Chapter 18

SEP 1940 BLITZ AGAINST BRITAIN

“What were the effects of the Blitz on everyday life in Britain?

Charlie Bryant Author What were the effects of the Blitz on everyday life in Britain?

During the Blitz in Britain, many British citizens were affected in more than one way. People had to be aware to the sound of the air-raid siren, which meant they had to rush to either their own shelter, or a public one. A lot of people slept in the underground stations, tightly squashed among many others. Others had shelters in their own home, or in their garden. People used Morrison shelters in their own homes. These were like cages that you slept in, and were used to stop the rubble falling on to you. The Anderson shelters were built in the garden, and were larger than the Morrison shelters. A whole family could fit into an Anderson shelter; however only a few people could fit into a Morrison shelter (depending on if it was a 2 tier Morrison shelter or just a 1 tier Morrison shelter). The Anderson shelters were buried in to the ground, and then covered back up with earth and grass. Sometimes vegetables were even grown on top of these. People living in cities in Britain lived in fear of being bombed, and every time the air-raid siren went off they reacted quickly to get to their shelters, and waited for the bombs to land.

People living in London and other main cities in Britain adopted daily routines. These routines involved working normally, but then either sleeping in their Anderson/Morrison shelters, or getting to an underground station or safe place instead of going home. People had to get to the underground stations early in order to get a space on the platform. If, however, they got to the station later, they would still be able to sleep on the stairs or anywhere else they could. The rail lines were switched off after a certain time to enable safety to all of the British people sleeping on the platforms. At first people had to use buckets to go to the loo in; however after a while toilets were fitted and were accessible for anyone staying the night in an underground station. People were not allowed to have any lights on in their home, and they had to black out their windows as well. This was to stop the German aircraft being able to see their targets, and it made it harder for them to bomb our major cities.

The bombing of Britain by the Luftwaffe had both a positive and a negative effect on morale. Propaganda was used heavily throughout the Blitz to increase the British morale. This propaganda included: posters of smiling Brits, groups of British people working during the war, and slogans telling British people to live their lives normally, and to keep their morale up. All of this propaganda told British people that Britain was winning the war. There was no negative press, or anything to take down this morale. Source C (Edexcel - Britain in the age of total war coursework assignments booklet) shows a photograph published in on 15th September 1940. This photograph shows a group of British workers smiling with high morale. This was the sort of propaganda released during the period of the Blitz. Behind the scenes of the propaganda, however, were the devastating effects the Blitz had on people’s lives. Destroying their homes and all of their possessions and taking the lives of people close to them, the Blitz in fact destroyed a lot of British people’s morale. In some places that had been heavily bombed, photographers were not allowed access. This was because the government was worried that these photographs would get in to the papers and reduce British morale.

During the course of the Blitz between September 1940 and May 1941, 43,000 British civilians were killed with more than 1 million injured. Once the V Weapons had been invented, they killed a further 8938 civilians in London and the south east. This took the total civilian deaths from bombings in Britain to over 51,500. More than 1 million houses were destroyed or damaged during the Blitz in London alone.

During the Blitz, around 650,000 children were evacuated from cities in to the countryside. This was to keep the children safe from bombings as the Germans did not tend to bomb out of Britain’s major cities. However, evacuating these children meant they had to be removed from their families. Children would suffer from homesickness and they would possibly never see their families again. They wouldn’t know if any family member had died, or anything. The children that did not get evacuated and stayed with their family instead were, however, more at risk of getting bombed than those that did get evacuated. If someone’s family member did die during the war, their morale might go down, which would cause other people’s morale to go down. They had to try and learn to get on with things as the country was in a time of crisis, and they still had their roles to play in the war.

The experience of the Blitz was pretty much the same for everyone living in major cities, however in the countryside some people were not affected by the Blitz whatsoever. They could get on with their normal lives, without having the big worry of their home being destroyed. They could almost forget that a war was on, as no bombs were hitting anywhere near them. Children were evacuated to homes in the countryside, where they could get on with their lives without their family, but with a new one.

The Blitz vastly affected many families throughout the country, and in many cases split them apart. Children were taken from families to live a safer life whilst their parents worked to help Britain come through the war, and many people were killed or injured. These were very emotional times, and people’s morale rose and fell. However, the great British grit shone through, and Britain went on to win the war in the air and at sea.”