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WW2 Home Front - Coggle Diagram
WW2 Home Front
Evacuation
Children had to be evacuated from major cities (that had a high risk of being bombed) to country sides.
Britain was split into 3 zones: areas where heavy bombing were expected (evacuation areas), areas that were safe from bombing (reception areas) and areas where little bombings was expected (neutral areas).
All of the following groups of people were evacuated: mother with children; teachers; pregnant women and blind and disabled people
Evacuation processes began on the 1st of September 1939, the day that Germany invaded Poland.
Some people merely made contacts with friends and family, meanwhile, others even moved to places like Australia and Canada.
The government had to use posters, leaflets and announcements on radios to warn and inform people about evacuation.
From January 1940, many families started to move back to their homes because no raids or bombings had occurred. However, a year into the war, the Blitz took place and there was yet another wave of families surging to evacuate.
ARP/Gasmasks
Gasmasks had to be carried around everywhere and people had to practise putting them on quickly and safely.
The gasmasks smelt of rubber and disinfectant, which made many feel sick.
On the first roll out of gasmasks, 38 million were issued and no matter how young someone was, they had to wear a gas mask.
Leaflets and posters were sent out to show people how to put on their gas mask and how to stay safe if they were in a dangerous circumstance where the gasmask would be needed.
The APR stands for Air Raid Precaution and they protected people and buildings across Leeds from the impact of Air Raids.
The Council set up 132 APR posts, 60 training centres and over 7,000 APR Wardens in Leeds.
Rationing
Rationing was when you were given a book and you had to register with your local food suppliers. Then, you would go to them (once a week) to pick up your family's set amount of food.
Rationing was introduced because much of Britain's food and other items came from overseas. However, this was no longer possible as the German U-boats (submarines) were sinking the supply boats, all over the Atlantic Ocean.
Rationing was a way in which all people got an equal amount of the little food that could be produced.
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A certain amount of coupons and points were given to each person, which they could use to buy what they wished with it.
Many famous newspapers advised people on how they could use their few coupons and tokens, wisely.
Blackout
On the 1st of September 1939, (2 days before war was declared) the blackout was introduced.
Advise was issued by the government that all openings that could show light had to be covered (after a certain amount of time) with anything that could stop light going in our out of the building. Also, street lamps and other public lights were switched of at this time.
The blackout was introduced to stop any enemy aircraft from seeing the populated areas, in Britain.
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Thousands of people died in road accidents. The number of road accidents increased because of the lack of street lighting and the dimmed traffic lights. To help prevent accidents white stripes were painted on the roads and on lamp-posts. People were encouraged to walk facing the traffic and men were advised to leave their shirt-tails hanging out so that they could be seen by cars with dimmed headlights.
Air Raid Shelter
These shelters were half buried in the ground with earth heaped on top to protect them from bomb blasts. They were made from six corrugated iron sheets bolted together at the top, with steel plates at either end, and measured 1.95m by 1.35m. Anderson shelters were given free to poor people.
For domestic use there were 3 different types of air raid shelters: Anderson shelters, Morrison shelters and brick-built shelters.
The air raid shelters saved many lives during the Blitz of the major cities. They were designed by the British Steelworks Association in early 1939
Sirens would give people warning of approaching bombers and, later, sound the 'all clear'.
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Home Guard
The home guard was first established on the 14th of May 1940, by Winston Churchill (England's Prime Minister at the time). It was established because Germany had, at the time, conquered most of western Europe and Britain was alone and had no allies.
This led the English to get ready for an attack from Germany, any day. The early problems of the home guard were that they were severely ill-equipped and there was a lack of training and experience, among those who signed up for it.
The role of these men were to be the last line of defence, if Germany were to invade Britain and to try and defend their country. At the end of 1945, the home guard was disbanded because of the diminishing chances of an attack from Germany.
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