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Most of the bombed out civilians, especially in the early phase of the Blitz were in London. The East End was especially hard hit. The British responded with a well-organized effort to meet the neededs of those affected. Neigbors took inn theur friends until permaznent arrangements could be made. Several services, mostly staffed by volunteers aided the families bombed out. Needs varied. Some had relatives they could deprnd on. Others needed emergency food, clothes, help finding housing, new cupon books, and a range of other services. The Air Raid Precaution Services (ARP) offered vital emergency services. The Auxilery Fire Service provided critical helpn to the small Fire Service. When the all-clear sounded, the Womens Voluntary Service (VMSO) volunteers were soon on hand.
There were even mobile Lifebuoy Emergency hot baths. Thus the basic needs of those bombed out were met.
Parliament passed the Civil Defence Act (1939). The Act established that Civil Defence included any organisation working to minimise disruption caused by aerial bombardment. The Air Raid Precaution Organisation would be the foundation of British civil defense. The ARP was organized even erarlier. About 0.2 million volunteers signed up (by mid-1938). During the Munish Crisis another 0.5 million people volunteered (September 1938). The ARP when war broke out was a well morganized force of 1.5 million civilians.
Air raid wardens were the largest ARP noperstion. The volunteers attended to black out rules and getting people off the streets. They also hedlped people by assessing their home shelter precautions. The wardens were trained in first aid and basic fire control and tried to assist those hit before the emergencvy services arrived. After a big raid this could take sime time.
The ARP also included included the Rescue and Demolition Services. They attempted to shore up or rope off bombed buildings. The dug out survivors and recovered dead bodies. They get the rubble out of the road so the streets werec passable and the fire and ambulance services could get through. They then demolished dangerous buildings. First Aid Parties were given advanced training beyond that of the ARP wardens. They also served as stretcher bearers. Ambulance Drivers had the dangerous job of driving through bombing raids in the blackout to get to the injured people and transport them to hospitals. There were also Decontamination Squads who were responsible for poison gas attacks. The Government assumed the Germans wsould use chdmical weapons as tghey had in World War I. Communications Teams coordinated the various efforts.
The Home Secretary asked the widow of The Marquess of Reading to organize a voluntary organization to recruit women for civil defense work in the advent of war (1938). Lady Reading was ione of the most redountable woan of the 21st century. Before accepting the task, she insisted that the Women's Voluteer Servive (WVS) would not be restricted to civil defense work. And other than the Merchnt Marine, the volunteers of the VMS are surely the least recognized heroes of World War II. Thus the VMS came into exustence in the wake of the Munich Crisis. And while it played an important role in civil defense, the VMS in many way became the bulwark of the British home front. Large numbers of women desiring to help with the war effort joined. Originally the WVS was involved in Civil Defence efforts, but as the War cintinued, WVS expanded its scope of work. The first big WVS effort was the evacuation of London and the big industrial cities (September 1939). The WVS volunteers asccompanied the children on the evacuation trains and busses. Thy were an imprtant partof the reason this enormjous undertaking went so smoothly. Other WVS volunteers at the destinations allocated and supervised billets for the children. THE WVS we on hand with piopinhgb hot tea and sanwiches when BEF arrived home from Dunkirk. Thy helped find homes foer European refugees reaching Britain. They worked with the placement of evacuees and bombed out families when the Blitz began. The VMS operated clothing banks so that bombed out families could obtain need garments. They pursued many other projcts. One of the best kniwn was running canteens for soldiers at train stations and bases. They organised sock knitting and glove knitting groups for soldiers. One of the WVS's most importnt tasks was to assist the casualties from air raids. As soon as the all clear signal went, the VMS would arrive in the bombed areas with their vans and carts. They would set up emergency shelter in buildings that had survived such bas church halls or primary schools for the families that had been bombed out. There the survivors could be issue needed ration cards so the people could obtain food and clothing. They supplied emergency issues of clothing as needed. They set up kitchens to feed the shatered families as well as the volunteers working in the area. Important visitors from America noted the role od womw=en in the home front and role played by the VMS.
All kinds of collections were organized to provide clothes for the civilians that lost everything when their homes were destroyed. Some were killed if they had stayed in the home. Others in backyard shelters or who had gone to public bomb shelters like the Tube and then returned to find their home destroyed. There were even collections to provide toys for the children. Churches and schools were active in the collections. The need was so great we expect municipal autorities got involvd, but we have few details. Much of what was collected was distributed through the clothing banks set up by the WVS.
The British established the Auxiliary Fire Service (1938). They were made up of some retired fire fighters, workers, and older youth who were cstudents or who not yet joined the servives. They were primarily trained in fire fighting, but able to administer first aid. They were volunteers with full-time jobs. The Fire Service itself could not begin to cope with the fires set alight by the Luftwaffe raids. The Auxieries significantly expanbded the fire fighting capability. Fortunately the Lufwaffe primarily dropped high explosives. This was early in the War and Luftwaffe commanders were focused primarily on high explosives. Fihting fires is dangerous work in the best of times, during bombing raids it was insanely dangerous. Some 860 Auxiliary Fire Service volunteers were killed and 7,500 seriously injured duting the Blitz. Fire fightging equipment was in short supply. Priority was reequipping the Briritish Army which had left most of its equioment in Dunquirk. Thus the Auxikleries had to do their best with wehst was available. Some of the famous London's taxis were painted green and grey and commissduioned as fire engines.
Younger teenager joined the war effort as Fireguard Messengers. They were volunteers, mostly boys, 14-18 years of age. They served as messengers during bombing raids. As the bombing commonly knocked out telephone lines, the boys took messages between ARP groups, the fire service, the ambulance service, and other volunteers. Tghey both run or cycled through raids to deliver important messages. This was another very dabngerous undertaking.
Thousands fled the cities with the onset of the Blitz. It became known as 'trekking', a British term for hiking out into the country. In westdrn england, people trekked to Dartmoor. This is an area of moorland in south Devon, distant from targets that the Luftwaffe would target. People curled up with blnkets on wet moorland to sleep at night. Londoners trekked to Epping Forest where they casmped out with makeship materials. Many people, however, did not want to leave their homes, except fror spending the night in bomb shelters and attempted to comfort the often bdly shocked surviviors.
Mobile kitches were set up both to provide food to bombed out survivors as well as to people whose homes were still standing, but could not cook becaise they lost gas and electricity.
The Government set up Official Rest Centers for those people who were bombed out of their homes. They were often rather dismal places. One source describes 'dim figures in dejected heaps on unwashed floors in total darkness...disheveled, half-dressed people wandering between the bombed houses and the rest center salvaging bits and pieces'. The rest centers were commonly set up in schools and church halls. The rest centers at first were established to provided food for bombed out victims. Volunteers offered tea, soup, and sandwiches. One report describes, "The bombed-out people arrive clutching a dog, a canary, a pillow ... anything they have been ble to grabwhen the bomb fell. First, they're given a hot drink; then given some warm clothing, wrapped in a blanket, put to bed on a matress on the floor, and --blieve it or not--they generally sleep, although the night is still noisy and the bombs are still falling. By the time the morning comes the order has gone through to the central regional depotfor a further supply of clothing to more adequately fit out tthe homeless people . It is so important to get them back to work at the usual hours so that not a moment will be lost in making the weapons of war." [Seib, p. 107.]
London reported 25,000 homeless squatwrs (November 1940).
Here the survivors could stay until temporary housing could be found. Many peole had relatives that woulfd taken them in to their homes. Others had to rely on the Government to find housing.
Many British home owners did not have any insurance, especially working-class families. And many insured home owners found that their insurance did not cover bomb damage. Churchill describes being at Ramsgate at an early point of the Blitz. He sheltered in a tunnel during a raid. When he emerged he surved the damage. A small hotel had been reduced to a 'litter of crockery, untensils and splintered furniture'. he recounts how the propritor , his wife, and staff were in tears. What were they to do. He writes in his history of the War. 'Here is a privlige of power. I formed an immediate resolve. On the way back in my train I dictated a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kingsly Wood, laying down the principle that all damage from the fire of the enenmy must be a charge upon the state and compensation be paid in full and at once. Thus the burden would not fall alone on those whose homes or business premises were hit, but would be borne evenly on the shoulders of the nation." [Churchill , pp. 371-72.] The Exchequer and the Treasury were very concerned about the potential liabilities involved. Eventually Wood devised an elaborate insurance scheme. After May 1941 as Hitler turned East and the raids stopped, funds began to build up from the insurance payments to finance the very considerable outlays as a result of the bomb damage. We are not entirely sure how this worked. We note internet postings claiming that there was no government reimbursement program. This is not a topic that is commonly addressed in histories of the Blitz.
Thec first prefab (prefabricated meaning factory-built) homes went on display (1944). About 0.5 million were needed to rehouse those bombed out of their homes. After the War, local councils (municipalities) built large council estates to provide housing for those displasced by the bombing. There were great housingg schemes devised by local councils even before the War, but greatly expanded after the War. Some of the housing was prefabricated and only supposed to be a tempory measure. A reader tells us, "I think some of these pre-fabs still exists, but they were not built on a large scale. Certainly my home town of Blackburn had prefab houses but it was only a hand full.
However the major cities were there was much more bombing would have a bigger housing shortage than smaller towns where there were reatively few bomb dropped."
There was as a result of the Blitz, a severe housing shortage after the War. A reader tells us, "My parents rented a peoperty in Blackburn but didn't move to a better quality house as the economy improved. The move came when my brother and I were teenagers and we badkly needed more room. By this time I had a twin sister and brother who were 12 years younger than me. There was a council house housing development. Old property had been pulled down and the area was redeveloped. A modern council house estate was built. as well as privite buildings for home ownership.
Mum and dad's home was a terace house without a bathroom and an outside toilet (1947-69). Then they moved into a modern council house with bathroom and inside toilet. Mum always believed having a toilet inside your home was unhygenic!
In the 1950s and 60s there were great scandles in major cities, particulary London of criminal landlords charging high rents for sub-standard buildings. So despite the Bltiz, lots of poor quality houses built in the 19th century were still standing. Local councils dominated by Labour officials instituted price controls on hosing rents. This kept
rents low. It also discouraged investors ffrom building new homes which in effect perpetuated the housing shortage.
Churchill, Winston S. Memoirs of the Second World War (Bonanza Books: New York, 1978), 1065p.
Seib, Philip M. Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edeard R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War
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