I’m on a quest to find out how children survived in world war II
Did they still go to school?
Were any schools bombed?
What is evacuation?
Did the war affect the children of Bearwood?
Can you help me answer these questions?
World War II Survival
on on
Homes in the 1940s
Many children in the 1940s lived in small houses or flats. In towns, many people lived in small terraced houses. There were blocks of flats too, though not as tall as the ‘tower blocks’ built after the war. A typical family house had a sitting room and kitchen, with two or three bedrooms upstairs. Not all houses had bathrooms or indoor toilets.
Many houses had windows stuck over with paper tape. In an air raid, the blast-force of a bomb exploding could shatter windows along a street. Tape across the windows stopped the glass shattering into thousands of pieces, and causing injuries.
People expected cities to be bombed, as enemy planes tried to destroy factories. But bombs would hit homes and schools too, so children would be in danger. The government tried at the start of the war to ’empty the cities’ of children and mothers, This was ‘evacuation’, to protect them from air raids.
The plan was put into action in September 1939. About 800,000 children left their homes. However, many returned home after a few weeks. Others stayed in the countryside for the rest of the war.
Women at war
At first ,only single women aged 20-30 were called up, but by mid -1943, almost 90 per cent of single women and 80 per cent of married women were working in factories, on land or in the armed forces.
Huge numbers of women were involved in the war effort and many joined the armed forces even though they did not have to
.640,000 in the armed forces
.550,000 serving with guns and providing essential air defense
.80,000 in the land army
.plus many more flew unarmed air crafts, drove ambulances, worked as nurses or as there helpers and worked behind enemy lines in European resistances.
The Women’s Land Army
What was the Women’s and Army?
As the prospect of the war became increasingly likely, the Government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain. In order to grow more food, more help was needed on the farms and so the Government started the Women’s Land Army.
What Kind of jobs did the Land Army Do?
The ladies of the land army looked after animals, ploughed the fields, dug up the poatatoes, harvested the crops, killed the rats, dug and hoed for 48hours a week in the winter 50hours in the summer .
The women earned 1.86 for working a week with a mimimum of 50 hours .
In the 1944 the wages got reduced to 2.85.
Memorial to war women the memorial stands in whitehall,about a hundred miles from the centouph. The 22ft-high bronze scupture depicts the uniforms and working clothes worn by women during the war.
I have learnt a lot from Susie & Vanita. 🙂