Until 1945, the USAAF bravely bombed Axis targets in daylight, often unescorted. The Schweinfurt - Regensburg raid is infamous in August 1943 for the heavy losses inflicted on the B17's. 60 aircraft were los as were a total of 55 crews taken prisoner, interned in Switzerland or killed. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/aerialcampaigns/p/regensburg.htm
The plan was to have 2 bomber groups with 10 minutes between them taking off from bases in Britain. The first group would meet expected Luftwaffe fighters on the Regensburg raid, the target there was the Messerschmidt factory. Wile these fighters were refuelling the second wave would bomb the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt. Both USAAF groups would land in North Africa. http://www.historyandheadlines.com/august-17-1943-us-8th-air-force-loses-60-b-17-bombers-raid-schweinfurt-regensburg/
Unfortunately, bad weather meant the second wave was delayed, the Luftwaffe had time to re-arm and refuel,the disastrous day for the USAAF became known as 'Black Thursday'. The development of the P-51 and Lightning fighters, meant that by March 1944, Allied bombers had protection to and from the target in Germany.http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=513
It is surprising how many people are unaware of how widespread the bombing was in Britain during World War 2. London, Liverpool and Coventry are well publicised, but Hull suffered heavy bombing as it was on the East coast - any German bombers unable to reach their targets often dropped them here.
There has been much discussion on #Twitter recently regarding the video above. I could not believe something horse drawn could operate a combine harvester, but watch this and you will see I was wrong. There is also some good footage from the U.S of a Caterpillar operated combine and a steam operated threshing machine.
George Formby was a very popular entertainer in Britain, and he loved entertaining the troops. He was Britain's highest paid entertainer, by 1939 he was earning £100,000 per year. During the Second World War he, like Vera Lynn Gracie Fields and others, joined E.N.S.A. This stood for Entertainments National Servicemen Association (not as Spike Milligan stated in his memoirs Every Night Something Awful). He was famous for his banjo and ukelele playing and the infamous 'When I'm cleaning windows'. It was estimated that he had played to over three million troops by 1946.
You can find out more here: http://www.georgeformby.co.uk/gf_story/report.html
Anderson Shelter diagram found at:http://www.bigginhill-history.co.uk/images/andersonpicture.JPG.
When you talk about air raid shelters, most people envisage the infamous Anderson shelter which was popular. Named after Sir John Anderson who was Home Secretary during the Battle of Britain, 1.5 million were distributed leading up to the war, and by 1945 3.6 million had been made http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/history-of-the-battle-of-britain/air-raid-shelter-protection.aspx. It was constructed of corrugated iron,partially underground and the roof and walls were covered in soil. They were often damp but did provide some cover against bombs, although they could not withstand a direct hit. The public either bought them from the government or they were free depending on how much people earned - if you earned more than £5 per week you could buy one for £7. The Anderson shelter could accommodate up to 6 people.
Family entering Anderson shelter.
Another type which was hugely successful was the Morrison shelter, named after the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison. This was a basic design which was really just an iron cage which could fit under the kitchen table, ideal if you did not have a garden. These became available in 1941. http://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s-bomb-shelters-morrison.htm. It would not have been able to hold 6 people like the Anderson shelter but at least you could get in it quickly when the air raid siren went.
The London Tube provided a great deal of shelter during the blitz, as did other public shelters in towns and cities.
The entrance to a public shelter was marked with a large S Sign, they were constructed of brick and were not bomb proof, but they were blast proof.
Air raid shelters saved many lives during the Second World War. Without them the casualties from air raids would have been horrific.
Living next to any military base in the Second World War had many advantages, especially if you were young. My father often used to tell me he'd scrounge big tins of black treacle from a nearby base to take home for his Mother, this will have been greatly appreciated due to sugar being rationed.
The Americans were generous to the locals, Harry Willoughby in Wing & A Prayer writes that at his base they threw a big party for 150 children. They also held regular dances at many bases which proved popular...
If you were female and looking for a potential husband then you would be spoilt for choice, Americans were popular due to their higher rate of pay and being available, unlike many British soldiers who were in North Africa. Over 60,000 women would marry U.S servicemen and emigrate during the Second World War http://www.nww2m.com/2012/01/january-26-1942-american-soldiers-arrive-in-great-britain/
It was not all a romantic haven in Britain, even after war in Europe had ended. Canadian soldiers rioted in Aldershot, on one occasion causing £15,000 worth of damage http://www3.hants.gov.uk/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/canadian-army-aldershot.htm.
African Americans and other servicemen received a mixed response from both civilians and military. West Indian serving in Britain's armed forces also experienced a mixed response, Billy Strachan a native West India, volunteered for the RAF and served as a gunner and pilot in bombers. When the war finished a Padre asked him when he was going home. They often felt appreciated during the war, but the mood changed when hostilities finished, as though their sacrifice had been forgotten and they were not wanted anymore.http://www.blackpresence.co.uk/black-british-soldiers-the-forgotten-fighters/
This is a brilliant propaganda film called West Indies Calling, made in 1944, about West Indian men and women helping the war effort in industry and the armed forces.
For African Americans segregation was still practiced in Britain, which often shocked locals and was even discussed in Parliament. The video below has first hand accounts of U.S troops and civilians.
Britain was fortunate in World War 2 in that it received much needed help from abroad in materiel and in military manpower from abroad. the British Empire committed many troops on all fighting fronts to help defeat the Axis.
On the 23rd December 1939 7,500 Canadian troops arrived in Britain. This was the beginning, 629,000 Canadian fought in the warhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6651218.shtml, A total of 8,586,000 from all the Dominions would fight in World War 2 including 413,000 from Australia and 1,440,500 from India. The troops from other countries served where the British army was fighting, The Canadian Navy provided the lion's share of escorts for Atlantic convoys, and the Indian army provided many reinforcements to fight against the Japanese in the Far East.
Bevin Boys at a Durham Pit In World War 2, found at:http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/682674-2/bevinboysdurham2
In the Second World War many people, especially men, were prevented from joining the armed forces because they were more valuable to the war effort staying in their civilian roles. Coal miners, dockers, farmers and farm workers, railway workers, armaments workers, railway workers, police and doctors. In many cases being in a reserved occupation did not mean you were safe. Many factories were bombed, docks especially were subject to many attacks by the Luftwaffe including Hull, Sunderland, Newcastle, Swansea, Portsmouth, London, Southampton etc.
In 1938 a Schedule Of Reserved Occupation Act was passed by Parliament, to ensure labour shortages did not affect industry, as they had done in the First World War.
Due to a shortage of coal miners, a conscription scheme was established and the miners became known as 'Bevin Boys'. Nearly 22,000 Bevin Boys worked at the coal face during the war.
The farming industry in Britain during the Second World War underwent a complete upheaval. It was necessary for the government to control what farmers grew or what livestock they kept to ensure maximum productivity from the land. I have included part of my Special Study for my dissertation from my B.A in history from 2008 for this.
Under the Defence of The Realm Act
which was passed just before the outbreak of hostilities[1],
the Ministry of Agriculture had the power to
Preserve and
maintain agricultural land solely for the production of food, to control by
order, the cultivation, management and use of land in order to secure maximum
production of food from the farms; to terminate any tenancy of agricultural
land where it is considered that the land is being neglected or badly
cultivated; to introduce special measures for the determination of birds,
rabbits, deer, vermin and pests.[2]
[1] A. Wilt, Food for
War, Agriculture and Rearmament in Britain before the Second World War, p.186.
[2] J.Martin, The Development of Modern Agriculture,
British Farming Since 1931,p.38.
The Ministry now
had much more power to meet the demands of a hungry populace that would soon
have to rely on food that was largely home produced, as was forecast, quite
accurately that importation of food would decline. Many of the farmers who had
to produce this food had to change their methods of farming. They had to
produce in greater quantities food that was rich in carbohydrates such as
potatoes, or foodstuffs that were too bulky or fragile that would not take up
valuable shipping space, so as not to
rely too heavily on importation. [1]
With reference to
the title of this Special Study, like the Great War the Second World War was a
time of affluence for many farmers, particularly in the arable districts of
England. For example, prices of wheat in
1939 per cwt for England and Wales were 5 shillings, by 1945 this had risen to
14s 5d. Barley in the same period rose from 8s 10d to 24s 5d, and oats rose
from 6s 11d to 16s 5d[2]. farmers were heavily subsidised by the
Ministry of Food, who bought goods from farmers at higher rates, whilst selling
them to the public at lower rates, the shortfall being made up by the Treasury.
Crops such as wheat however, were acquired by the government cheaper than in
times of peace[3].This
system was , on 26th November
1940 confirmed to stay in place whilst hostilities were taking place and for
one year after they ended[4].
Government policy
was critical in ensuring an increase in productivity. Like the First World War,
War Agricultural Executive Committees There were eventually sixty-one
committees established in England and Wales[5],which
came to be known as ‘War Ags’. The members of the War Ags included local
farmers, members of the Women’s Institute and had the power to take farms away
from farmers who were considered to be farming inefficiently. They also had to
ensure the government policy of ploughing up more land was implemented. The War
Ags had the power to tell people which fields were cultivated and had a pool of
labour and machinery to work the land themselves. They also encouraged more modernisation, which
resulted in more efficiency and greater production.
Livestock
The inportation of
feedstuffs was less due to the problems
in shipping. This did not prevent the
encouragement of higher yields in dairy cows. More small scale farmers began to
produce milk, premium payments were given to the first 1514 litres of milk
produced per month[6]. Other
small scale production of livestock was
encouraged with the introduction of Pig and Poultry Clubs[7]
Domestic poultry keepers did not have restrictions placed upon them like large
scale producers regarding rationing controls. The Small Pig Keepers Council, an
organisation founded by the Ministry of Agriculture encouraged anyone with
space to keep a pig and feed it on household waste. There is little evidence to
suggest that these smallholders and people in towns were ever an economic
threat to full-time farmers, but whilst the war was taking place, helped to
supplement a diet that was rationed.
Hill farmers were
dealt with separately for the first time. In 1940 subsidies were paid at the
equivalent of 12.5p per head per hill ewe, by 1942 this had risen to 40p[8]. A
committee was formed in 1941-1942 for England and Wales to review the long term
future of hill faming, a minimum of four hundred ewes was required for
full-time status.
Farm Workers
The government had
the foresight to ensure that farmworkers were not as scarce as they had been in
the First World War. This was achieved by farming being declared a reserved
occupation, if any male farm worker wanted to join the forces or have an
alternative occupation, i.e. construction, a replacement had to be found before
he was allowed to leave his job on the farm.
This came under the Restrictions of Engagements order in June 1940[9].
Martin claims that anyone who wanted to leave agriculture for the forces or
another occupation would have done so[10],
as the war was nine months old when this order became effective. Howkins states
that an estimated fifty thousand farm workers were lost to the armed forces
prior to the Restrictions of Engagements Order. The total number of farm
workers in 1939 (seasonal, part and full-time) were six hundred and seven
thousand in England and Wales, for 1940 the number had risen to six hundred and
eight thousand[11].By 1945
the number had increased to seven hundred and seventy thousand[12].
This was due to the recruitment campaign by the government to organisations
such as the Women’s Land Army. This had varied success, in England some
encountered sexism, and many were appalled at the conditions they were expected
to work and live in. Sackville West, cited in The Peoples War states that women nearly equalled the abilities of
their male counterpart in tasks such as milking, turning hay and lifting peas,
but other more demanding tasks it required three women to take the place of two
men[13].
The
unemployed from the towns and cities
were also put to work on farms, as were conscientious objectors[14].
Prisoners of War also took part, by 1945 there were 57,763 working on farms in
England and Wales[15],
the obvious advantage being that they did not need paying, the incentive to
them being a healthier and more stimulating environment than being stuck behind
the barbed wire for the duration of the war.
Wages, always an
issue with farmworkers, were increased as the value of farm work was recognised
by the government as being essential to the war effort, a good wage being an
incentive to stay on farms.. Estimated wages in 1940/1941 for the basic wage of
an adult male were 48sh 5d per week in England and Wales, by 1944/1945 this had
increased to over 67 shillings[16].
Due to the security felt by farmworkers because of the shortage of skilled
manpower, union membership of the National Union of Farmworkers rose to
100,000, three times what it had been prior to the war[17].
Machinery
More tractors and
modern implements were as essential to the increased productivity of the land
as the farmworkers mentioned above. The horse began to fall out of favour as
there was more land cultivation to be undertaken, but the decline was not
rapid, there being over six hundred thousand in the whole of Great Britian in
1938[18].In
1946 this had fallen to just over five hundred thousand. The tractor, faster
than the horse and becoming more reliable was still outnumbered by the horse,
there being around one hundred thousand in England and Wales in 1940[19].
This was a considerable increase
considering there were only around fifty six thousand in Great Britain in 1939[20].
Many farmers were saved the cost of buying a tractor because of the help
offered by the War Agricultural Executive Committees mentioned previously.
Farmers had priority in the allocation of machinery, this would not have
happened if it had not been for the war, the provision of machinery was a great
help in modernising farming in England.
.
To conclude, the Second World War
was a turning point in English agriculture. Through government intervention of
the way farmers cultivated their land and subsidised pricing, agriculture
became more productive. The agricultural industry was also fortunate to receive
a priority in machinery allocation, a godsend for farmers wishing to modernise.
This was essential due to the threat of merchant shipping during the Battle of
the Atlantic, shipping space also being in short supply. Farmworkers benefited
enormously, their efforts being recognised as valuable to the well being of the
country. Government policy worked with notable success, the Women’s Land Army
making a significant contribution, as did Prisoners-of War. Without the
preparations for increased production, the country would have been, without
doubt, short of food. Also like the First World War, farmers were able to make
a comfortable living in most cases, and although rationing was in place for
most of the war, farmers were able to access food much easier than people
living in urban England.
I hope the sources above prove useful, the BBC made an excellent TV series recreating life in wartime Britain on a farm, you can find a link to their webpage Wartime Farm BBC Wartime Farm
and the TV series is on Youtube
