Home front

Home front

1. Germany suffered greatly by worldwide economic depression

   • nazis rose in the depression
     • 1937 clear adolf hitler was looking to grow Germany and gain power
       • Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler several times in 1938 to try to stop aggression
         • appeasement
         • failed Hilter continued aggression by invading Poland Czechoslovakia
         • Britain declared war on Germany on sep 3 1939
           • months before preparations had been made for a possible war
             • nothing like a war before because of the fear of aerial attacks from Germany
               • Gov set up measures to defend against attacks
                 • issued bomb shelters , Anderson shelter , Morrison shelter
                   • aderson shelters were sheets of metal set in earth and covered in soil
                     • Morrison shelters large steel box set in the home usually under stairs
                   • some communal shelters Londoners used underground
                 • gas had been used a great deal in ww1 fear that it would be used at ordinary people at home in Britain
                   • september 1939 38 million gas masks given out
                     • not needed gas never used
                 • air raid wardens recruited and given the task of inforcing strict rules such as the blackout
                   • in event of bombing wardens were expected to advise people and help the services police ,fire and ambulance
                 • Also gov turned to new tech like radars to help the country prepare for war
                   • German bombers
                 • from the Geramn bombers that got through gov put up barrage balloons but above potential targets to deter bombers from coming to low on their bombing runs
                 • deployment of anti aircraft guns with powerfull searchlights for attacks
                 • in case of invasion set up home guard with volunteer that were armed and trained to stop invasion

2. the effect of the blitz

   • war came 1939 but there was no actual conflict between Britain and Germany between october 1939 and April 1940 (phoney war )
     • Germany attacked France Holland and Belgium
       • Britain fought alongside French and Belgium however after six weeks they were defeated and the French surrendered the British army evacuated
         • Britain from then on prepared from Germanys invasion
     • battle of britain took place between the German Luftwaffe and British royal air force over southern Britain
       • July 1940 and October
       • Germany wanted to win air superiority
       • hitler saw this battle as a victory so he wanted to invade britain
         • 17th sep Hitler postponed the invasion because he saw the failure
           • tactics changed to target big British cites (blitz)
             • hope British gov forced to surrender
               • did this by bombing civilians to destroy morale
             • attack known as the blitz London every night from sep 7 to nov 2
               • 13500 tons of high explosive bombs fifty seven raids
               • germans also used night bombing
                 • Blitz lasted from September 1940 to may 1941
                   • 45000 KILLED
                   • evacuations
                     • when war declared 1939 gov put out actions for evacuations
                       • plan was for all women and children to be evacuated from target cities like London to more rural areas
                         • one and a half million people moved around the country in search of safety
                           • people found safety in shelter homes of local people
                             • life of evacuees varied depended on how they got on with host families not used to the rural lifestyle
                               • some found heathier lifestyles
                     • rationing gov knew that germans would target boats with shipments of food on them to starve Britain like in ww1
                       • Britain was importing 40% of there food
                       • Germans set up large u boat submarine fleet used to sink British merchant boats carrying foods
                       • gov set up ministry of food and in jan 1940 in introduced food rationing followed by clothes petrol and coal .
                         • ration books issued to everyone and had ration coupons to be exchanged for things like eggs milk meat and sugar
                           • bread most veg and potatoes not rationed
                             • fruit not found only on black market for high price
                               • points could be saved to get special items like jam and cereals
                       • rationing of some foods did not end until 1955
                       • Dig for victory campaign encouraged people to grow and keep animals to help feed them and there communities
               • Damaged morale
                 • radio and press ordered not to report full damage reports.

3. role of women

   • women were a major help in the first world war in maintaining industrial and agricultural production
     • gov new that in ww2 women would also be major help so thousands were recruited for the war effort
       • worked mainly in factories making bombs bullets and planes , on the land growing vegs and hospitals tending sick
       • womens land army given task of increasing the food production
         • poorly paid hard long hours but vital in the war
       • military encouraged to recruit women to join the womens auxiliary air force (WAAF)
       • womens voluntary service had over one million women in it by 1943
       • end 1945 450000 women in military 6 milion in civilian work

4. use of propaganda and media

   • gov told radio and press to not tell full story's of the destruction
     • cinema showed war films that had Britain as the hero
       • keep morale high
   • British people to show Hitler that they could not be beaten
     • Winston Churchill 1940 gave speeches to do this