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.