Strong buildings were also prepared for use as air raid shelters. They were also given materials to build air raid shelters in the backyards. Fortunately, poison gas was never used as a weapon in Britain. These included fire-fighting, first aid and ambulance driving.Ĭivilians were instructed in how to protect themselves against poison gas attacks and issued with gas masks, which they were encouraged to carry on all journeys. Volunteers were needed to be trained in civil defence duties. Streets were subject to the ‘blackout’ – lighting restrictions – and the ban on street lighting caused a huge rise in car accidents. Homes, workplaces and public buildings were destroyed. 60,595 civilians died as a result of enemy action in the UK. Air raids meant both danger and disruption. A few hours after the war was declared on 3 September 1939, almost all of them had been evacuated from the danger areas to the reception areas. The government had planned to evacuate about three million people but in the end only one million left home. Small-scale evacuation of women and children were carried out in September 1938 but the real evacuation began in September 1939. Use this lesson to work with original documents on how the British were encouraged to prepare for the Second World War.Įvacuation plans had been in preparation well before the outbreak of war. People were also encouraged to think about their safety, and the government spent a great deal of time educating people on what to do in situations such as an air raid, or a gas attack, as well as providing information on how to make rations stretch further and how to keep yourself healthy. They were encouraged to plant vegetables on any spare land they had to supplement the rationing, but people were also recruited into a variety of essential positions such as Air Raid Wardens and the Home Guard. People were needed on the home front to help with all sorts of things. This happened in a variety of different ways, from cutting down railings to be melted down and used in munitions factories, to rationing and evacuation plans.īetween 19, the government thought of all the possible dangers and difficulties the Home Front would face during war, and started to take precautions. The government expected the war to disrupt and threaten the lives of civilians left at home. However, this war would not just involve soldiers. In 1938, the government began to build new warships and increase its armaments. Britain started to prepare for the Second World War at least a year before it actually started.
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