Sheffield Archives and Local Studies: History Key Stage 2 Unit 9
Sections 2 and 3 (What was it like for children in the Second
World War? What was the Blitz? Why were children evacuated?)
Sheffield Blitz
Sheffield as a Blitz Target
•These are pictures of Sheffield
steel works in operation before the
Second World War.
•Sheffield was famous for making
steel and the city’s steel works
produced many of the weapons
used by British soldiers in both the
First and Second World Wars.
Sheffield as a Blitz Target
•These are extracts from secret German plans to bomb Sheffield
during the Second World War.
•As part of Hitler’s plans to invade Britain, the Germans started to
bomb Britain's cities in air raid attacks from September 1940, hoping
that the British would panic and surrender.
•This period was known as The Blitz. 'Blitz' comes from the German
word 'blitzkrieg', which means 'lightning war'.
•According to the 2nd document, how many aircraft were the
Germans planning on sending to attack Sheffield? Why do you think
the Germans were particularly interested in targeting Sheffield?
Defence
Barrage balloon
Anti-aircraft guns
•These are pictures showing some of
the ways Sheffield tried to defend itself
from attack by German aircraft during
the Blitz.
•How might each of the following have
helped in the defence of the city?
Sandbags
•Barrage balloons
•Anti-aircraft guns
•Sandbags
Defence
•These are Sheffield pictures of people
wearing gas masks.
s02555[1]
•At the start of the Second World War
there was a fear in Britain that German
bomber planes would drop poison gas
bombs and so the government gave out
gas masks to all British people.
•People were expected to put on their
gas masks during an air raid.
•What do you think was the purpose of
the gas mask?
Defence
•These are photographs of air raid shelters in
gardens in Sheffield. They were known as
‘Anderson Shelters’.
•Anderson Shelters were half buried in the
ground with earth heaped on top to protect
them from bomb blasts.
•As soon as enemy aircraft were spotted in
the night sky, air raid sirens sounded to warn
everyone that an air raid was coming.
•On hearing an air raid siren, many people
chose to go into air raid shelters rather than
stay in their homes in case their houses
were hit by bombs.
•What do you imagine conditions would have
been like in these shelters?
•What might you have taken with you into an
air raid shelter during an air raid?
Defence
•These are Sheffield cartoons of Air Raid
Precaution (ARP) Wardens.
•ARP Wardens helped to defend the city.
Their duties included:
•Making sure everyone turned off their
lights at night time when an air raid was
expected (this was known as ‘blackout’).
•Handing out gas masks and organising
air raid shelters.
•Reporting on bomb damage and helping
emergency and rescue services.
•Why do you think it was important for lights
to be switched off during an air raid?
•What different pieces of equipment can you
identify being carried by the warden on the
left? What do you think he might have used
each item for?
Evacuation
•These are extracts from Sheffield School
Log Books (school diaries) mentioning
government plans to ‘evacuate’ school
children.
•‘Evacuation’ meant moving people to safer
places outside the city to protect them
during the Blitz. Why do you think children
would have been safer in smaller towns and
the countryside?
•In early September 1939, with heavy
German bomb attacks looming, 20 special
trains took 155 groups of Sheffield children
to places like Lincolnshire, Leicestershire
and Nottinghamshire.
•What happened to the schools during the
evacuation period according to the
documents? Did the children travel alone?
Evacuation
•These are newspaper pictures of children from a school in
Carbrook, Sheffield, preparing for evacuation.
•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.
•What object in the sky are the children looking at in the first picture?
Evacuation
•This is a photograph of
Sheffield children about to
board a train and be
evacuated.
•Many children were sent
away from their families for
months (and sometimes
years) until it was thought safe
for them to return.
•How do you think these
Sheffield children are feeling?
Blitz
•This is a map showing where
the bombs fell in the Sheffield
Blitz (bombs are marked by
dots).
•Can you identify where on the
map your school would have
been located?
•Were there any bombs which
fell nearby?
Blitz
•These are photographs showing the impact of
the Blitz on Sheffield.
•The main attacks on Sheffield took place on the
nights of 12/13th and 15/16th December 1940.
On 12th December over 330 German aircraft are
believed to have attacked the city.
•Two nights later the bombers returned and 90
enemy aircraft attacked the city.
•Almost 700 people were killed during the air
raids. Over 82,000 houses were damaged. 106
out of a total of 154 Sheffield schools were
damaged, with 8 being completely destroyed.
Blitz
•These are more extracts from
Sheffield school log books
(school diaries) written the day
after air raid attacks on the city.
•What particular damage did the
bombings do to these schools?
•Why do you think the schools
were closed?
•What happened to children who
turned up to school the day after
the bombings?
Blitz
•Look at the statistics on the left for the Blitz
attacks on Sheffield in December 1940.
•To the nearest 100, how many people were
killed?
•How many unexploded bombs were found?
•Were more buses destroyed in the city or more
pictures lost in the art gallery?

Read the account on the next slide of Muriel Rodgers who was a schoolgirl in the
Sheffield Blitz and see if you can answer the following questions:

Why didn’t Muriel’s dad join the family in the air raid shelter at first?

What emotions did Muriel feel as she entered the shelter that night?

What animal did she compare herself to and why?

How did Muriel’s mum suggest they entertain themselves in the shelter?

What nasty shock did the family get when they climbed out of the shelter the
following morning?
Blitz
Rescue
•This is a photograph taken after a bomb
raid on Sheffield. What is happening?
•Once an air raid was over, a siren sounded
the “all clear” and people went outside
to survey the damage.
•Some found their homes destroyed. Others
found dead or injured relatives and friends.
•Explosive bombs, fire bombs and delayed
action bombs (or “time bombs”) kept police,
fire fighters, bomb disposal men,
ambulance drivers and air raid wardens
very busy.
•More recently, other parts of the world
have suffered similar destruction to that
illustrated in the photograph as a result of
disasters other than war. Can you think of
any examples?
Rescue
•These are extracts from an air raid report describing the rescue of a boy and his
parents from a house on Ellesmere Road, Sheffield, and the bravery shown by an
air raid warden, H K Sandford.
•How did Warden H K Sandford get into the bombed house?
•How did the boy Kenneth Middleton help the rescuers?
sheff.refno
Peace and Reconstruction
•Despite the terrible bombings, British cities like
Sheffield stood firm and refused to surrender.
•In May 1945, Germany was defeated and the
Second World War was over in Europe.
•The black and white pictures on the left are taken
from a Sheffield Town Planning Exhibition in 1945,
showing plans to rebuild large parts of the city.
•Why do you think Sheffield would have needed to
make special plans to rebuild the city after the war?
•If you were responsible for rebuilding Sheffield
what changes/improvements would you make?
Recap

1. Why was Sheffield targeted by the Germans during
the Blitz?
 2. Name three ways the city tried to defend itself from
attack/protect its people.
 3. In what month and year did Sheffield suffer its worst
air raids?
 4. To the nearest 100 how many Sheffield people were
killed in the air raids?
 5. Give one example of an ARP Warden’s duties.
Sheffield Archives and Local Studies
If you prefer to use this presentation as a basis for a
class visit to Archives and Local Studies or in a visit by
us to your class please contact us. Students will have
the opportunity to see and touch the original items.
We offer

Access to original primary source material from Tudor
times through to the 21st century.

Class visits to the Central Library and to Sheffield
Archives.

Visits to schools to deliver classroom sessions.

Introductory sessions for teaching staff.

Online PowerPoint lesson resources.

Focus Packs of colour facsimiles linked to the
National Curriculum.
www.sheffield.gov.uk/archives