the air raids. This demonstrates the relationship between the people and the Royal Family. The effects of the bombing was an endeavour to break the morale of British people, it was also beginning to target at the industry, there were problems with the shelters, which also created bitterness they were cold and not very safe. The tube stations were popular at first but the government was apprehensive that people would trap themselves down their thorough fear of never coming out.

Source G illustrates the men and women of Britain working in the countries economic life then meeting the Blitz. This puts fear in the minds of people and could have caused an economic collapse. The government was concerned about the effects of the bombings. Many people began “trekking” moving away from the city. This is what the government was concerned about, people failing to turn up for work as many moved to the countryside: “there was widespread fear during the Blitz/ Londoners escaped to Epping Forest during the bombing of the East End”. But in fact many of the trekkers did arrive to work everyday, from places like Epping Forest. Attendance at work remained surprisingly good.