WW2 – Cottage Capers

On this day in history….26th June 1939

On this day in history : 26th June 1939 – Private Rupert Alexander, Service No. 10000001, signs up to the Middlesex Regiment, as Britain’s first National Serviceman….

The Spring of 1939 saw the deterioration of international relations and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had to consider necessary preparations in case Britain found itself at war with Nazi Germany…. Parliament approved the Military Training Act which required men to undertake 6 months military training…. In the beginning this was limited to men between the ages of 20 to 22…. Some 240,000 registered for service….

War was declared on the 3rd of September 1939 and the National Service (Armed Forces) Act came in…. Now all men between 18 to 41 had to register…. There were some exemptions, such as those medically unfit and some key professionals, including farmers, engineers, bakers, doctors and the clergy…. Tribunals were held for conscientious objectors – who were usually assigned essential non-combat tasks it their hearings were successful….

Tribunal for conscientious objectors in Britain during WW2 – Public domain

In December 1941 a second National Service Act was passed…. The age was extended for men, up to the age of 60…. It meant all men up to this age were expected to do some sort of war effort work, such as police and civilian defence – those under the age of 51 were required to be available for military service….

All unmarried women, or widows without children, between the ages of 20 to 30 were liable to be called up to do work related to the war…. Pregnant women were not exempt but were generally not called up….

On this day in history….15th April 1941

On this day in history : 15th April 1941 – Over 900 people are killed and a further 1500 injured during the Belfast Blitz – when 200 Luftwaffe bombers strike military and manufacturing targets in the city….

Rescue workers searching through rubble after an air raid on Belfast – From the collections of the Imperial War Museums

It was Easter Tuesday night, at around 10.40pm, when the air raid sirens sounded…. Many had believed that Belfast was out of reach of the Luftwaffe – and so the city was unprepared…. A smaller attack had taken place a few days before – possibly as a test of Belfast’s defences…. A cryptic warning had come across the airwaves from the traitor William Joyce, otherwise known as ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, when he announced in a radio broadcast from Hamburg, that there would be “Easter eggs for Belfast”….

The city played a great part in the war effort – with its large shipyard, aircraft manufacturing facilities and munition factories…. 200 Luftwaffe bombers had taken off from bases in occupied Northern France and the Netherlands…. The six hours of horror, death and destruction they were to unleash on Belfast resulted in the greatest loss of life in a single night’s raid – apart from London….

Visibility on the night was poor – which may account for the heavy civilian loss…. Over 55,000, half of Belfast City’s houses, were hit by bombs…. Streets were wiped away, all their occupants killed….over 100,000 were left homeless…. Many public buildings were destroyed , including the Ulster Hospital for Women and Children, the Strand Public Elementary School, the Belfast City Hall’s Banqueting Hall, countless of churches, railway stations, hotels….all obliterated….

Antrim Road corner of Duncairn Gardens, Belfast – Public Records of Northern Ireland

Few children had been evacuated from the city – some 80,000 still remained….

Mortuary services only had the capacity to deal with 200 bodies…. A further 150 corpses were buried in a mass grave, 123 of which remained unidentified…. St. George’s Market became a temporary mortuary for 255 of the dead…. Many more bodies and body parts were unidentifiable and were buried in mass graves in the city’s cemeteries….

Haw-Haw was later to announce…. “The Fuhrer will give you time to bury your dead before the next attack…. Tuesday was only a sample….”

A second massive air raid took place three weeks later…. A further 150 people lost their lives….

Soldiers clearing rubble after the May air raid – From the collections of the Imperial War Museums

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….30th September 1938

On this day in history : 30th September 1938 – Neville Chamberlain arrives back in the UK with an agreement signed by Hitler…. He claims “I believe it is peace for our time” – he could not have been more misguided….

Chamberlain holds the paper signed by himself and Hitler on his return to Heston Airport – Ministry of Information Official Photographer – Public domain

The Prime Minister had met with the German leader three times in the last two weeks of September…. This last meeting had been at the Munich Conference – which involved talks between Britain, Germany, France and Italy, to decide the future of Sudetenland, part of Western Czechoslovakia…. The Czech government had been hoping Britain and France would come to its aid in the event of a German invasion…. However, it was Chamberlain’s main priority to avert war – British people were terrified of another conflict within Europe…. It was agreed that Germany would annex a large part of Czechoslovakia and Britain and France would not support any resistance put up by Czechoslovakia; in return a non-aggression pact was signed with Germany…. Czechoslovakia was forced to hand over Sudetenland, though it had not even been present at the conference….

Chamberlain arrives in Munich, September 1938 – Courtesy : Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H12967 CC BY-SA 3.0

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (left) and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler leave their meeting at Bad Godesberg, 23rd September 1938 – Courtesy: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H12751/CC BY-SA 3.0

Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano as they prepare to sign the Munich Agreement – CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Chamberlain arrived back at Heston Airport, West London, where a large crowd greeted him, eager to hear him read out the signed agreement…. He then went on to Buckingham Palace, where he appeared on the balcony with the King and Queen – and then went on to hold a further audience outside No.10 Downing Street…. The crowds were jubilant….but there were also many who believed Chamberlain had given in to the demands of Hitler….

Needless to say, Hitler did not adhere to his promise…. A year later he dismissed the agreement as a ‘scrap of paper’ and on the 1st of September 1939 Germany invaded Poland…. World War 2 was declared two days later…. Chamberlain was succeeded by Winston Churchill after being forced to resign in May 1940; he died the following November….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….4th September 1939

On this day in history : 4th September 1939 – The first 200 Citizen’s Advice Bureau establishments open across Britain – the day after the outbreak of World War 2….

The Government had begun to consider the need for an information service in 1935…. By 1938 World War 2 was looming, so the National Council of Social Services formed a group to study and understand how to meet the needs of the civilian population during war time…. Their recommendations being :- “Citizen Advice Bureaux should be established throughout the country, particularly in the large cities and industrial areas where social disorganisation may be acute”….

THE WORK OF THE CITIZENS' ADVICE BUREAU, ELDON HOUSE, CROYDON, ENGLAND, 1940 — THE WORK OF THE CITIZENS’ ADVICE BUREAU, ELDON HOUSE, CROYDON, ENGLAND, 1940 (D 522) A widow of a civil servant seeks advice about her delayed pension from volunteer Mrs Wraight at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Croydon. Mrs Wraight was one of 12 volunteers working at the bureau at this time. Copyright: � IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197564

On the 3rd of September 1939 World War 2 was declared; the following day the first 200 Citizen’s Advice Bureaux opened…. Initially volunteers ran the service from private houses or sometimes public buildings – dealing with problems such as lost ration books, evacuation and homelessness….

Godalming Citizen’s Advice Bureau, 2013 – Juan J Martinez via Flickr

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….23rd August 1944

On this day in history : 23rd August 1944 – An American Liberator bomber crashes into an English village school in Feckleton, Lancashire – killing 61 people, 38 of whom are children….

Two recently refurbished B-24 bombers had departed from Warton Aerodrome at 10.30 in the morning on a test flight, when a violent storm blew up…. Both aircraft were recalled to the USAAF airbase and as they approached visibility was greatly reduced because of the torrential rain and 60mph gusts of wind….

B-24H Liberator bomber – similar to the one that crashed. Image : United States Army Air Forces – Public domain

Pilot John Blosmendal, in the first of the two bombers, reported to the control tower that he was going to abort his landing attempt and would circle around again – only his aircraft was to disastrously crash into the Holy Trinity Church of England village school, which lay to the east of the airfield…. The right wing of the B-24 was ripped from the fuselage as it hit a tree-top; it then impacted with the corner of a building…. The fuselage of the 25-ton bomber then continued to plough a path of destruction, partly demolishing three houses and ‘The Sad Sack Snack Bar’ – which catered for the American servicemen stationed at the base…. The aircraft then burst into flames, whilst another inferno raged, caused by the ruptured fuel tanks of the bomber, at the infants school….

The Feckleton air disaster instantly claimed the lives of the B-24’s three crew members, thirty-four children, a teacher, six American servicemen, one RAF airman and seven staff at the snack bar…. A further four children, a teacher, an American serviceman and three RAF airmen died later in hospital – and many more people were injured….