Transcript Niamh and Karol

BY NIAMH AND KAROL
WORLD WAR II
1939=World War II
starts
1940=Germany occupies
Poland,Holland,Belgium
,France,Denmark and
Norway
1941=The Soviet
Union and America
join the
War
Leader of Germany
Many London
children went to
Devon Cornwall
and Wales
Every evacuee had
a gas mask ,food for
the journey (such as
sandwiches
chocolate)a small
bag for washing
things and clothes .
Children Evacuee from home land
WEAPONS
The picture to
your right are
the weapons
they used in
WORLD WAR
II
Rationing
There were no supermarkets. You
went to different shops for different
items. For fruit and vegetables, you
went to the greengrocer. For meat,
to the butcher. For fish, to the
fishmonger. For bread and cakes, to
the baker. For groceries such as jam,
tea, biscuits and cheese you went to
the grocer. Other shops sold
clothes, shoes, medicines,
newspapers and all the other things
people needed to buy.
In most shops, the shopkeeper or
shop assistants served customers
from behind a counter. Many shops
were small family businesses. Most
big towns had department stores.
Food rationing began in 1940. This meant each person could
buy only a fixed amount of certain foods each week.
Much of Britain's food came from other countries in ships.
Enemy submarines sank so many ships that there was a
shortage of some foods. Rationing made sure everyone got a
fair share. You had to hand over coupons from your ration
book, as well as money, when you went shopping. When you
had used up your ration of one food (say, cheese or meat), you
could not buy any more that week. Vegetarian could swap
meat coupons for other
People had to register with local shops to
use their ration books. Often long queues
formed as soon as people heard that shops
had more supplies. The first foods
rationed were bacon, sugar, tea, butter
and meat. Lots more foods were rationed
later, including sweets! One egg a week
was the ration in 1941. There were no
bananas, so younger children did not see
their first banana until the war ended.
Clothes were rationed too, so clothing
factories could switch to war work. Paper,
petrol and other things, such as soap (one
bar a month) and washing powder, were
also rationed.
Listening to the Radio
Almost every home had a radio or
'wireless'. Most radios came in a
case made of Bakelite, a kind of
plastic. In Britain, all the
programmes came from the BBC.
People listened to the radio news,
and read newspapers, to find out
what was happening in the war.
The BBC also broadcast war news
in foreign languages. People in
France and
other occupied countries listened
in secret, because the Nazis
punished anyone caught listening
to the BBC.
Radio was not all news. There
were comedy shows, talks and
plays, and sports broadcasts.
Lively music on the radio helped
weary factory workers keep
working!
Blackout time
Some homes had gas lamps, but by
the 1940s gas lights were a bit old
fashioned. Many homes had
electric light. Every window had
'blackout curtains', which were
drawn at night. If not, the ARP
warden came along, shouting 'put
that light out'. 'Blackout curtains'
stopped light from rooms showing
from outside. There were no street
lights either. The idea was to stop
lights from towns guiding enemy
planes to drop bombs.
Coal fires kept people warm in
winter. Coal was a very important
fuel. It kept people warm. More
important, it kept factories and
trains working.
There was no trace of the
pilot, Flt Sgt Dennis Copping,
but the British embassy says
it is planning to mount a
search for his remains.
The RAF Museum in
Hendon, north London, says
it is hoping to recover the
plane as soon as possible.
There are fears souvenir
hunters will start stripping it.
The 24-year-old pilot, the son
of a dentist from Southend in
Essex, went missing over the
Western Desert in June 1942,
flying an American-made
P40 Kittyhawk single-engine
fighter.
The pilot appears to have crash-landed the
plane and then walked off into the desert
The Blitz
Air raids on London began in
September 1940. This was the start
of the Blitz. Lots of other places
were bombed, including industrial
cities and ports such as
Birmingham, Coventry,
Southampton, Sheffield,
Manchester, Liverpool, Hull and
Glasgow. There were air raids on
seaside towns, such as Eastbourne,
and on cathedral cities such as
Canterbury.
In 1944, Britain faced attacks from
new weapons. First came the V-1, a
robot 'flying bomb'. Then there
was the V-2, a rocket which flew so
fast no-one could see or hear it
coming. London was the main
target for V-1 and V-2 attacks.
The last battles
6 June 1944 was D-Day, when Allied
forces landed in Normandy (France)
to begin the liberation of western
Europe. Everyone hoped the war
would soon be over. However, there
were many fierce battles in Europe
and in the Pacific war with Japan
before the fighting stopped in 1945.
Life was very hard for children in the
countries where the last battles were
fought. Towns were bombed day and
night. Railways and roads were
blown up. There was fighting in
villages and city streets. There was so
little fuel or food that millions of
people were cold and starving. Many
people became homeless refugees.
Families reunited
Soldiers, sailors and airmen came
home: over 100,000 every month.
Men and women swapped uniforms
for 'civvy' (civilian) clothes. Also
coming home were thousands
of prisoners of war or POWs. Some
had been prisoners for 5 years.
People had got used to war. Now they
had to get used to peace. Families
were together again, but life was not
easy. Many homes had been
destroyed in air raids. Some
homeless families moved into
'prefabs' - concrete bungalows built
in factories for quick assembly. Many
children found it strange getting to
know again a father who'd been away
for years. Not all families got back
together happily.