Dig For Victory!

The title of this post has to be one of the most well known phrases associated with 

World War 2; it  was actually coined by a journalist from a London newspaper.

The foot in the poster belonged to Mr W.H. McKie of Acton, London and a photograper was lucky enough to capture this iconic shot; it went on to be used on almost every one of the 25 leaflets provided by the goverment to help the public with everything from making compost to seed saving.

As early as 1936 defence plans were in place for food to be monitored and controlled in the event of war. Therefore by the end of September 3rd, the day war broke out, the Food (Defence Plans) Dept. was up and running to regulate just this.

At the beginning of the war over 20,320,000 tonnes of the food coming into Great Britain included 70% of our cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of the fruit and 70% of cerials and fats. As the German U-boats were later to sink our supply ships, to try and starve us into submission, various initiatives under the Cultivation of Lands Order 1939 set about improving home food production. In order to do this farmers were offered money for their fields to be ploughed for the war effort. Because they were feeding cattle with imported goods food needed to be grown to feed animals as well as the people. Therefore farmers were instructed to sow and grow corn, potatoes and cattle fodder.

This was food production on a commercial scale but then there was the Dig for Victory campaign aimed at the general public. Many people are familiar with the term which was everywhere by 1940. To back this up there were posters such as 

"Let Your Shopping Help Our Shipping."

Lord Woolton, who became Minister of Food on April 4 1940, said 

"This is a food war, every extra row of vegetables in allotments saves shipping. The battle on the kitchen front cannot be won without help from the kitchen garden."

Everyone was encouraged to grow as much fruit and vegetables as they could on whatever land, ground or space they had. It is estimated by 1945 that 1.4 million people had an allotment increasing land for food production by 80%. To assist the public with their sowing and growing efforts the goverment supplied many leaflets, arranged talks and put on events and lectures covering every aspect of how they could help with the war effort in growing their own as part of the campaign. It was important that gardeners could grow their own food all year round so this plan was provided to try and avoid what 'growers of their own' now call the hungry gap.

In addition to the paper propaganda the goverment enlisted the help of Mr Middleton, the wireless gardener. 

You can find a little bit more about him here and how gardening advice from and on the BBC delveloped. On Sunday afternoons people would religiously listen to him to hear advice, hints and tips to get the best out of their garden or space. Many places were turned over, literally, to grow food including public gardens, railway sidings, playing fields, anywhere!

With all the food the public were growing they were also given help and advice about preserving and canning their produce so none of it went to waste...but more of that next time.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to comment here with any family history, experiences or information as I would love to hear your stories.

That's all for now,

TTFN, Lou.xx

Be Prepared - and the story behind Keep Calm and Carry On.

 

The weather in London on September 3rd 1939 was dry, warm and sunny when Neville Chamberlain delared at 11.15am that Great Britain were at war with Germany; this was just two days after Hitler had invaded Poland. However, preparations by the people of the British Isles began some considerable time before that and plans were in place for many things before that fateful announcement was made. 

In 1937 the Spanish Civil War had seen the bombing by Hitler's Luftwaffe of northern Spain and by the beginning of September 1939 Germany had invaded Poland. With the pervasiveness of Communism, Socialism and Facism across Europe, Great Britain had begun putting plans in place by 1938 to prepare for another war. The government began increasing military force and all that came with it in readiness for the expected eventualities and the people of the British Isles - man, woman and child - began laying the ground work, rehearsing and making ready for what was to be a time in their lives like no other, a major disruption to daily life. 

Air raid warnings and the subsequent attacks were pracised for by everyone. 90% of the population were civilians throughout the entirety of the war and it was deemed imperative that everybody was "doing their bit" in what would be a very strange time indeed. It was expected that instructions and preparations would be adhered to in readiness for the outbreak of war. 

Almost from the second the declaration of war was made a deluge of information was produced by the newly formed Ministry of Information.This was in the form of leaflets, booklets, films, posters plus articles in newspapers and magazines were in the consciousness of the general public. e and were responsible They covered everything from growing your own fruit and vegetables to how to wear your gas mask and everything in between. 

An interesting point is that the famous Keep Calm And Carry On saying we know of was never used in the war. It was saved for when the resolve of the British people would be severely tested by such things as heavy bombings at the start of the war, but as this didn't happen straight away they were never published and others were used in their place. It wasn't until the year 2000 when a bookshop owner found one of them in an auction lot he had purchased. Considering the poster had been produced pretty much for use if Hitler invaded Great Britain, it must be accepted that the semtiment of the poster has since been, in my opinion, very much trivialised; you can see a film here from the Imperial War Museums about how and why this poster, along with others, was produced. 

So, there you have something about how the stoic civilians began their own fight on the 

Home Front in support those fighting away from home, but they did SO much more which I look forward to telling you about.

TTFN, Louise.

An Interest I've Decided To Share.

Welcome to my blog as I celebrate the life and times of those living on the Home Front during WW2. I'm by no means an expert but just a very enthuisastic lover of reading and learning about this fascinating period of time. I'm not sure where my interest in the period 1939 - 1945 began but I have become keen on learning more about it more recently. I was lucky enough to recieve these wonderful books for Christmas .

I'm also expecting another in the post soon so will share that with you when it arrives.

Whilst the war was being fought overseas 90% of the population were civilians doing their bit for the war effort to a tremendous degree whilst still carrying on with daily life where they could; I have so much admiration for them and also believe we can learn an enormous amount from the things they did to keep the home fires burning. This is my way of remembering all they did and maybe others will find it interesting or even contribute to my ramblings.

I think most people have heard of the terms Make Do And Mend, Dig For Victory along with the spirit of The Blitz but there is so much more to it than that. I hope you'll enjoy me sharing these and so many amazing things that the people of Britain did so that we could be a free nation.

So, I'll be back soon and will be adding more to the content of the blog as I go along. I look forward to anybody commenting on my ramblings! In my next post I hope to share a little about the early preparations which were made even before war was declared.

Bye for now, Lou.