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The Allies anticipated an immediate German air offensive. The Luftwaffe's bombing raids during the Spanish Civil War had been widely publicized. The Luftwaffe bombers, however, did not come. The Germans were busy in Poland, engaging both military targets and bombing Polish cities. Northern French cities were in range of German bombers. The British were beyond the range of effective bombardment, but this was not fully understood at the time war was declared. The Air Raid Precautions (ARP) was the British civil defense organisation. It was established long before World War II and the Battle of Britain. With the outbreak of war, the British strict enforced the blackout. ARP Wardens went door to door to help residents with black out procedures. Violaters were fined. The German bombers did not come, but traffic accidents quickly escalated. The solution was low-density street lighting to prevent pedestrian/road accidents (December 1939). Curbs were painted white to help motorists an night. There was no night-time lighting of any description permitted within 12 miles of the south-east coast, the most exposed point. The slit headlights were introduced (January 22, 1940). At the same time, a 20 mph speed limit was set in built-up areas. The instalation of family bomb shelters also went ahead as people installed both the Anderson and Morrison shelerrs.
The Allies anticipated an immediate German air offensive. The Luftwaffe's bombing raids during the Spanish Civil War had been widely publicized. The Luftwaffe bombers, however, did not come. The Germans were busy in Poland, engaging both military targets and bombing Polish cities.
Northern French cities were in range of German bombers. The British were beyond the range of effective bombardment, but this was not fully understood by the general public or even governmentn officials at the time war was declared. Actually it was the Germans who were most exposed. Their industrial heartland was the Ruhr, located in the west close to the French border. Had the Allies had the commitment to the War, they could have destroyed the Grman indistrial heartland while most of the Luftwaffe was in the east pounding Poland. Chamberlain just did not have his heart in the War, If course he feard eventual German reprisals, but mostly he did not want to be a war time primeminister. The result would be the worst of all evntualities. The Germans would launch an air campaign against Britain as soon as they had French baases and with the industrial Ruhr filly intact.
The Air Raid Precautions (ARP) was the British civil defense organisation. It was established long before World War II and the Battle of Britain. The Air Raid Precautions (ARP) was the British civil defense organisation. It was established long before World War II and the Battle of Britain. Britain was bombed by the Germans in World War I, by both bombers and Zephins. The attacks had been of no strategic importance, but the civilans were terrified and left a lasting imprint on theb British conciouness. As a result, th British patched together an air defense system. I t wa not very effective because it relaied on air patrol and ground spotters. This mean that the Germans wee not detected until they were over Britain. But all the elements that would make up the cWorld War II auir defense system in Workld War II, except an the early warming capability. Britain was building a strategic bombing force to prepare a massive aerial assault on Germany in 1919. The War ended, however, before the campaign was launched (1918). And after the War with improvements in aviation, it became obvious that aerial bombardment could devastate whole cities. Italian military theorist Giulio Douhet published a work on future air warfare that proved highly influential (1921). One memorable phrase reached the public conciousness, "the bomber will always get through". [Douhet] He proved to be correct. The British Government as a result established the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) organization (1924).
We are not sure about the beaucratic dimensions of school air raid percautions. We do not know if this wa overseen by the ARP or the Ministry of Education. Perhaps it was a copperative venture. Nor do we know the time line involved. Presumbably some unit drew up guidelines for the schools. And then each school had to develop its own plan, kidentifying for example the strongest structures and most secure shelter area. One night think that someone fom the ARP or Ministry of Education would then assess the plan or provide trchnical engineering assistance to each headmaster/head teacher. But we do not know if this occurred. Perhaps readers will know more. Nor are we sure when the schools began holding drills to train the children how to react when an air raid sireen sounded. We suspect that there was sone rilling during the Munich Crisis (September 1938), but this needed to be confirmed. There was some optimism when Chamberlain returned from Mjnich and announced that he had achieved 'peace in our time'. The public was related and this probably affected school preparations. Only 6 months latr, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia (March 1939). From that point it was clear to even Chamberlain that war was coming. What occurred at the schools we are not sure. As it was close to the end of the chool year, thee may not have been air raid drills instututed, but this needs to be confirmed. By the time school began (September 1939), war had been declard. The first order of business, at leat in the cities was evacuating the children. This was up to the parents, but many of the students in city schools were evacuated. This was done primarily through the schools. The evacuee children reported to school and then were bussed or were marched to the train stations. Once the children were evacuated, the schools got down to the buiness of drilling the children. This occured at both the city schools and the small towns and vullages that hosted the children. Of course the efforts at the city schools were much more intense as the cities became the primary targets of the Luftwaffe. What we do know a great deal about is what whent on inthe schools to train the children how to react in case of an air raid.
With the outbreak of war, the British strict enforced the blackout. ARP Wardens went door to door to help residents with black out procedures. Violaters were fined. The German bombers did not come, but traffic accidents quickly escalated a a result of the blackout. The solution was low-density street lighting to prevent pedestrian/road accidents (December 1939). Curbs were painted white to help motorists an night. There was no night-time lighting of any description permitted within 12 miles of the south-east coast, the most exposed point. The slit headlights were introduced (January 22, 1940). At the same time, a 20 mph speed limit was set in built-up areas.
The British Government had made extensive preparations for an air war and German bombardment. These did not include the construction of reinforced underground shelters for London and other cities. Nor did the Government preceive the potential use of the Underground (London subway Tube) stations. In fact, they discouraged their use. The Government's assessment was that the great bulk of the population (87 percentg or more) of the population could effectively use the material provided to build secure areas in homes (under stairs etc or other strong points) or back garden family shelters. The most common of the back garden shelters were Anderson shelters. The Government made materials available at low cost to build Anderson shelters in back gardens (backyards). Others had to find what ever shelter was available. The Government estimasted that a mere 4 percent of the population would need to use the Underground stations. Air raid shelters were not built or prepared for the entire population. The instalation of family bomb shelters also went ahead as people installed both the Anderson and Morrison shelters.
Douhet, Giulio. Command of the Air (1921).
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