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The Home Front - Coggle Diagram
The Home Front
Evacuation
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The government thought that people would be saver in the county, so plans were drawn up to evacuate the children to homes in the country.
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Evacuation areas, where heavy bombing was expected
Reception areas- mostly country areas, safe from bombing. The evacuees would move here and stay with local families.
Neutral areas, which might suffer light attacks. Nobody would be evacuated from or to these areas
the government had many means of telling people about the evacuation programme. They used posters, leaflets and messages on the radio to persuade parents how important evacuation was. trains and busses were prepared.
Some people made their own arrangements and stayed with friends or relatives while others went abroad to Canada and Australia
Most of the people that were evacuated were children but other groups included Mothers with their children, Pregnant women, Blind and disabled people and teachers.
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Rationing
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It was needed because lots of Britain's food ans other goods like clothing came from overseas, But German U- boats (submarines) were sinking many of the supply ships crossing the Atlantic.
Most people liked rationing because it made everyone equal and it was fair. Before it was introduced rich people could get whatever they wanted, if they payed enough money, but poorer people had trouble finding enough to eat.
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There was also an extra allowance of luxury items such as rice, tinned fruit and cereals. Each person was given sixteen points every four weeks and could spend these points as wished.
Even clothes were rationed and this was introduced in May 1941. Everyone was given 66 coupons per year.
Home Guard
The home guard was also called Dad's army. This was because it was full of the men that had fought in WW1. they were now older and they had experience in warfare.
On the 14th May 1940 the government announced that it was setting up the Local Defence Volunteers- the Home Guard. The Home Guard's job was to work in their local area to help defend Britain from attack.
Men between the ages of seventeen and 65 could join, and the work was part- time and unpaid. On the first day, a quarter of a million men joined up.
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The weapons that the Guard had was described as 'Packets of pepper, short lengths of lead cabling and iron tubing.
Winston Churchill claimed that he thought Dad's Army was very useful he said 'Such a force is of the highest value and importance. A country where every street and every village bristles with the resolute armed men is a country which would not be able to be overthrown.
Air Raid Shelters
One of the most popular shelters for air raids were churches. People felt that nowhere else would be safer than being under the protection of the church- so they were popular targets for bombings.
To shelter from the bombing, many people bought platform tickets for the London underground and then cramped in the stations for the night.
At first, the government tried to ban this, but as there were not enough public shelters, they had to give in.
Lots of people had Anderson shelters fixed as a bedroom so that they were able to spend the night in a safe space.
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Some people who didn't have Air raid shelters in their gardens- or they just didn't have gardens- would have special beds that had a wire cage put around it that wouldn't protect them from a direct hit, but if the house next to you was bombed and the debris hit your house, you would be fine.
Blackouts
During WW2, the blackout was a nationwide effort to turn off all lights in towns and cities. It was thought of as a defence against German bombers, so they could not be guided by the lights.
The blackouts were ordered two days before the war broke out. London and other large British towns and cities had a blackout.
People would make a big effort to help Britain go dark. They would put up black cotton on their windows every night and take it down in the mornings.
Car blinkers were not allowed to be on. To help, people painted white lines on the roads that are still there today.
Pubs had to have specialized doors put on so that no light would escape out of the door as people left and people weren't allowed to smoke outside. Factories that had glass roofs had to paint their entire roofs black.
ARP/ gas masks
Everyone, however young, had to have a gas mask, and 38 million gas masks were issued. They had to be taken everywhere. Their smell of rubber and disinfectant followed the people everywhere and made lots of people sick. Leaflets were given out to everyone teaching you what to do in a gas attack.
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In September 1935, four years before WW2 began, British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, published a circular entitled Air Raid Precautions. Such precautions included building public air raid shelters.