Paper 1: London And WW2 Flashcards
(19 cards)
Why was London a target?
- capital city
- important ports for supplies
- industrial centre - factories
- biggest population - targeted civilians
- ## geography - close to occupied Europe so easier to attack
How did London prepare for war?
- air raid precaution and wardens
- evacuation - children removed from London
- gas masks
- air raid shelters - Anderson, Communal, Morrison
What was ‘Black Saturday’ ?
- 7th September, the first real blitz, 400 killed, 1600 seriously injured.
What was Germany’s reason for bombing?
- initially to soften up London before invasion
- then to disrupt industry, communications, and moral
- also retaliation
What was Germany’s target?
-military bases, energy supply, communication centres, civilians
What was ‘The Lull’ ?
- May 1941 - January 1944
- irregular raids throughout this period
What was the baby blitz?
- January - April 1944
- increased bombing campaign by Germany
- increased in casualties
What types of bombs were used?
Incendiaries - started fires, often dropped by the first wave
High explosives - dropped by the later waves, had delayed fuses so exploded later
Mines - more powerful, dropped by parachute to make them silent
What was the South Hallsville School disaster?
- school used as temporary rest centre for homeless
- 1000 people total
- plan to evacuate them failed
- hit by a bomb in the night
- 700 killed and caused controversy
What was the Balham station disaster?
- 1400 kilo semi armour piercing bomb penetrated 32 feet underground
- water and gas along with sewage pipes were exploded
- caused flooding and gas leak
- some drowned in flood waters
- 66 people died in total
What was the Bethnal Green Station disaster?
- Wednesday 3rd March, 1943
- terrifying crush due to panic spread
- 173 people dead
- no bomb struck a single casualty
- deadliest civilians incident of the war
How did people react to the blitz?
- some people didn’t wait for the council to make it better
- Fruit and Wool exchange had up to 5000 people sheltering in a basement
What did Mickey Davis and his wife Doris do to help?
- they decided to make their own shelter
- collected money from wealthy donors to pay for medicines, organised volunteer doctors to set up a clinic, stretcher bearers to make first aid station
- brought bunks and set up a canteen
- convinced the government to make new rules about shelters and appointed shelter marshals
- invested money in installing toilets and set up ticketing so they’re wasn’t any queues
What was the effect of the V1 and V2 attacks?
- V1 was a pilotless aeroplane
- V2 was the first ballistic missile, used to attack London between September 1944 and March 1945
- impossible to stop, too fast
- biggest attack was in Deptford in November 1944
How did the blitz disrupt work?
- destruction of buildings left businesses without premises
- disruption to transport
- businesses were affected by rationing
- employees needed their hours cut so they could leave early to get to shelters
- business turnover and profits fell
How did the blitz disrupt leisure?
- cinemas and theatres were closed for a short time
- newsreels were censored
- most London theatres closed
- pubs had drink and glass shortage
What was London’s response to the war?
- keeping the government and royal family in London
- chiefs of all armed forces worked alongside Churchill, the map room was the nerve centre
- underground headquarters so the country could still operate whilst being bombed
- important to keep morale up
How did London carry on as normal?
- dance hall - extremely popular, huge social event that was less formal
- theatre/concerts reopened - performances generally in late afternoon
- cinemas - allowed to open again, government saw it as opportunity to show propaganda
- professional football began again in regional leagues/ exhibition matches - attendances limited
- protecting art and buildings - precious artwork was moved out of London and St Pauls became a symbol of London’s resistance
What was the ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign?
- government encouraged everyone to grow their own food to boost supply
- start of war : 700,000 plots
- end of war : 2,000,000 plots
- bomb sites in the East End were used to grow food, the moat at Tower of London also used
- Victoria Park was used for vegetables and as a pig farm
