Life on the HomeFront
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Life on the HomeFront Two days before war was declared, Blackouts were already in effect in Britain because the Air Ministry forecast air raids during the night and deemed it safe to blackout cities. The rules were as follows: Cover up windows, car headlights and doors with black material and turn off street lamps. The accident fatality rate increased as people were unaware of their surroundings and began bumping into one another, and falling of bridges and into various other water-based areas. Traffic accidents also ensued from these blackouts due to the car headlights being blacked out and street lamps being turned off. all of this was because the Planes would see the cities and blacking them out was an effective, albeit costly, method of hiding themselves. Public Information Leaflet No 2 (issued as part of the Air Raid Patrol (A.R.P.) training literature) warned the populous about the dangers that could ensue from not complying to the blackout rules and made sure that these rules were properly carried out. The Government made sure that there was enough black material for the households to cover up any passage where light may escape, this had to be available to even the poorest of households; otherwise the plan may lay to waste. In most cases a black cotton fabric was used meaning that the more sizeable your house, the more you had to pay to keep it covered. Putting up this material quickly became a chore for households as it was very tedious to put it up. Some sympathy was given to the vicar when asked to black out his vicarage. When families put up their blackout material; they often found that they did not have the correct thickness to escape the eye of the warden, so often two-three thicknesses was required. It proved difficult to keep putting up and taking down these sheets and newer methods were divised; i.e lining their frames with black paper and pins. These methods did not last long as they showed themselves to be tiresome as the constant taking down and putting back up became a bromidic task. Harsh punishment and strict regulations ensued the blackout for those who did not adhere to the rules, esp finding themseves paying a hefty fine or finding themselves in court from letting out even a sliver of light. During 1939 and early 1940 many people were expecting a blitz attack, air raids went of without the bombers being there until september of 1940; this period was known as the phoney war, when no real military opperations took place by the western allies against the german reich. September 1940 and britain was being bombed at the cities in hope (by the Nazi's) that the britons would panic and surrender, as opposed to bombing RAF bases. There was a commonality known as 'war-time spirit' which was portrayed by the media and taken wildly out of proportion by government propaganda at the time; as many people who actually experiened the bombing didn't really have anything pleasant to say about it as many people would have died and houses were wrecked. The Government did produce a lot of propaganda; turning even the worst situations and finding a good in it, such as; burning buildings with firemen (made to make the firemen look powerful), people pulling others out of a collapsed building (leaving out the part where some of them died as it collapsed) and milkmen delivering milk after a bombing (to show that life still carried on). As soon as aircraft were spotted the air raid sirens sounded to warn everyone of the impending dangers that an air raid was about to take place. Many families ran to a communal brick or concrete shelter in their street, other families had corrugated iron shelters in their gardens, usually dark and damp, known as anderson shelters. Others sheltered from the bombs at home in their cellars or underneath a table or the stairs. In london they could shelter in the underground railway stations, which were uncomfortable at first but as time went on snacks, bunkbeds and toilets were provided. These stations were not totally safe in January 1941, a bomb fell above Bank underground station killing over 100 people who were sheltering below. As soon as the Air-raid siren was over, the 'All-clear' was given and people went out to check the damage. Evacuations took place all around the countries as children were sent off by their parents, maybe never to see them again. Many children may have seen it as a holiday, but soon found that it was not that fun to be away from their families in some strange place they have never seen, nor heard of before. The evacuations began on Friday the 1st of february, the day that German forces invaded Poland.Most children were evacuated in school groups with their teachers. Children and their teachers met in the school grounds. They wore name tags and carried their gas masks in cardboard boxes over their shoulders.Most children were evacuated in school groups with their teachers. Some children were sent to farms to work, others to big country houses. But most did not know where they were and had never been there before. Also some Parents refused to have them evacuated because they were a bit more 'well-off' and decided that it was too much of a risk to have their children near others with skin disease and head lice, than to have them in the danger-zone. Rationing was introduced due to the Germans destroying food vessels that were sent to britain; before the war 55 million tons of food was imported but a month after the war the figure dropped to 12 million. The Ration Book was issued to the public and became key to the net survival of britain. There were different coloured books to different people; Directory: resources resources -> The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: Three Perspectives: a simulation resources -> Akbar elizabeth I resources -> World history and civilization resources -> Chapter 14. 4 Abolition and women’s rights resources -> Children’s Books for Black History Month resources -> Introduction resources -> Introduction: Why do we encourage grandparent involvement in the lives of their children and grandchildren resources -> Acm techNews Wednesday, December 15, 2004 resources -> Post-Human Intelligence; starting an avalanche with a pebble Download 1.45 Mb. Share with your friends:
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