The Home Front
Civilians in WWII
The Blackout
• Started in 1939 to
prevent enemies from
being able to see where
to drop bombs
• All lights were to be
switched off or turned
down. Street lamps and
neon lights were turned
off. Special hoods were
placed over the
headlights of cars
allowing only a tiny slit
of light to light the road
ahead
The Blackout
• Pillar-boxes were painted yellow, white
stripes were painted on the roads and on
lamp-posts.
• Blackout curtains were made to stop light
escaping from windows in ordinary houses.
• Men were advised to leave shirttails hanging
out so cars would be able to see them better.
• Began half an hour after sunset and ended
half an hour before sunrise.
The Blackout
• After the first night, posters were issued to
warn people to "Watch out in the Blackout" as
many people were injured tripping up, falling
down steps, or bumping into things.
• September 1939- the first month- the number
of people killed in road accidents increased
by 100%. Londoners were not only finding it
hard to see, they were finding it hard to be
seen
Gas Masks
• By September 1939 nearly
everybody in the England had been
issued with a gas mask (38
million).
• People instructed to carry their gas
masks at all times in case of attack.
• Adults had masks that looked like a
pig-snout and the children's were
soon given nicknames such as
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Even babies had gas masks that
they could be placed inside.
Gas Masks
• There was fear that the Germans would use
gas, possibly launched from planes or boats
• Gas had been used on the battlefields during
the First World War but had not been used on
civilians.
• Lots of work places had tests where staff had
to wear a mask while working for 15 minutes
and schools held frequent practices
Gas Masks
• There were no gas attacks on the
mainland of Britain in the Second World
War and so the gas masks were never
used.
• Therefore the effectiveness of the
preparations was never tested.
Other Safety Measures
• Sandbags
stacked in the doorways of important buildings, used
inside basement shelters to protect from falling bricks
of damaged walls.
• Paint and tape
painted the tops of red mailboxes with yellow gasdetection paint that changed color to warn people of
poisonous gas in the air; Londoners were encouraged
to take own measures such as gas-proofing a room in
their house with cellulose sheets taped onto walls.
Strips of masking tape were put on windows to stop
them from shattering in a bomb blast. Soon all the
materials needed to take such measures were difficult
to obtain or expensive to buy.
Other Safety Measures
• Barrage balloons
Silver balloons put in the
skies over London. Also
called 'blimps‘.
An anti-aircraft device.
Prevented planes from
making dive-bomb
attacks or low-flying
raids.
Other Safety Measures
• Anti-aircraft guns
Guns were set up on reinforced sites in
London to shoot down enemy planes or stop
them from attacking the city. About 1/3 of all
the German planes destroyed over London
were shot down by anti-aircraft guns.
• Searchlights
To help the guns and the fighter pilots spot
enemy planes, powerful searchlights, twenty
million times more powerful than an ordinary
light bulb, would probed the night sky
Interns
• Anyone in Britain who
was German, Austrian
or Italian was interned
• Meant that they were
put in prison
• The government was
very worried that
foreigners from a
country Britain was at
war with might tell the
enemy about troop
movements or send
them important
industrial information.
Interns
• Many were refugees who came to Britain
because Hitler had threatened to kill them or
put them in concentration camps.
• Over 8,000 people were interned and, of
these, about 5,000, including women and
young children.
• Were sent to Port Erin and Port St Mary on
the Isle of Man.
• They were held in crowded housing and
separated from the rest of the island by
barbed wire fencing.
Interns
• As the war progressed,
the government released
many of the internees
who were judged not to
be a threat back to their
homes but some spent
the whole war there
• In America, Japanese
were arrested in a similar
way after Pearl Harbor
Spies
• As soon as the war
broke out, many people
became very concerned
that the country would
be full of German spies.
• This belief was
strengthened when the
government decided to
intern large numbers of
Germans and Austrians.
• It appeared that secret
agents could be
anywhere.
Spies
• The government was also
worried by the possible
presence of a Fifth
Column-people working or
spying for the enemy- in
the country.
• The department
responsible for
propaganda, the Ministry
of Information, began a
campaign called 'Careless
Talk Costs Lives'.
Spies
• Many of the posters were designed to be
funny.
• The other famous slogan used on posters
was 'Keep Mum - she's not so dumb‘
• This also encouraged people not to gossip or
talk about the war effort in case their
conversations were overheard by spies.
• Very successful- It worked because people
found the message easy to understand and
liked the fact that the posters were funny.
The Home Guard
• British and French
armies were defeated in
France by the Germans
May 1940
• The future looked very
bad.
• Britain was the last big
country in Europe still
fighting Hitler and faced
the real threat of an
invasion from the
Germans across the
sea from France.
The Home Guard
• British army was badly weakened by the
defeat in France so the government quickly
set up a volunteer army
• Originally called the Local Defence
Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard.
• It was sometimes nicknamed 'Dad's army'
because it was made up of volunteers who
were too old to serve in the regular army.
The Home Guard
• Hundreds of thousands of men joined the
Home Guard in the summer of 1940 and
served through the war.
• Did not have proper weapons or uniforms
• Began training to resist an enemy invasion
and soon began performing a number of roles
• It was expected, but the Germans did not try
to invade
• The Home Guard never faced an invading
force so it is unsure how they would have
fought.
The Blitz
• In June 1940, after the
defeat of France,
Germany prepared to
invade Britain
• German leaders felt it
was essential to destroy
the British air force to
stop it sinking the ships
that would carry
German soldiers across
the Channel.
• Bombing raids on
Britain started in July
The Blitz
• August- German air force concentrated its
attack upon airfields, aircraft factories and
radar stations.
• The Royal Air Force fought back in the Battle
of Britain.
• The German air force nearly succeeded in
crippling the British air force, but its losses of
aircraft and aircrew were very high, and the
invasion was postponed.
The Blitz
• To force Britain to surrender, attack was
switched to other targets: such docks,
factories and railways.
• Bombing was not accurate, and most of these
targets were in cities and towns
• Many bombs fell upon streets and houses,
killing people and destroying property.
• From October 5, the German raids took place
only at night and the British defenses of antiaircraft guns and night fighters could not stop
them.
The Blitz
• British planes went on bombing raids to
Germany, attacking factories, cities and towns
- especially the capital, Berlin.
• Many places in Britain were badly damaged
during the Blitz, but this did not stop war
production or force Britain to surrender.
• Over 30,000 British people were killed during
this period - over half in London, which was
bombed almost every night.
The Blitz
• The Blitz ended in mid-May 1941, when
much of the German air force was sent
east to prepare for the invasion of
Russia.
• The immediate threat of a German
invasion of Britain was over
• Bombing was to continue at less
intensive levels in 1942 and 1943.
Air Raid Wardens
• Each London borough
was divided into
districts, Each district
was split into different
posts. Each post would
be split into six or more
sectors that had
between three and six
wardens serving under
a senior warden.
Air Raid Wardens
• Warden patrolled an area covering several
streets.
• Divided into manageable areas for the
purposes of bomb surveillance.
• Each warden had to report to his or her post
where and when a bomb had exploded.
• After reporting the warden would return to the
scene to look after those shocked and
wounded before the emergency services of
the Civil Defence would arrive.
Air Raid Wardens
• During this time the warden would have to put
out any small fire and direct those who were
made homeless to the nearest rest center
• A good warden could attend to minor fires
and injuries without needing to alert Civil
Defence.
• One in six wardens were women.
• The official hours for an ARP worker were 72
per week but in reality they were much more.
Auxiliary Fire Service
• The AFS was created to support
the regular London Fire Brigade.
• This new service needed
equipment so many of London's
black taxicabs were taken over by
the Civil Defence, painted grey
and turned into makeshift fire
engines.
• The first night of the Blitz, 9 AFS
brigades used 100 fire engines
each to extinguish the
widespread fires.
Auxiliary Fire Service
From the memoirs of a fire-fighter at the height of the Blitz,
working in the docklands:
"There were pepper fires, loading the surrounding air
heavily with stinging particles so that when a fireman
took a deep breath it felt like breathing fire itself.
There were rum fires, with torrents of blazing liquid
pouring from the warehouse door and barrels
exploding like bombs themselves. There was a paint
fire, another cascade of white hot flame, coating the
pump with varnish that could not be cleaned off for
weeks. A rubber fire gave forth black clouds of smoke
that could only be fought from a distance, always
threatening to choke the attackers".
[Sir Aylmer Firebrace, 'Fire service Memoirs' (Melrose, 1949)
pp.168-9; MOI, 'Front Line' (HMSO, 1942), pp.25-6]
Homelessness
• Many survivors of the
Blitz were faced with
homelessness
• Between September
1940 and May 1941,
1,400,000 Londoners
were made homeless
• 1 in every 6 Londoners
found themselves
without a place to live.
Homelessness
• Those who lived in the poor areas such
as the East End suffered particularly
badly.
• Houses in these areas were in a bad
state of repair to begin with and were
destroyed easily by the bombs.
• By 11th November 1940, 4 out of 10
houses in Stepney had been damaged.
Shelters
• Bombing of Britain did
not start immediately.
• People developed a
false sense of security
and were not keen to
have shelters.
• Once heavy bombing
began, from the
summer of 1940
onwards, shelters
became more popular.
Shelters
• In London, people slept at night in the
Underground Stations and tunnels.
• The shelters saved the lives of many people,
but there were deaths when large bombs fell
directly on shelters.
• Many people could be killed at once - for
example, 64 died at Balham Underground
Station when it took a direct hit on 15 October
1940.
Shelters
• When war began, London had its own readymade shelter system - the Underground.
• Many Londoners used the Tube as their fulltime or part-time shelter from the air raids.
• At first this was disorganized with people
sleeping when and where they could, even
when the trains started running again in the
morning .
• At the peak of the Blitz, near the end of
September 1940, 79 Underground stations
were being used as shelters and 177,000
were sleeping in them
Shelters
• After being approved, sheltering had to be
organized by local government and Civil
Defence.
• 79 stations were fitted with bunks, first aid
clinics, and chemical toilets.
• On November 25th 1940, the first of 22,000
specially made triple-bunk beds were fitted
into the deep Tube stations at Lambeth North.
• From 29th October 1940 there were even 124
canteens throughout the system, with food
delivered by special trains.
Shelters
• Health and sanitation problems were
addressed by issuing posters with the
message "Coughs and Sneezes Spread
Diseases" and giving general advice on
how to stay healthy.
• Many Londoners found shelter
wherever they could - in churches, in
wine cellars, in boiler rooms.
Shelters
• In March 1940, the government asked local
authorities to build brick and concrete
shelters on the surface.
• These were usually at the end of streets or
under railway arches and were used by the
people living in that street, perhaps about 50
people in total.
• A shortage of concrete meant that many of
these shelters were not that strong.
• They were cold, damp, and dark, ventilation
was poor.
Shelters
• Trench shelters were also built in public parks
and gardens, dug into the ground, lined, and
then given roofs of either concrete or steel.
• They normally contained about 50 people but
were unpopular because they used to flood
very easily.
• No matter what the accommodation, when
families were bombed out of their home they
found a corner of some shelter and tried to
make do as best they could.
Shelters
• The Tube was also used by government and
industry. Special offices were built in disused
passages and on the platforms
• Sometimes the War Cabinet met in the Tube
shelters to escape the bombing. Anti Aircraft
Control used another disused station as its
headquarters.
• Some factories were also placed
underground
Shelters
• By the end of the
War, German
bombing had killed
just over 60,000
people in Britain.
However, many
more would have
died if shelters had
not been provided.
Home Shelters
• In November 1940 the
Most Londoners stayed
in their homes, sleeping
downstairs, under
stairs, under tables, in
cupboards.
• If they used a shelter at
home then it would
have been either an
Anderson or a Morrison
shelter.
Anderson Shelter
• 2,250,000 Anderson shelters were given away free
at the start of the Blitz.
• The roof was made of corrugated steel and was
dome-shaped, the roof was bolted to strong rails
and the structure was put 3ft underground with 18
inches of earth on top.
• People constructed Anderson shelters in their back
gardens.
• tended to flood regularly, the space inside was
generally too small for a family to sleep in, it didn't
keep the noise of the air raids out, and war-time
shortages of steel meant that after a time they had
to be stopped being produced.
Anderson Shelter
Morrison Shelter
• It was a family shelter, free for most people
• Could be kept indoors- helped to reduce
noise, it got rid of the flooding problem, and it
helped to minimize disruptions made to
normal home life
• It had a steel roof, wire mesh sides, and could
be used as a table during the day.
• It was 2ft 9 inches high and was just big
enough to sleep in.
• 5000,000 were given out by November 1941
Morrison Shelter
Evacuation of Children
• By 1934, officials made
secret plans to move
infants, schoolchildren
and some adults to the
countryside if war
began.
• In 1938, during the
Munich crisis,
evacuation was very
nearly started in Britain,
but war was avoided
and children remained
at home.
Evacuation of Children
• More detailed evacuation plans were
prepared after the crisis.
• Evacuation was to be voluntary, with parents
deciding whether to send their children away.
• September 1939, evacuation commenced
several days before Britain entered the war.
• Schoolchildren, their teachers, mothers with
children under five, pregnant women, and
some disabled people were moved by train
and road to smaller towns and villages in the
countryside.
Evacuation of Children
• The evacuation plan worked very well and 1½
million children and adults were moved within
3 days, including 600,000 from London.
• The government was disappointed because it
had hoped to evacuate 3 million people. More
than half of all schoolchildren did not leave
their homes in the cities and towns.
• There were no big bombing raids on Britain in
the first months of the war and, by early 1940,
many children had returned home.
Evacuation of Children
• In June 1940, following the defeat of France,
there was a large evacuation of children from
the east and southeast coasts to safer areas.
• When the blitz started there was another big
evacuation
• Later, in 1944, a further large evacuation of
children and mothers took place. This was the
last evacuation of the war. Most evacuees
were able to return home during 1945. Some,
though, were orphans, because their parents
had been killed in air raids.
Evacuations of Children
• Most London children
were evacuated through
their schools.
• Altogether 827,000
school children were
evacuated along with
103,000 teachers and
helpers.
• 524,000 children under
the school age went
with their mothers.
• 12,000 pregnant
women also left the city
to protect their unborn
children.
Evacuation of Children
• Some children went to foster homes on
farms, some to cottages, some to the manor
house (where the care of several children
might be left to the servants).
• Many Londoners who were moved to the
countryside found that they and their country
hosts came from completely different worlds.
• Londoners thought that country folk would be
backward, old-fashioned and snobbish.
• The country hosts thought their guests from
London would be dirty, loud, ill mannered and
lice-ridden.
Evacuation of Children
• Evacuation forced
people to face issues
concerning the
differences and
imbalances of social
class
• Evacuation introduced
one half of Britain to
the other half, inner
city to country, middleclass to working-class.
Evacuation of Children
• Some children missed their families, friends
and familiar city streets. Sometimes their new
foster parents did not understand them or
treated them harshly.
• For others, it was the best time of their lives
and they enjoyed the fresh country air, good
country food and lots of new things to do.
• One schoolteacher wrote:
• "All of the evacuees have gained an
experience and a broadened outlook which
will inevitably modify their future lives. A
deeper understanding will, I hope, arise
between the peoples of our own land"
Farming
• In 1939 farming
became part of the war
effort, a state controlled
industry whose aim was
to feed wartime Britain.
• Food imports had to be
reduced because the
ships were needed to
transport guns, planes
and soldiers, and the
best way to reduce
imports was to grow
more food.
Farming
• "Dig for Victory" was
the slogan of a
campaign started by
the government to
encourage people to
grow more food.
• Made sure that every
available piece of land
was turned over to
agriculture.
• Nearly half the families
in London had a
garden to grow their
own vegetables
Farming
• Growing your own food or rearing your own
animals was a good way to add to your
rationed food.
• Even evacuated children were expected to do
their bit and care for their own gardens
• In 1939, the number of acres of land used for
food production was just under 12 million, in
1945 this had grown to just over 18 million
acres.
• Between 1939 and 1945, imports of food
were halved.
Rationing
• Rationing of food was
introduced in January
1940.
• Everybody was issued
with a ration book that
contained coupons that
had to be handed in to
the shops every time
rationed food was
bought.
• As well as the basic
ration everybody had 16
coupons each month
that they could spend
on what they wished.
Rationing
• This made sure that everyone was able to
buy and eat the basic food necessary to keep
them fit and healthy.
• Bacon, butter and sugar were among the first
things to be rationed.
• Some foods such as potatoes, fruit and fish
were not rationed.
• People were able to buy these things,
provided they could afford them and there
were supplies in the shops.
Rationing
• Although there was less food,
Britons seemed to be better
fed.
• They ate less fat, less meat
and more vegetables.
• Their average calorie intake fell
from 3,000 to 2,800 per day.
• With special food, drink and
vitamin supplements for babies
and pregnant mothers, infant
mortality fell from 51to 46 per
thousand live births during the
war.
Rationing
1940
1941
1942
Jan
Bacon
Jan
Sugar
March
Meat
July
Tea
July
Butter and Margarine
March
Jam
May
Cheese
June
Eggs
January
Rice and dried fruit
February
Canned tomatoes and peas
April
Breakfast cereals and condensed milk
July
Chocolate and sweets
August
Biscuits
December
Oat flakes
Rationing
Rationing
• Lots of people did try and get round
rationing, buying extra clothes and food
without coupons on the 'Black Market' from
profiteers called Spivs.
• Coupons were also forged, or stolen and
sold on the black market at high prices so
people could get more than their ration.
Victory Gardens
• One of the American
government's efforts to
make sure that there
was enough food for
everyone
• idea that everyone
could raise some fruit or
vegetables.
• not only practical, were
a way for people to feel
patriotic and contribute
to the war effort.
• almost two million in
America during the war
Canning
• To make fruits and
vegetables last longer put
them in a jar or can and seal
it hermetically
• Was the easiest and most
reliable way to get food for
the troops, so the armed
forces used up most of the
supply of canned goods.
• People on the home front
were encouraged to can their
own food.
• By using glass instead of
metal, they saved steel and
tin, which were needed for
the war effort.
Mending
• The war caused a
shortage of clothes and
high prices for those
that could be found in
the shops.
• Couldn’t get supplies
from abroad, and
clothes manufacturers
in Britain had to make
things needed for the
war such as uniforms
and parachutes.
Mending
• Clothes rationing was introduced in May
1941.
• This made sure that everyone had a fair
share of what was available.
• Everybody was given a ration book with 66
clothing coupons that had to last for a year.
• By the spring of 1942 each person was given
only 48 clothing coupons a year
• Each item of clothing that was rationed was
worth a certain number of coupons
Mending
• People still had to pay for clothes, but they
had to hand over the right number of coupons
each time they bought something.
• The 'Make do and Mend' campaign was
introduced by the government to encourage
people to get as much wear as they could out
of the clothes they already had.
• Posters and information leaflets gave people
advice and ideas about how to do this.
• Evening classes were set up to teach people
how to make new clothes out of old ones,
rather than throw them away.
Mending
• Before the war, stockings were made of silk,
but silk came from Japan.
• Once war was declared on Japan, silk was off
the market.
• All the nylon was needed to make
parachutes.
• Stockings were eventually made of cotton,
but even these were high in demand and low
on supply.
• Going barelegged in the 1940s was shocking,
so some women drew a line up the back of
their legs to make it look like they were
wearing stockings with seams in the back.
Salvage
• In 1939 most of the fuel,
food and raw materials
used in Britain was
imported
• German submarines
and aircraft were able to
start weakening
Britain's defenses by
attacking the ships and
destroying supplies of
resources essential for
making weapons and
fighting the war.
Salvage
• Information
campaigns were used
to encourage people
to make better use of
resources at home,
especially waste.
• Posters, information
leaflets and slogans
persuaded and
reminded everyone
that they had a part to
play in fighting the
war on the Home
Front.
Salvage
• Paper was scarce because the defense
industry needed wood for building weapons
and supplies for war and because so many
lumbermen either went into the armed forces
or went to work in the defense industry for
better wages.
• As a result, everyone saved paper for
recycling. Students would go door to door,
collecting scrap paper.
• They felt it was their patriotic duty.
War Bonds
• In order to raise money,
the American
government sold war
bonds and stamps.
• If you bought a war
bond for $18.75, it
would be worth $25.00
ten years later.
War Bonds
• If you did not have
$18.75 all at once, like
most kids, you could
buy war stamps.
• Each stamp was worth
10 cents, and you
would paste each
stamp into a book until
they added up to
$18.75.
• Once the book was
full, you were issued a
war bond.
War Bonds
• War stamps and war bonds were not
only a way for the government to raise
money, but a way for every person to
participate in the war effort.
• It became very patriotic to buy bonds
and stamps.
• One of the most popular Christmas gifts
during the war was a war bond.
V-mail
• V-mail, or Victory Mail,
was a new invention for
people writing letters
during the war.
• A letter from home was
a great boost for
morale.
• Delivering letters to the
front was not an easy
task.
V-mail
• Paper was heavy and took up a lot of space
and had to be sent to Europe and the Pacific
by ship. Ships took a long time and chances
were good that the enemy would bomb them.
• To send V-mail, you would buy a form at the
local five-and-dime store.
• Like a postcard, you would write the address
and your letter on the form
• Instead of going directly overseas, the form
was photographed, and the film was sent
overseas on an airplane.
V-mail
• Because film was smaller and lighter, much
more mail could go on the airplane. Once
overseas, the film would be printed and sent
to the recipient.
• Film took up about 98% less space than
paper letters, and it took less time to get
there.
• By boat, a letter could take up to six weeks
while V-mail could get there by plane in about
two weeks.
Toys
• One of the biggest ways in which children felt the war
was in toy production.
• Because the metal needed to make toys was in
demand for tanks and armaments, toys like bicycles
were not made for the duration of the war.
• Kids either had to deal with their old toys or play with
wooden toys.
• Like paper and rubber, kids would organize metal
drives in their neighborhoods. They would collect old
toys, old pots and pans, and even bottle caps off the
street in order to make a small difference in the war
effort.
Cars
• Because of gas and rubber
shortages, cars had to be
used sparingly.
• The gas shortage was a
combination of the sinking of
oil tankers by the Germans
and the war-production
needs.
• Rubber was scarce because
Japan had conquered the
countries that produced 97
percent of the American
rubber supply.
• As a result of these two
shortages, Americans were
forced to do less driving.
Cars
• Depending on your job, you were given a
certain amount of ration cards for gas and
tires.
• If you were a doctor, and driving was
considered essential, you got the highest
allocation of gas and tires.
• However, if you were a housewife, driving
was not considered essential.
• Many homes had to be careful of how many
times they went to the movies, went on
picnics, or even to the store.
Labor Force Changes
• The 1930s had been an
era of violent labor
disputes because of the
Great Depression
• The war demanded a
change in American
industry from consumer
goods to war materiel,
and also a change in
workers' and managers'
attitudes from
antagonism to
cooperation.
Labor Force Changes
• The government launched a campaign urging
workers to make personal sacrifices to win
the war, and individual businesses and labor
unions did the same
• For companies, the war was a chance to gain
greater control over their workers.
• Factory managers called for employees to
suspend union rules, abandon traditional
work patterns, and make sacrifices in the
name of patriotism and increase production
Changes with Women
• Before the war, many
people believed that a
woman's place was in
the home.
• A total war that meant
everybody was
involved.
• With many men away in
the army, navy and air
force, women had to
take over the jobs they
left behind.
Changes with Women
• Women worked
everywhere: in the
armed forces; on the
anti-aircraft guns and in
ARP control centers; as
sand-bag fillers and
fire-fighters; in the
Women's Voluntary
Service; in factories; on
farms in the Land Army.
Changes with Women
• Under the National Service Act of 1941, all
women between the ages of 18 and 60 had to
sign up for some form of work.
• One out of every three workers in the
factories was a woman, making the planes,
tanks, guns and bullets needed in the war.
• Women from all social backgrounds got
involved.
• The massive contribution made by women to
the war effort was recognized by all.
Rosie the Riveter
• became the symbol
for women workers
in the American
defense industries.
Women Workers
• Women could not do
the heaviest lifting jobs
that still needed the
greater physical
strength of men and
they were not sent to
work in the mines
• But they soon proved
that they could do
almost any job usually
undertaken by a man,
and do it as well, if not
better.
Women Workers
• Altogether, about 7 million women were
employed in the war effort.
• Many women had never worked before and
had to learn to cope with very long working
hours and night shifts.
• Some had to make long journeys to and from
work.
• Others had to work part-time so they could
look after their children.
Women Workers
• The work could also be dangerous. As well as
the risk of enemy bombing raids upon
factories, accidents were common, especially
in the explosive industry.
• Another problem women had to face was the
attitude of other workers and the employers.
• Many men did not like working with women
and most women were paid less than men often only half - for doing the same work.
Women’s Land Army
• The government
wanted to increase the
amount of food grown
within Britain.
• In order to grow more
food, more help was
needed on the farms
and so the government
started the Women's
Land Army.
Women’s Land Army
• set up in June 1939 and by September it had
over 1,000 members
• By 1941, its numbers had risen to 20,000
• At its peak in 1943, over 80,000 women
classed themselves as 'Land Girls'.
• Numbers did not rise after that, as women
were needed to make aircraft and were
encouraged to take up factory work instead.
Women’s Land Army
• Women joined the Land Army from all
backgrounds, a third coming from London
and other large cities.
• Uniform - green jerseys, brown breeches,
brown felt hats and khaki overcoats
• Was not a military force and many women did
not wear the uniform
• Conditions were often poor and pay was low
but many women enjoyed the work
• Remained in existence until 1950
Women’s Voluntary Service
• The Women's Voluntary
Service (WVS) began in
June 1938 to prepare
women for civil defence
work.
• By September 1939,
the WVS had 336,000
members, increasing to
1 million members
during the war.
Women’s Voluntary Service
Jobs included:
• Caring for sick and evacuee children
• Organizing tea stations and canteens for air
raid shelters
• Looking after British POWs in the Far East,
when war had ended
• Organizing salvage campaigns
• Driving ambulances
• recruiting women for Air Raid Precautions
services
• darning socks for British and American
soldiers
Women’s Voluntary Service
• Only the organizers
received any payment,
everybody else gave
their services free.
• The women of the
WVS had to buy their
own uniform - a greygreen tweed suit, red
jumper and felt hat.
Women’s Voluntary Service
• Although some of the duties of the WVS may
have seemed boring, the women carried out
vital war work, helping Britain to run as
normal.
• The work could be dangerous and some
members of the WVS were killed on duty.
• The WVS is still in existence today and is
known as the Women's Royal Voluntary
Service (WRVS).
Women in the Service
• By December 1939,
43,000 women had
volunteered for active
duty in the Women's
Auxiliary Services of the
Army, Navy and Air
Force.
• They were not allowed
to fight but did work that
supported the efforts of
the soldiers, sailors and
airmen.
Women in the Service
• At first this included typing, cooking, cleaning,
driving and operating telephone switchboards
• They were soon given more military work to
do, such as identifying enemy aircraft, plotting
air and shipping movements on battle maps,
and acting as motorcycle messengers.
• The government wanted women to join up so
they could take the places of men who could
then be sent off to fight.
Women in the Service
• 1941 they introduced conscription for all
single women aged between 20 and 30.
• Women had to choose whether they wanted
to join the armed forces or work in vital
industries.
• 1942, women aged 19 were also called up
• January 1942, over 213,000 were serving in
the Auxiliary Services.
• June 1944 over 450,000 women were serving
in the armed forces compared to 4 ½ million
men.
Works Cited and Consulted
1. http://library.thinkquest.org/15511/
2. http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIHomefront.htm
3. http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture
21.html
4. http://tvh.bfn.org/sources2.html
5. http://www.rosietheriveter.org/
6. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/warwwii/a/
women_at_home.htm
7. http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/wwar.htm
8. http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/00
0000/000069/html/t69.html
Works Cited and Consulted
9. http://www.historynow.org/12_2007/historian3.h
tml
10. http://www.private-art.com/
11. http://homefront.mrdonn.org/unit.html
12. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwii/ahf/i
ndex.htm
13. http://www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com/pa
ge/page/1652512.htm
14. http://www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com/pa
ge/page/1652512.htm
Works Cited and Consulted
15. http://www.nps.gov/legal/testimony/106th/rosie
ww7.htm
16. http://www.johndclare.net/wwii1.htm
17. http://www.johndclare.net/wwii1.htm
18. http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/exhibi
ts/homefront/
19. http://www.americainwwii.com/
20. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/homefront/
resources.html
21. http://womenshistory.about.com/library/pic/bl_p
_wwii_partners.htm
Works Cited and Consulted
22. http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/solguide/VU
S11/VUS11.html
23. http://hitlernews.cloudworth.com/dailylife-third-reich.php
24. http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subje
cts/worldwariihomefront.htm
25. http://www.eubankweb.com/Donald/Aleutian/rbook1.htm
Works Cited and Consulted
26. http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/WW2Time
line/radio/1.html
27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_oc
5hQt-A
28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT9yCI
XWQuU