Britain at War 1939 to 1945: What Was Life Like During the War?

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

Life Pre-war

CHAPTER 2

War Is Declared

CHAPTER 3

My First Bomb

CHAPTER 4

Battle Of Britain

CHAPTER 5

On The Move

CHAPTER 6

Village Life

CHAPTER 7

Isle Of Man

CHAPTER 8

Barbarossa

CHAPTER 9

The Americans Declare War

CHAPTER 10

1942

CHAPTER 11

The Desert

CHAPTER 12

Russia

CHAPTER 13

Italy

CHAPTER 14

Far East

CHAPTER 15

D-day

CHAPTER 16

The Battle For Europe

CHAPTER 17

The Home Front

CHAPTER 18

Victory

EPILOGUE

About the Author

This book is dedicated to all those who suffered on the road to victory and in particular to my parents.

INTRODUCTION

This history of the Second World War is written as far as possible from the standpoint of people actually involved so that the reader can obtain an insight into their hopes and fears and an idea of what it was like to live in Britain during the war. History is more interesting if brought to life, and the Second World War had countless dramas and moments of real fear for those who lived at that time.

Imagine strolling along the Brighton promenade in the sunshine when, without warning, a German fighter returning to France dives out of the blue and empties its machine guns at the passers-by. My brother-in-law will never forget. Death could come out of nowhere at any time.

However, facts and figures given are historically accurate rather than the propaganda fed to a public desperately in need of reassurance. This is not to deny the value of being selective with the truth at the time of such crises as the aftermath of Dunkirk, or the need to conceal military information from the enemy.

Britain had been gravely damaged by the First World War and people were strongly opposed to reliving the suffering yet again - a horror still fresh in their memory after a mere twenty years. That War had cost around ten million lives - 800,000 of them British - and many more crippled, but victory had not brought happiness. Britain remained far from a land fit for heroes which the soldiers had been promised. People questioned whether all this had been worthwhile.

There was a real danger for a time that the Russian revolution might spread here. Troops became restive at the delay in demobilising them - fearing that the Government might send them to fight the Bolsheviks. Then again there was no work for them, and in many cases not even homes.

The war had cost an estimated forty thousand million pounds in sterling worth far more than the pound today; a national debt which the Government was reluctant to increase by launching much needed housing and other projects at the taxpayers’ expense. In the end, the unemployment and poverty led to riots and a series of major damaging strikes - the railways, the miners, the shipyards and many other industries - culminating in the General strike of 1926; but no revolution.

The adversity caused by the General strike resulted in a great patriotic response which weakened the unions and the outlook briefly improved, until any hope of prosperity was dashed by the Stock Market crash in the United States which rumbled round the world. This caused unemployment and poverty to continue in Britain through the 1930s, until the country began belatedly to rearm. Unemployment had fallen to 1.7 million in 1938 and all but disappeared by the end of the war.

The economic problems of the 1920s, culminating in the Great Crash on 21st October 1929, stemmed from the massive war debts, which had imposed an intolerable strain on the world’s economies. The crippling repayments to the United States gave the appearance of increasing prosperity in that country, leading to an orgy of optimism and speculation based on cheap credit. Economists, bankers and the stock market persuaded themselves that economic cycles were a thing of the past - rather as they have done recently.

In 2007, Britain finally repaid to the United States the war debts arising from the Second World War. Again, we have seen optimism and speculation based on cheap credit. Will the Authorities be more successful in managing today’s markets? This time, they seem inclined to reduce interest rates to stave off a crisis; rather than increase them to protect the value of the currency.

And why did the optimism and speculation suddenly end in 1929? In 1925, Britain had restored its currency to the gold standard at the pre-war rate - a rate which at that time seriously overvalued the pound, thereby damaging exporters and increasing already high unemployment and industrial unrest. Imperial pride refused to accept that its economy had been weakened by the war.

Gold began to flow in a steady and increasing stream to New York which was also on the gold standard. This had to be reversed, and it was on 26th September 1929 when the Bank of England dramatically raised its Base Rate by one per cent to 6.5% - a move followed by a number of other countries. This forced the United States to increase its own interest rates with devastating consequences for speculators and members of the public who had overextended themselves relying on cheap loans.

One other factor of general significance was the improvement in the position of women. So many men had perished in the war that women had and took their chance to show what they could do. The suffragettes won them the vote, but war work had demonstrated that women were at least as capable as men in less physical jobs and they saw no reason not to continue in those jobs when the war ended. This, of course, was one of the factors which exacerbated unemployment.

Britain’s rigid class structure somehow survived the First World War. This and corrupting nepotism held her back. The public schools continued to produce the leaders of the nation. The wealthy and the aristocracy lived in luxury, though not to the same extent as before the war. They - like everyone else - had relatives and friends killed and wounded. They too suffered from a paucity of eligible bachelors. Then again, servants were harder to come-by and more expensive. The returning heroes had seen something of the world and were no longer prepared to spend their lives as servants. And then came the crash, which ruined many, though not the landed gentry.

The three million unemployed and their families were at the opposite end of the scale. Unemployment benefit was but a dream for the future; starvation a real threat. There were hunger marches to draw their plight to the attention of the nation. The incompetent generals of the so called Great War were never brought to account; while shell shocked troops had been shot as cowards. A sense of injustice - of inability to achieve one’s full potential - produced not merely socialists, but communists and fascists in our midst.

Even so, in 1939 the country rose up and once again fought for freedom with a steadfastness and courage which future generations can only applaud. Moreover, Britain still had the unswerving support of a powerful Empire.

Did we really declare war for Poland? If so, we failed for Stalin’s oppression of that people was little better than Hitler’s. On the other hand, with hindsight, the timing of the war proved to be near perfect for Britain. Any earlier and we would not have had enough Spitfires to beat off the German air offensive against us. Any later and Hitler would have been able to bring into mass production the secret weapons his scientists did develop.

One thing which will strike the reader is how close the Allies came to disaster on a number of occasions. Fortunately, Hitler insisted on imposing strategy on his Generals and he made serious errors of judgment against their advice. Churchill also would have made some errors, but each time he was overruled either by the War Cabinet or by his Allies. His true greatness was not as a strategist, but as a leader who held together a defeated army after Dunkirk, inspired his people, and led them to victory. He also held the Allies together during times of crisis - no easy task given that America, Russia and Britain had very different objectives once Hitler was defeated.

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CHAPTER 1

Life Pre-war

‘I hold in my hand a piece of paper which bears Herr Hitler’s signature as well as mine.’ (Chamberlain 30th September 1938). And what did this piece of paper say?

‘We, the German Fuehrer and Chancellor and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today, and are agreed in recognising that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for the two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic as the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other question that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus to contribute to the assurance of peace in Europe.’

Chamberlain interpreted this as ‘peace for our time’ - something overwhelmingly desired by a war weary nation still struggling to come to terms with the death and destruction of the First World War, ‘the war to end all wars’.

Why did Hitler agree? Von Ribbentrop, then German Ambassador to Britain, had sought an Anglo-German alliance the year before. After all the Angles and the Saxons were both Germanic tribes and the British Royal family had Hanoverian ancestry. He proposed that Britain should give Germany a free hand in Eastern Europe - nothing more was asked of her, except perhaps the return of German