Introduction
This feature resource is designed for use with Standard Grade History Unit II – International Co-operation and Conflict
Context B: 1930s-1960s. Some of the activities may also be of use for work with senior primary and junior secondary pupils studying the Home Front in the Second World War.
We will look at the following clips:
ARP - A Practice Exercise
Tenement Warden
Wood Goes to War (clip)
Warwork News No. 19, The Other Man's Job
Ministry of Food Flashes (clip 1)
Give Us More Ships
Background
Britain’s involvement in the Second World War lasted from 1939-1945. During those six years of conflict, Britain’s citizens were to experience the dangers of war like never before. Aerial bombardment killed 139, 312 people in Britain between September 1939 and September 1944, with many more being injured and displaced from their homes. 1.5 million children were evacuated from the cities for their protection. The fear of gas attacks, and the reality of food shortages brought on by naval blockades also had to be dealt with by those left at home.
The Government recognised the need to take an organised approach to the involvement of citizens in the defence of Britain’s towns and cities. Government communications (or ‘propaganda’) of the time emphasises the idea that everyone in Britain had a role to play in fighting the war. This is why citizens were collectively known as the ‘Home Front’ – fighting the war with their actions at home just as their young men in the armed forces fought it physically abroad.
Clips 1: Organising Civil Defence
The first clips we will look at – ‘ARP – A Practice Exercise’ and ‘Tenement Warden’- show the military style approach taken to organising civil defence against gas and air raids. Look at the clips and discuss the questions that follow.
ARP - A Practice Exercise
Tenement Warden
Questions
ARP – A Practice Exercise
1. What are the men doing at the start of the film? Why are they doing it?
2. The sacks that they have stacked up are sandbags. What do you think they are using them for?
3. Almost all the air raid wardens were volunteers. Why do you think they chose to take on the role?
4. Many of the air raid wardens had fought in the First World War. Why might this have helped them to be good air raid wardens?
5. At the end of the clip you see air raid wardens with rattles to alert the public to an air raid. What difficulties do you think they would have had in making sure everyone knew about the raid?
Tenement Warden
1. Why were air raids a particular risk to life in tenement areas?
2. Who is building the air raid shelters and why?
3. Why do they think it is necessary to train up ‘dependable people’ in each stair as tenement wardens’? Do you think this could be done now?
4. What qualities do you think a tenement warden would need?
5. The clip mentions tenement wardens as ‘one more link in the protective chain of civil defence’. Why do you think they see it as a ‘chain’? Why might this have been important?
6. What kinds of training and information did the tenement wardens get?
Suggested Activities:
1. Role Play – ARP Planning Committee.
Pupils should be divided into small groups of 3 to 4 and given a map of a few streets in their local area. They should be asked to imagine that they are the ARP Planning Committee for that area and have the responsibility of drawing up a detailed plan for air raid precautions. This may include – locations for shelters, appointment and training of air wardens and tenement wardens, placing of sandbags, evacuation of children, delivery and training of gas masks and any other precautions that they think necessary. Once their plans have been developed, they can present them to the class or write them up personally as an extended writing exercise.
2. PowerPoint presentation – The Work of the ARP
Pupils should use the internet and library resources to research the work of the ARP and develop individual PowerPoint presentations. These should include at least 6 slides on the different schemes operated by the ARP and be illustrated with relevant photos and/or film clips.
3. Recruitment Poster – Air Raid Wardens
(Foundation/General pupils)
Pupils should draw up a poster asking for volunteers to become Air Raid Wardens. It should describe why they are needed, what they will be expected to do and what qualities they will need to have.
Clips 2: War Work on the Home Front
All able British men aged 18-41 were called up to fight, unless they were involved in some kind of vital war work. Most war work on the Home Front however was carried out by women, older men and foreign nationals ineligible to fight. This ranged from industrial work such as making munitions, to driving ambulances, nursing, the Land Army and a whole lot more. This section look at two clips which show the role of citizens in doing necessary war work – ‘Warwork news No 19 – The Other Man’s job’ and ‘Wood goes to War’. Look at the clips and discuss the questions which follow.
Wood Goes to War (clip)
Warwork News No. 19, The Other Man's Job
Questions:
Warwork news No 19 – The Other Man’s job
1. Why were locomotives (trains) seen as vital in the war?
2. Why was it notable that much of the work was ‘done by girls’?
3. Why did the Chinese man want to help make the engines?
Wood goes to War
1. What are the women in the clips making?
2. Many women enjoyed going out to work and were reluctant to go back to being housewives after the war ended. What do you think they liked about working?
Suggested Activities
1. Project work – Women in WWII
Either in small groups or individually, pupils should use the internet and library resources to research the role of women in WWII. They should develop reports or PowerPoint presentations covering the types of work undertaken, the benefit to the country, the skills women learned from working and the attitudes to women working after the war.
2. Diary of a Munitions worker – Extended Writing
Imagine that you are one of the women munitions workers shown in ‘Wood goes to War’. Write a diary of your first week at work, describing why you went there, what kinds of things you are doing and how you feel about your new role.
3. Class debate / role play – Should women be called up to work?
When Britain started calling up unmarried women aged 21-30 in 1940, they were the first modern nation to make it compulsory for women to work. The class should imagine that they are MPs back in 1940, with the responsibility of deciding whether to call women up. They should split into two sides to debate and vote on the topic ‘Should women be called up to work?’
Clips 3: Government Communications
We will now look at two clips made by the Government to communicate messages to citizens – ‘Give us more Ships’ and ‘Ministry of Food flashes part 1’. Good Government communication with the British people were key to ensuring that everyone was organised to fight the war on the Home Front and that morale was kept up amongst the population. Much of this communication can be termed ‘propaganda’ - an attempt by the Government to get people to believe certain things and act in a certain way.
Look at the clips and discuss the following questions.
Ministry of Food Flashes (clip 1)
Give Us More Ships
Questions:
Give Us More Ships
1. What is the aim of this film?
2. Do you think it is effective? What devices were used by the film maker to persuade people to give money for ships (think about the music, words used, tone of voice, what is shown and how it is shot)?
3. What kinds of goods were the ships transporting? Why were these vital in the war?
Ministry of Food Flashes part 1
1. What is the aim of this film?
2. Why was it important that people save food?
3. What items were being recycled or reused in the film? Why do you think they were chosen?
4. What do you notice about the dialogue in the film? Why do you think the film maker chose to have this kind of dialogue?
5. Why are the women in the film queuing for food?
6. Why were ration books used? In what ways do you think they might have been important in keeping British citizens happy and healthy?
Activities:
1. Storyboard – Food flashes
Wasting food and not recycling is still seen as a problem in society now, albeit more from an environmental aspect. In small groups, pupils should develop a storyboard for their own short film encouraging people not to waste food and to recycle. If resources are available, these could be further developed into their own short films for presentation to the class with each group member playing a role in the film crew as writer, director, actors etc.
2. Propaganda presentations
Pupils should use the internet to research both British and German propaganda and develop PowerPoint presentations showing the types of propaganda used, the intentions behind them and their effectiveness.
3. Propaganda leaflets – Don’t waste food!
Pupils should develop leaflets on the theme ‘Don’t Waste Food – Win this War!’, using appropriate language, graphics and including explanations of what was to be done with waste food during WWII and why.
This feature resource was prepared by Olivia Drennan.
