Second World War Homefront

Second World War Homefront

1. People feared air attacks in densly populated cities

   • In January 1938 Air Raid precautions were planned
     • The Auxiliary Fire service was created

2. Jobs

   • ARP Wardens
     • Distributed 32 million gas masks
     • Friday 1st September two days before the war they enforced the blackout
     • Over one million men and women volunteered to serve
     • Reported air raid damage, warn people of unexploded bombs and seal off affected areas
     • Provided immediate help at bomb sites before emergency services arrives
   • National Fire Service
     • Worked as part of the Auxiliary Fire service
     • consisted of 39 firefighting forces in 1942
     • 400000 people joined during the war
     • Used wartime grey fire engines and wore tin helmets
     • There were also fire boats to control dockside fires and street fires in east london in 1940
   • Casualty Service
     • 240 000 people volunteered
     • Attend accidents and tend to injuries, sending seriously injured people to first aid post, and some to casualty clearing hospitals
     • 2379 civil defence workers killed, 4459 were injured
     • Work was crucial in maintaining morale of home front
   • The Home Guard
     • The Local Defence Volunteers were formed in 1940
       • 500000 men with Canadian British and US weapons
       • Hastily built defences like trenches and gun emplacements
       • Expected to fight Germans if invaded
       • Many volunteers were over 40 and had no weapons
       • Nicknamed Look Die Vanish

3. Neville Chamberlin announced Britain at war with Germany 3 September 1939

4. Evacuation

   • Large numbers of people evacuated first years of the war
   • 2 million made plans for evacuation 1.5 million evacuated by government
   • Lots of propaganda and pictures of happy parents to make it seem better
   • Co-ordinated by Federation of Women's Instiutes
     • They received 1700 complaints from host families concerning bad manners bed wetting and lice
   • After arriving by trains people would be taken to reception centres like churches or village halls and wait to be chosen by 'host families
     • Local people were paired 10 shillings for the first child and 8 shillings for each evacuee

5. Rationing

   • Food rationing enforced January 1940
   • Ministry of Food made recipes to make food go a long way
   • People with jobs in heavy industry were given more food
   • Home grown food wasn't rationed
   • By 1941 clothes was rationed
     • Encouraged to Make do and Mend
   • Scrap food was collected to take to farms
   • Milk- 6 glasses. Eggs -1 per 2 weeks. Meat- 500g Butter- 300g. Sugar- 2 teacups. Oil-1/2 teacup. Tea- 1 teacup. Cheese- 30g. Jam- 1 1/2 teacups.

6. Morale

   • Censorship Bureau banned al press photographs of wounded soldiers, dead air raid victims or houses destroyed by bombs
   • Ministry of Information produced propaganda and distributed the news that they wanted the British public to hear
   • Entertainment was used to keep up morale films music and dancing was popular
   • Winston Churchill's speeches were broadcast to encourage people to support to war effort