An Album of World War II Home Fronts

AMALBUiVlOF

^poHy^sm '}W^^

AN ALBUM OF WORLD WAR HOME FRONTS II

NO LONGER

PROPER

Q£

AN ALBUM OF

IMM^ BY DON LAWSON

FRANKI.IN WATTS

New

York

London

Toronto

Sydney

j

1980

Cover photographs courtesy Corps

of:

U.S. Navy The London Transport Board: Wide World Photos: lower right.

Signal

U.S.

Photo:

tipper

left;

Photo: upper right;

lower

left;

Photographs courtesy

Wide World Photos:

of:

pp. 3, facing page

1

(top and

bottom), 4 (top and bottom), 6, 9, 13 (left and right), 17 (right), 14, 21 (top and bottom), 22 (top), 25 (left and right), 40, 54, 58, 66 (bottom

68 (bottom), 68 (top left), 73, 74, 77 (left 86 (left and right), 87, 78; United Press International: pp. 10, 18, 22 (bottom), 49, 50, .53, 70; U.S. Navy Photo: pp. 17 (left), 62 (right),

left),

and

81

right), 76,

(left),

85

and

(left

right);

The London Transport

Board: pp. 26, 29, 30, 33, 34, 37 (top and bottom), 38 ( left and right ) 39, 43 ( left and right ) Sovfoto: p. 46; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library: pp. 57, 61 ;

,

(right),

66 (right), 65; Chicago Historical Society:

pp. 61 (top left), 66 (top left), 69 (left), 72 (left and right); Glenn Robertson: p. 61 (bottom left);

Corp Photo: pp. 62 (left), 44 (left and Marine Corps Photo: pp. 69 (right), 68 (top right); U.S. Coast Guard Photo: p. 81 (right top and bottom). U.S. Signal

right); U.S.

Library of Congress Cataloging

in

Publication Data

Lawson, Don.

An album

of

World War

II

home

fronts.

Bibliography: p. Includes index.

SUMMARY: Discusses

the lives, attitudes, and homes Germans, French, British, Soviets, Americans, and Japanese during World War II. World War, 1939-194.5-Jnvenile literature. World War, 1939-1945] I. Title. [1.

of the

1.

D743-7-L38

940.53'! 79-235^3 ISBN 0-531-01504-1

Copyright

©

1980 by

Don Lawson

All rights reserved

Printed

in the

United States of America 5

4

3

2

CONTENTS I

World War

II

Begins

1

n The German Home Front 7 III

The French Home Front 15

IV

The

British

Home

Front

27

V The

Soviet

Home

Front

47

VI

The United

States

Home

Front

55

VII

The Japanese Home Front 79 Additional Heading

88 Index

89

KmS''"'^^"^^

) WORLD WAR

II

BEGINS On the grim, grav dawn of September i, 1939, motorized columns of German military troops roared into Poland. World War II had begun. The conquest of Poland took less than a month. The method of fighting used by the Germans was a new one. It was called Blitzkrieg, or "Lightning War." The German air force, the Luftwaffe, led the attack, destroying

most of the Polish

air force

before

it

could get

off the

ground. Fast-moving motorized columns called Panzer divisions quickK divided the Polish armv into small units. Infantry troops were then

used

to

surround and destroy these

units. Artillery

bombardment

elimi-

nated any remaining islands of resistance.

The new method

of fighting also included terrorist attacks against

German invasion were machineby the Luftwaffe. Stuka dive-bombers equipped came howling out of the skies to bomb towns and

Polish civilians. People fleeing the

gunned from the

air

with shrieking sirens cities.

Warsaw was the last had crushed ful of

army

all

officers

In their heroic

he was

and

Polish city to

fall.

By mid-September Germany

Polish resistance except the ci\ ilian forces

defending the ancient

mayor Stefan

and a hand-

capital. \\'arsaw civilians, led

Starzynski, or "Stefan the Stubborn,

as

The\ dug trenches in the cit\ streets manned crude bomb .shelters constructed own backwards, firing rifles, machine guns, any weapon that

called, continued to resist.

built fortifications. The\'

in their

was

a\ ailable.

As the battle raged on,

\\

arsaw Radio continued

to

broad-

cast portions of Chopin's Military Polonaise ever\' thirt\- seconds.

Above: Poles fieeittfi the GcinuDi and Soviet advance. Below i'.vrma)\ hlit/kricn destroyed Czeeh, Polish, and French cities. Phis is the outskirts of Warsaw after it was taken over by the \azis. :

[1]

the

Relentlessly,

bombardment Union had

Germans continued their artillery and and its valiant defenders. By now the

of the city

aerial

Soviet

and Russian guns

also entered the conflict against the Poles,

Warsaw was turned into a smoking shambles with scarcely a building left standing. Food and water were running out— and so, finally, was ammunition. On September 27, War-

joined in the country

s

destruction.

saw Radio went dead. On September 28, 1939, the city capitulated and I^oland was divided between the German and Soviet conquerors.

The

Battle of

tles

that

Warsaw

were

the conflict.

at the start of

World War

II

was

typical of bat-

be fought in many nations of the world throughout

to

World War

II

was the

first

major war

in

which the

civilian

populations of most of the nations involved were to play parts that were

by the military forces. And many times home fronts became indistinguishable from the front lines. In home fronts often were the front lines of combat.

as important as those played

national fact,

WAR

GERMANY'S ROAD TO Germany under Adolf

Hitler had been preparing for

war

since 1933.

That was the year Hitler had become the nation's Chancellor. Hitler had been a corporal in the German army in World War I. Wounded

and gassed war.

in

He had

combat, he had never accepted Germany's defeat

which Germany was forced

to sign after the war.

made

to

an

it

in that

also refused to accept the terms of the Versailles Treaty

illegal for

Germany

The

Versailles Treaty

manufacture arms or munitions,

to

have

army or navy. It also required that money, called reparations, to the Allied nations that had defeated Germany. A few years after World War I, Hitler became the leader of an air force, or to establish a strong

Germany pay enormous sums

estabhshed but Socialist

still

weak

of

political organization called

German Workers (Nazi)

party.

speeches against the Jews and Gommunists, for "selling out

"

Germany

in

World War

I

the National

He made many violent whom he blamed not only but also for the economic

depression that followed the conflict. In his political speeches Hitler promised that

the country he

[2]

if

he were running

would end unemployment, rearm the

nation,

and

re-

A 1930s election poster in Berlin urging Germans to support Adolf Hitlers demands for territorial expansion.

3n

^rfeit :

aufgeftttut!

«»»•«- einJWA-

^

f tine

^^^^

^

€ft(tt^tt(ni

Top: many Czechs, fearing a German takeover,

fled into

the mountains where they later engaged in guerrilla warfare.

Bottom: Czechs to turn out to

who

did not

welcome the

flee their

homes were forced

arrival of this Soviet general.

establish l)elicve(l

Hitler

Germany's ptjsition as a world power. The German people him and elected him Ghancellor. As soon as he was in power,

moved Germany

hecame an absolute

relentlessly along the road to war.

dictator,

putting his political opponents

outlawing in jail

rival

political

He

quickly

parties

and

or killing them. In open defiance

to rearm Germany. He created a new and greatly increased the size of the army and navy. But his most serious throats to peace were his demands for additional territory

of the Versailles Treaty,

he began

air force

in

Europe. In 1936, Hitler sent his troops into the Uhineland, a demilitarized

zone between the Rhine River and France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. sailles

When

he met no

real opposition to this violation of the Ver-

Treaty, he decided to unite Austria and

Germany, which

also

had been forbidden. The Nazis assassinated Austria's Ghancellor Engelbert Dollfuss and took over the country in 1938. Xo nation made a serious effort to stop

any of these moves.

Hitler's next territorial to

make

in

demand— "The

Europe, he said— was '

last territorial

to take over

claim

I

have

an area of Gzechoslo\akia

where, he claimed, 3.5 million Germans lived. This threat brought

Europe to the brink of war. Great Britain's Prime Minister Neville Ghamberlain and France's Premier Edouard Daladier flew to Munich to try to reason with Hitler. Then, without e\en consulting the Czech government. Chamberlain and Daladier turned the disputed territory over to Hitler.

Ghamberlain declared, "I believe it is peace for our time." Winston Churchill, who was then out of political power, roared, "We have sustained a total and unmitigated defeat!" and added to Chamberlain, "You chose dishonour and you

will

have war!"

demands concerning Poland, lioth liritain and France said the\' would go to war if Poland were attacked. Hitler ignored them. FalseU' claiming that it was Poland who had first attacked Germanv, Hitler ordered his armies to "counterattack" the virtuallv helpless Polish nation on September 1, 1939. Great Britain and France declared war on Germanx on September 3, 1939. Within a few days Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and South Africa had entered the conflict on l^ritain s side. The United Soon Hitler began

States, for a while,

to

make

threatening

remained neutral.

[5]

'9 £\

•i- i

'%:.

'^-

^

w

ll'

/

'•:^

\->

^

^

1 THE GERMAN

HOME FRONT

World War I, the German people had been enthusiastic about going to war. They were far from enthusiastic when World War II began. For six years German citizens had been deprived of many things to help the Nazis prepare for the upcoming conflict. They became depressed and disillusioned when peace did not come within the first few months of the war, as Hitler and his henchmen had promised. But they continued to support the war, because Hitler gave them At

tlie start

of

nothing but victories early in the

conflict.

As soon as the war began, there was immediate and strict rationing food and clothing. This was because an Allied naval blockade cut Germany off from most of its normal imports. Each civilian was alof

all

lowed one egg, one pound (.45 kg) of meat, and a quarter of a pound (.11 kg) of butter or margarine per week. Fresh iruit was soon all but unobtainable and remained so throughout the war. Milk too w as alw ays in short

supply and frequently unobtainable.

Actually, the average German's daih' wartime diet consisted mainl\-

and coarse bread, all of which were in relati\ el\good supply. Poor Germans had long been used to this plain fare, but now it became standard fare for most civilians. Before the war most Germans had been great coffee drinkers, but wartime cottee was an

of potatoes, cabbage,

imitation beverage (Ersatz)

made from

grain, acorns, or other sub-

stitutes.

Civilians

who

recalled food rationing dining

World War

I

claimed

they had not had to put up with such se\ere shortages until the third

year of that conflict. Hitler,

Cermoii citizens line up to draw their water ration from the cittj's pump.

who

recalled his

own

bitter experiences as

"j

World War I, had vowed that this time the troops would get first choice. They did. They were given the best food and clothing available. Fresh fruits and vegetables, an abundant suppK of meat and milk, and real coffee were always served in the army mess halls until late in the war. In most cities civilians with enough money could supplement their small food ration by eating in restaurants. But here too, meals were apt to be small and of poor quality. German restaurants were required to have a "one pot," or Eintopf, day at least once a week, and frequently more often. The "one pot" was usually a watery stew that sold for a higli price. The extra money made on such poor fare was supposed to go for "war relief. Actually, it went to pay for munitions and the war a corporal in the

German army

in

machine.

There were also numerous meatless days observed by restaurants

and hotel dining rooms. were the only prices.

A

fare.

On

such days canned vegetables and potatoes

Street vendors sometimes sold food at inflated

dish of lioiled carrots, for example, might cost the equivalent

of a dollar.

The

Allied blockade also cut

Germany

of cotton, wool, hides, tin, nickel,

oil,

off

from

its

normal imports

and rubber. Due

to the cotton

and wool shortages (synthetics were not yet being manufactured), most Germans who were not in the armed forces had to wear clothing they had at the start of the conflict throughout the war. Because of the leather shortage, shoes could not be resoled.

Only 50 percent

of the

population each year was permitted to buy rubbers or overshoes.

Soap was also severely rationed, and

men were

allowed to pur-

chase only one bar of shaving soap or one tube of shaving cream every four months. As a result,

many men began

to

grow beards.

Although army buildings were always well heated, coal for use was in short supply throughout the war.

civilian

Many homes and

offices

went unheated even during the worst winter months. This created a special hard.ship during the first winter of the war, which was one of the most severe in the history of Europe. In Berhn a fortunate person often

could occasionally be seen carrying a sack of coal on his or her shoulder or hauling a few pieces of coal or firewood in a baby carriage. Many schools and colleges were closed because of the lack of fuel,

churches were also unheated.

[8]

and most

i\'urcmbcr^, civilians prepare a

The debris

meal on an improvised

of their city sttrrounds them.

stove.

•a%

4

^

»^i

i^*'

.*^

tXk-

The use ot pri\att' automobiles was also haiined due to the luel and rubber shortage. Car owners were made to turn in their car batteries for

use b\ the military.

Despite

was

these hardships there never

all ol

on the part of the

population

civilian

in their

an\' real faltering

support of the war

effort.

THE BBC AND NAZI ATTACKS AGAINST JEWS It

was

wartime Germany

a criminal offense in

to listen to foreign radio

those of the British Broadcasting Compan\(BBC). Long prison sentences were given to persons caught listening to the BBC, but people continued to do so anyway. This was because broadcasts, especially

the

BBC

newscasts quickly established a reputation for accuracv while

German newspaper and distortions.

for harsh jokes. After a

for example, the

comment

their

heavy Royal Air

German

had attacked Germany. castically

radio accounts of the

Most Germans regarded

war were

filled

with

own news media as a subject Force (RAF) bombing raid,

radio might announce that onK- a few planes

would then

Civilians subjected to the raid

that the British

were now able

made them invisible. against German Jews began

to

sar-

camouflage their

planes with paint that

Nazi attacks

and became more vicious

as

the

before the war started

war progressed. Thousands were

driven from their jobs and homes. Other countless thousands were

put into work battalions. Additional hundreds of thousands were sent

camps in such places as Auschwitz, Belsen, Dachau, and Buchenwald, where the\' either starved to death, were worked to death, or were killed in gas chambers and their bodies burned in mass

to concentration

crematoriums. Estimates of the number of Jews exterminated

in

Europe

during the entire war range as high as 7 million.

Many Jews managed United

States.

But

to

in 1940,

escape from Gernuun and come

to the

before the United States entered the war,

Germans allowed into .\merica was onlv 27,000 a \ ear. In the iall ot that \ear there was a waiting list at the .American (-onsulate in Berlin of some 250,000 would-be innnigrants, 98 percent of whom the (juota of

were Jews.

f

/ii.s'

elderly lUrliii housctrifc p(iinstakinu.hi scdichcs

for small pieces of coal amoti-s. the piles of nihhlc. Wifh only 2.) pounds 1 11.23 kn) of coal allotted to

her for the entire tcinter, heal

is

her hifm,est worry.

[II]

Jews

as well as

con(|uered early

many

in the

other civilians from the countries

war provided much

of the

work force

Nazi chemical factories that manufactured synthetic rubber, as well as poison gases.

One such

Germany

plant was set

oil,

for the

synthetic

up by the

I.

G.

Farben chemical firm near the Auschwitz, concentration camp. Not only did the Auschwitz inmates build this plant, but they were also forced to work there until they died.

BEGINNING AND END OF THE "PHONY WAR For more than seven months after the fall of l-*()land, there was very fighting on land between Germany and the Allies, France and

little

England. This period became known

as the Sitzkrieg, or

"Phony War."

After aiding in the defeat of Poland, the Russians had gone on to

and Lithuania, in the autmnn of 1939. In November they attacked Finland. The Finns put up surprising resistance, however, and held out until March of 1940, when they surrendered some 16,000 square miles (41,440 sq km) of take over the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia,

territory as well as the important city of Viipuri to the Soviets.

One month

later the

and took control of

German eggs,

Germans occupied Denmark and Norway

their ports.

civilians also received additional supplies of vegetables,

and bacon when the Nazis abruptly ended the Phony

Continent

b\'

invading the l^ow Countries

bourg and The Netherlands

fell

before the

in

May

German

War on

of 1940.

the

Luxem-

Blitzkrieg in less

than a week. Belgium, aided by the British and French, held out a few weeks longer. By June, however, the British were forced to evacuate the remnants of their battered troops from Dunkirk on the French coast and thus leave France open to ea.sy conquest by the onrushing

German Panzer

[12]

divisions.

Shown here

(left), is

of Colofine as

it

a once-husy shoppinfi section

looks after

(right) the area has

heinfs.

bombed. Today

been completely

rebuilt.

A .1L

^St '^

1 THE FRENCH HOME FRONT On

June

lo,

1940, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini brought his

countr)' into the

war against France and

Britain,

hoping

to share in the

German victory. On June 14, motorized Nazi troops rolled Paris, and a week later Marshal Henri Petain, head of the French

spoils of

into

government, surrendered.

The Germans divided France into two parts, the northern part, occupied and run by the Germans, and the southern part, run InFrench leaders willing to cooperate with the Germans. Southern France was called Vichy France after its capital at Vichw French general Charles de Gaulle fled to England, where his Free French government worked with the Allies to overthrow both the \'ich\- French leaders and the Germans, When the Germans invaded France, the panic among the civilian population was indescribable. The French government broadcast few factual reports about what was happening. As the Germans approached people were simplv advised

Paris,

women would be city's

raped and the

to leave the

men

cit)-.

Fearing that the

slaughtered, three-quarters of the

5 million people fled to the south.

Along the humanity-clogged roads leading from Paris to the south, people died by the thousands. Families carrying their belongings on their backs, on bicycles, or in bab\- carriages were bombed or strafed In the

German

the roadsides.

There was no medical aid and no food or water.

When Germany ians

were forced

tcell as

many

attacked France,

Luftwaffe. \\'ounded and dead

la\-

strewn along

civil-

lo evactiatc Paris as

other smaUcr totcns and

cities aU)n{i the S'azi invasion roiite.

fl5]

would have been better off had troops there behaved c|uite correctly, seldom harming anyone except members of the underground resistance movement. But, as a reminder to the French that Paris was now a German city, everv day at noon a Nazi band led by a drum major and followed by a battalion of soldiers circled the Arc de Triomphe and marched Actually, the French civilians

remained

the\

down monv to

its

in Paris.

The German

the Champs-Elysees to the Place de la Concorde. This cere-

took place every day, rain or shine, from the

on August

li])eration

fall

of Paris in 1940

25, 1944.

THE CIVILIAN

UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT As Germany's forces of aggression gained control of Europe from Poland to the Atlantic,

many people

in the

enemy-occupied countries joined

"underground" armies. In Norway, the Netherlands, and France these civilian freedom fighters gave the enemy not a moment's peace.

secret

Out

A

movement grew the V-for-Victory symbol. London named Victor de Laveleye is generally

of this resistance

Belgian refugee in

credited with being the

first

to use the symbol, in

shortwave radio

broadcasts to German-occupied Belgium. Soon, people on the Continent

began painting Vs on the

V sign The

the letter

walls, chalking

them on pavements, and making

with their fingers. British also

V

is

made good

three dots

and

use of the fact that in Morse code

a dash. In a broadcast to the occupied

countries early in the war, a British radio announcer

named Colonel Sym-

Britton pointed out that the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth

phony sounded the dot-dot-dot-dash V of the Morse code. Throughout the rest of the war, whenever the BBC went on the air with a newscast to the Continent, the Beethoven V-for-Victory musical notes were played as an introduction. When Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain, he adopted the V-for-Victory sign of two spread fingers with the palm of the hand forward.

[16]

(

Left: not all children

may have understood

t

™

i

'~f:

the reasons for war; yet almost

Here, this yowi
all suffered 'greatly.

a \aples street. of victory.

The harvest Italians reaped, hotiever, was destruclion of many by the Allies. liefufiees shotcn here leave their war-battered

of their cities

homes, carryinfi their

pitifully fete remaininf^ possessions

on their heads.

I

\^'

4

(

^

j»»

/

The the \

the

y

Nazis, of course,

was and

were

(juick to realize

tried in vain to turn

it

to their

what a potent syml)ol

own

use. The\'

claimed

stood for ViktoiUi and distributed posters and handl^ills bearing

the letters \'H, under which was printed Vive Hitler! These letters

were

also painted

a 50-foot

on German \ehicles.

i5-ni)-high

(

V was

furled that read Deiitschlaml Sicgt torious

On

On

the Eiffel

Tower

in Paris

which a banner was unAn Allen Fronten ("Germany Vi-

erected, under

All Fronts.").

efforts were merely laughed at b\ the French, however, few months the Germans abandoned them. But near the end of the war, the Nazis again used the letter V, this time more effectively. Thev applied it to their missiles, the V-ls and \'-2s, that were devastat-

These

and

in a

ing London. This time the

\'

stood for Vergcltung, or Vengeance.

THE FRENCH RESISTANCE The most powerful sprang up

first

Committee

of all the resistance

among

movements was

a group of Parisians

of Public Safety.

who

in

France.

called themselves

The committee published

called the Resistance that encouraged other French

a

It

The

newspaper

men and women

to

mo\ enient. Due to this and other similar efforts, the resistance movement continued to grow in strength throughout the war, despite the fact that members caught by the Germans were tortured and then

join the

shot,

hanged, or beheaded, and sometimes had their bodies placed on

public display.

Other important French resistance organizations included the French Forces of the Interior (FFI, or "FiFi"— pronounced fee-fee)

and the Maquis (nia-KEY). The Macjuis, which of Belgium,

bandits and

also operated in parts

was named after the European roadside bushes where highwavmen would frequentlv hide. Groups similar to the

Ma(juis but called Partisans operated effectively in Czechoslo\akia, Yugoslavia, and parts of the Soviet Union. Generally,

ground organizations, especiallv

in

all

of these under-

France, were grouped together and

called the Resistance.

The warfare carried on b\ the Hcsistance included assassination, sabotage, and—when absoluteK necessary— actual militar\- combat.

British

makes

Prime Minister Winston Churchill famous "V-for-Victortj" .Wgn.

liis

[19]

Probably the most important assassination

was

in

kev

German

secret police, the Gestapo. Heydrich,

role

which the Resistance

that of Reinhard Heydrich,

pla\ ed a

to exterminate the Jews,

was

fatally

deputy chief of the

who

led the Nazi effort

wounded by Czech

patriots trained

Canada and parachuted into occupied Europe, right into the safe hands of the Resistance. The Resistance supplied the necessary weapons to carry out the assassination and hid the agents afterward. Probably the most effective Resistance weapon, however, was sabotage. This included the damaging or destruction of canals, ports, factories, power installations, and railways— all of which significantly slowed the movement of both Nazi troops and supplies. in

Although

walks of life engaged in both espionage was the railway workers who were among the most effective in rendering useless the nation's railways. Railway saboteurs set fire to freight and tank cars filled with oil, hay, wood, and other

and sabotage,

\

civilians in all it

They greased

aluable materials.

the

rails

on sharp curves so that the

brakes would not hold and entire trains would overturn. Cables holding vehicles to roll off

flat

cars

were cut

or loosened so that the vehicles

would

while the trains were in motion. Sand was mixed with grease axles, train car couplings were loosened, brakes were were unbolted, and switches were jammed.

used to lubricate destroyed,

rails

Despite the fact that the French railways

German

and hundreds

as saboteurs, sabotage of this vital

supervisors were put in charge of of

French railway

means

men were

shot

of transportation continued

throughout the war.

Other groups of French workers who played key

roles in

the

Resistance were doctors and postmen. Doctors issued false papers indicating this or that

Frenchman was

or in the military. Physicians

groups

who were

too

ill

to serve in a

battalion

were one of the few French

allowed to drive their cars at

the early evening curfew hour.

work

Many

all

civilian

times, even after

doctors took advantage of this

by transporting spies and Resistance fighters to secret meeting places.

Above: a Frenchman cries as the Nazis take over his native city of Marseilles. Below: this picture

was

taken shortly after the Norwegian

underground had blown up German fuel supplies around Oslo, Norway. [20]

/

i"^% *yirft

r^T41 ^»''

•V

v *.*'

#

The French

Postal, Telegraph,

natural network that

from small-town

engaged

in

was

letter carriers to

work

of

and Teleplione Serxice toiined a members,

ideal for Resistance purposes. Its

some kind

top postal

officials,

were almost

all

or another for the Resistance. This

included the smuggling of correspondence that kept the Resistance

network

intact

and the distribution of

illegal

packages containing ex-

and other materials plus directions on how to commit sabotage. it was also disclosed that one of the most valuable workers had performed for Allied intelligence was in postal services the copying down and forwarding to London of all official German and Italian telegrams and other important government correspondence. plosives

After the war

In this

way

the locations of

some

forty launching sites for

V-ls and V-2s as well as a V-2 liquid-fuel depot

at

German

Chartres were re-

vealed to the Allies.

SPIES AND THE RESISTANCE Working closeK' with the Resistance were numerous agents.

These included not

and Czech agents in

as well.

onl\'

American and

Allied espionage

Rritish spies but Polish

Man\- of these spies had been "in place," or

apparently innocent civilian jobs, long before the war started. With

began to send their information out through a separate Resistance network designed especially for this purpose. Losses in this branch of the Resistance were staggering during the course of the war— more than 7,000 sent to concentration camps, more than 8,000 executed, and another several thousand tliat were never the

coming

accounted

of war, they

for.

But the work of the spies, and of the Resistance intelligence net-

work on the whole, was highlv

successful.

\Mien the

Allies

invaded

Normandv in the spring of 1944, for example, they had detailed and accurate maps of all German fortifications, tank traps, and mine fields as well as of the Nazi military strength and the location, unit by unit, of

all

the

German

troops along the invasion coast. All of this information

had been gathered bv

spies

and Resistance intelligence workers.

Above: these yotina Frenchmen are heinfi trained to become members of the Maquis. Below: this underaround nrfianization, the Luxvmbourfi Hcd l.ion, came into existence in lU'.ii). I'nder the leadership of a iroman, the meml)ers hid in dee)) ttnderti,round caverns by day and sabotafied the (Urman tear effort by nifiht.

I2:i]

ON THE FRENCH FIOME FRONT IIAKSH LIFE

Resistance activities against the

Germans helped

l)0()st

morale of the

And morale needed boosting, for life was front during the German occupation. French home

civilian population.

French

harsh on the

Civilians

were

officially

allowed a food ration of 1,200 calories per

day, but few ever received enough items to even approach that amount.

When

war broke

was eating be(.11 kg) and a half a pound (.22 kg) of of fish per day. The wartime ration soon cut that to less than half. Meat, fish, butter, and fats were always in short supply. Bread was scarce and of poor quality. Milk too, except in rural areas, was hard to obtain. Vegetables, when they were available, the

French

out, the average

civilian

tween a quarter of a pound meat and an equal amount

included potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, and carrots. Root vege-

were often spoiled or tough

tables

At the

start of

as leather.

the war, getting one's food ration

meant standing

on a queue for long hours each day— at the butcher shop, the

in line or

bakery, the grocery, or the market— and hoping that the merchant's

supply

ot

on, food

or

food didn't run out before one's turn came. As the war went

became more and more

two days

scarce

a week. Occasionally there

and shops were open only one were food riots, with civilians

breaking into stores and raiding food supplies.

Soon the only way

mous

prices

supplies to

to stay alive was to buy food illegally at enoron the black market. Merchants caught holding back food sell on the black market were dealt with severely by both

the French and the Germans, but there selling food illegally that the black

New

market continued to

to

be made

flourish.

clothing and shoes were soon impossible to obtain except

on the black market.

Many French

soled shoes with tops ration,

was so much money

made

wore homemade woodenTo supplement their food homes and kept chickens in

civilians

of cardboard.

people also raised rabbits

in their

cages on the ledges of their windows.

became scarce, since people were unable to find food for them. Though no French civilian would openly admit it, it was connnon knowledge that many cats and dogs were eaten. After the invasion many American GIs observed and commented on the almost Pets also

total

[24]

absence of these animals

in the villages

and

cities

they liberated.

I

Left: in

German-occupied France,

this

mobile soup

kitchen supplemented, to a small decree only, the French civilians' food allotment. Right: due to the scarcity of food in France, restaurant menus had almost no variety. These prospective diners line up before each restaurant uindow,

reading menus and hoping to find something difjercnt to

eat.

To prepare

for war, Britain

produced heavy metal screens for

placing over the tcindows of wartime buses. This protected

commuters and shoppers aboard from

flying (ijass

and

debris.

m THE BRITISH

HOME FRCaST III

niicl-JuiR' 1940, shortlv after

France surrendered

Minister Winston Churchill told Britain's Battle of France

is

over.

I

House

to

of

Germany, Prime Commons: "The

expect that the Battle of Britain

about

is

to

begin."

But Adolf Hitler had no such immediate plans.

Great Britain

to

accept

he told Luftwaffe chief to

He

expected

German peace terms without a fight. In fact, Hermann Goring: "The war is over. I am going

reach an agreement with England."

But ('hurchill

To do

so,

he

felt,

flatly

refused to consider anv

would only

invite later attack

German peace offers. when German) bad

complete control of the Continent. Instead, Churchill and

ment

bis

govern-

led the British people in preparing to defend their island

home

German invasion. The British had been making ci\ il defense preparations for many months. In the spring of 1939, when war seemed inexitablc, some 40

against

masks were issued to the public. Children were provided with red rubber "Mickey Mouse" gas masks that were intended to be million gas

less

frightening than those

made

for adults. C^ities

protected from the expected low-fK ing

German

and towns were soon bv num-

strafing planes

erous silvery-looking balloons called barrage balloons that floated at the end of long wires anchored to the ground. En(>m\- planes attempt-

ing to strike from low altitudes Plans were also

London had been

the

made first

to

would

hit

the balloons and crash.

evacuate London.

city to

be bombarded

1)\

In

World War

aircralt,

I,

and there

[27]

was

little

German

doubt

anybody's mind that

in

target for aerial

When

million people

ters at

left

were evacuated from

the cities

Finding places to

and

end the

water

in rural Britain at that time.

Many were

dull.

new

rural

almost 4

About

find.

official

successful. City dwellers, for example,

ing their

war.

British cities to rural areas.

live for the millions of

in the

as outdoor toilets, outdoor

and

again would be a main

new

were schoolchildren. People who could afford it and towns at their own expense and rented quar-

whatever rural location they could

a major problem,

lonely

it

in this

fighting actually broke out on the Continent,

half of the evacuees

simply

bombardment

evacuees was, of course,

evacuation was not wholly

were not used

wells,

City dwellers also found terrified of the

homes when night

to

such hardships

and pumps so common

to life

the country

dark and silence surround-

Former

fell.

life in

city children

would

not set foot outside the door after dark. In time tens of thousands of

mothers and their children drifted back to the

dom

or loneliness or to join husbands

and

cities

fathers

out of sheer bore-

who had remained

there to work.

During the period of the Phony War, many British people also became bored and impatient with government regulations. Civilian Air Raid Precaution (ARP) wardens rigidly enforced the nightly blackout rules even though no bombs had yet begun to fall. Some people were fined for leaving lights burning in their homes or for failing to draw their blackout curtains. Others were fined for failing to carry their gas

masks.

THE HOME GUARD Many

civilians

who were

draft-exempt for reasons of health or because

they were too old or too young for regular military service served in the British

Home

Guard. They worked

at their regular civilian jobs

during the day and received training at night and on weekends in to protect Britain

from invasion by parachute troops from the

by boat from across the English Channel.

[28]

how

air or

I

These school children, seemin^hj unaware of the wars dangers, were evacuated from London to safe places in the rural countryside before the start of Germany's aerial blitzkrieg against Great Britain.

X

rt^

14 1

i\\

lirnunn (and lirou-nes) Agree

I lit'

LOOK OUT WUK\ or is

CmSAOE FOR

A

YEAR. NEXT ^T.AR

Tills

WISER TRAVEL

—

THE BLACK-OUT

IN

THE BEST POLICY T«»
IS

he wears »arrimetliin<; while. \^ hen Mrs. Brown the Itlaek-oul she likes to wear her old while

in

nia<-k

BroMii

ltill\

onl.

And

Sall\

roiinil

her

knaek

ni<;hl

al

*s

()T for our hero, any how. IVol ihe sorl of jam that spills oiil of a lioltle-ne<-k of overflowinji; But read on. Irallie.

kniek- not s
hol
The is

tra\elling in

safest

not

Brown.

a

down

csiM'cialK in hlaek-out

hour-, or

when the kerh

On

wet with showers.

is

these

occasions BilK B. goes In the -lo".in -^ait

and

PATTERN SHOPPER

hiis that's

oil a

.See."

strain

to

'

a squash

it

quite

fro,

a line

himself you really know, rememwith such ber those

get

inside a train

-ensihle and knowing to fioitig.

Deed you WHEN on and

I

travel to

finds

Billy

pxxl for Bill) He"s much too tcK)

jiim|>

GOOD

N

iH'forr he crosso. if it's fre<>; straps renieinherinp wiien lights shoulder a are dim that cars he sees may

town

I

I

Brown

phiin whilt-

iiatt\

pcM's out

^t^Oi^^M^/if

:

around the door

there's hardly

room for down

But

any more.

You said

who

aren't

so sure and

haven't

see, my dear', the car there's heaps of been that Billy Brown, space and everyone could way before. 'how transport services in find a place. 'So let's all town begin their main move along', says Billy: Do your good deed for tell them the rush-hours by 4 (much 'to crowd the entrance up the day stations on the wav. earlier than before the is sillv.' war). And

—

The reason wh\ wear nia>

while

this

lie s«-en at

is

the\

so the>

so.

ni<;hl.

when

shopping

Down liri>rlil.

hiark a-

Im'Ii>v\

the station'^

here

I)iit

iiiplil.

hi-

shoppers too,

rNo

ifrow

ii-ed to

lii-"ll

-cad the road and -ee.

arnl let

Tlicn

*

is

Everything— if you use

purpose, as Billy

guz

Brown

it

to

good

CORNER

dear', said

Mrs. B.

:

Tlie risllt

amount saves miirll delay llie Irani u[Min ils way

rise in

Since he paid the fare exact

must

you choose the proper one of

crush, and the seconds saved will lend extra wings

That's the Stuff

fact

several queues!

f.„,ll„ Jrn.r

(',v.T, •;;;';;)

Do you

UM

_.

. .

the

BB

THE WORLD'

MOST

which seems to

Sign? Face the driver. r;ii>ie you hand You'll hnd thai he will understand

bus men's estimation worry him

and named his destination

Hi-h wav Code for black-outs

is 'Stay off the Road'. He'll never step out and begin to

meet

a

bus that's pulling

He

doesn't wave his torch at night, but 'flags' As Billy cannot bear the his bus with something sight, he says 'My man, white. He never jostles that is not right. I trust in.

any

all

lays of these days to journey's end. But, says Billy, see in

My

name and address are

a

Brown has had a

Oueueing

.^nd sfteeds

seems to found on everything I take m c that around, and so I'm very IN the train a fellow sits things get lost quite need- pleased to see you think and pulls the windowlessly. Because they bear it wise to copy me." net to bits, because the no name inside they view is somewhat dim, Billy

we

standing in a queue, as

have

don''t

For ropprr rides, say* Billy Broun. I never lender lialf-a-rro» n

does.

Says Billy cannot be identified.

Brown. 'It

BILLY'S

should try to start for sometimes do. home by 3.' '1 will, my rush means you

IVHATSm A NAME? T'HE

Ws

or few,

BETTER TO QUEUE

^'^'''

you, and other

a

answer

^^.-^r:''i

Bnmti

«ail

it.

'

Many

irT'

i'l

my

view that

oiit>i(ie it"^

Bill\

will

hit

it's

in a queue, but waits and you'll pardon my correcttakes his turn ion: That stuff is there Do you ? for your protection.'

passen(;ki{ w;

STOP PRESS 'No Smoking' Rule Breach Significant Incident

M low StrMt

P«lic«

CMft

to-

Billy Brown wat commoiMiotf maciitratt for rmttratlni •nompt by pauoot*'' O" Oxir(roond to imoko In car labolM

day l)«

'^No SfflOklnit.'

m

its

War

the Plioiix

DiiriiiL;

Ix'causc

members

liad

Home Guard was

tlie

often

made

fuii ot

no uniforms (they merely wore armbands)

and bore no weapons. They were

also accused ot being merel\' "play

But after the British army was evacuated from Dunkirk and invasion became a serious threat, the Home Guard was recognized as

soldiers.

an important element

in

the nation's security.

Its

members were sup-

plied with whatever firearms were available— often only sporting guns and W orld War 1 rifles— and taught methods of guerrilla warfare in

case

German

invaders should gain a foothold in Britain.

Gradually the

uniformed fighting

peak strength

Home Guard became a fully armed, well-trained, force. When it was disbanded in 1944, it had a men.

of almost 2 million

RATIONING Food rationing began plentiful, but

gan

it

in

rapidly

January 1940.

Up

became

when German submarines

merchant

to disable British

scarce vessels.

to that

time food had been be-

Bacon, ham, and butter were

The weekly sugar soon cut. Adults were was this 1,008 g) of meat per week, children

rationed to 4 ounces (112 g) per person per week.

was 12 ounces (336 g), allowed approximately 36 ounces ration

under

six

l)ut (

a third that amount. Poultry and rabbits were unrationed,

but thev soon disappeared from butchershops and were sold at steep prices

when

would

they could be found

join together

at all. Occasional!)- a

and buy shares

in a pig,

animals without a permit, so

which was kept

in the

was against the law privatel)' owned pigs were

garden or backyard of one of the shareholders. to slaughter

group of people

It

frequentlv slaughtered and parceled out to the shareholders

in

the dark

of night.

Milk, tea, cheese, fruit,

kinds as well as canned fish

and fresh and canned xegetables of all were severely rationed and in short sup-

ply or nonexistent throughout most of the war.

Fresh

fish,

which

had been abundant before the war, were scarce because the Royal

Navv

took over most of the nation's fishing

sweeping and patrol peared

Copies of

duties. OccasionalK'

fleet

to

use for mine-

whale and shark meat ap-

in fish markets.

"liilhf's liiillclin" cautioninfi, ufiainst

hlackotil (iccUli'iits tit'ie uidcly dislributed.

im

The

spring before America entered the war, Britain's near-starva-

was reheved somewhat by the passage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Lend-Lease Act— described by Winston Churchill as "the most unsordid act in the history of any nation. This legislation provided Britain not only with arms and ammunition but also with life-saving shiploads of American food such as dried eggs and milk, canned meats, vegetables, and cheese. Gasoline (petrol) rationing was as severe in Britain as it was on the Continent. None was available for civilian use. A black market in petrol and other scarce products such as clothing existed, but penalties against black marketeers were harsh. Because of this and out of tion diet

"

pure patriotism the black market did not flourish

on the Continent and even

in the

United

in Britain as

it

did

States.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN When

became

would not meekly accept German peace terms, he decided that Germany would invade the British Isles. Operation Seelowe ("Sea Lion") was the name given to the German invasion plan. But Operation Sea Lion was never actually launched, because the Luftwaffe was defeated by the Royal Air Force in the skies over England. Without command of the air, Hitler and his generals knew, an invasion of Great Britain was imit

clear to Hitler that Britain

possible.

The first part of the Battle of Britain, as this great came to be called, lasted from mid-July to late August

aerial conflict

1940. At that

Winston Churchill paid tribute to the RAF's severe wounding of the Luftwaffe with the famous words: "Never in the field of human time,

conflict

was so much owed by so many

to so few."

British wartime security measures included warnings about loose talk that might

give

away

secrets to the

enemy. This propaganda poster was withdrawn when working women objected to

it.

They

insisted that they

earned their own way and were not being supported or [32]

"kept" by

dad or anyone

else.

^1

i

w ^-^ 'F «m^ Il

X

Ho\ve\er, Britain

devastation

German bombers made

August. for

s

night

months. London was bombed

the Luftwaffe did not end in

I)\

bombing

raids

on

Britisli eities

for fift\-seven nights out of eight\-

The Luftwaffe then turned its fur\ on other British cities. The purpose of this bombing attack, known as the Blitzkrieg (or simpK' the blitz), was to terrorize Britain into surautumn

five in the

of 1940.

rendering. RareK', howe\er, did

and

the

autumn

cities,

even

many

of 1940 until the spring of 1941,

and especialK- London, were turned

the l)ombers of the

German

returned to the towns and

nightU- air raids that drove

Luftwaffe.

Some

cities fled to the

remained. Those

of others

British people e\er

falter.

THE BLITZKRIEG

LIFE DURING From

tlie

who

British

earl\-

e\acuees

by

who had

country again, but millions

staxed were subjected

them out

towns

into fiery infernos

of their beds

and

to

regular

into private or

public air-raid shelters.

The

British

go\ernment had supplied the public with 2.25 million

corrugated steel air-raid shelters for private household use. These

Anderson shelters— named for Home Secretar\ Sir John Anderson who promoted their use— pro\ided adequate safety except horn a direct bomb hit. The\' saved thousands of lives but were extremely damp and cold during the winter. The\- were also a perfect home for insects

and

rats.

In the central cities the

could house up to if

a

bomb

hit

fiftx

government erected brick structures

that

people. These, howexer, were apt to collapse

nearbw

some areas outside the cities people sought protection in ca\es that had not been used since the Stone Age. In two such huge ca\es in the coimtv of Kent, whole new communities were established with some people taking up permanent residence there. In time, trains from London made special stops near these ca\es to pick up and drop off In

commuters.

London

In

b\ iar the

most po[Milar shelters were pro\ ided b\ the

Underground, the metropolitan snbuax s\stem whose tunnels honev-

combed

the earth b(Mieath the iireat cit\

.

The


(Miunent tried to dis-

Vndcriirnuiul niiliray phil forms, or siihtcays, trvrc for sleepttifi (lurinii air raids

on London.

[35]

courage people from using these underground tunnels as shelters because of their possible use for quick troop movement. But people used

them anyway. Unfortunately, not

under the ground

way

sleepers

to

all

Underground platforms were

withstand a direct

would be

Londoners continued

bomb

during a

killed or injured

far

enough

attack. Occasionally subhit.

Nevertheless,

Underground throughout the many people whose blitz, and homes had been destroyed by the Luftwaffe and who had no place to go virtually made the subway their permanent living quarters. to sleep

in

the

In an attempt to provide other more suitable mass shelters, the government excavated several huge caverns beneath London and re-

inforced the roofs so that they were strong

These

direct hits.

shelters

were supposed

people, but they were not finished until

They

did,

to

withstand even

however, provide shelter from German V-1 and V-2 rockets

late in the

them

enough

be large enough for 40,000 long after the blitz had ended. to

war, and General Dwight Eisenhower and his

as invasion headquarters before

D day in

staff

used

1944.

'COVENTRATION" mid-November 1940 the Luftwaffe began a new kind of air offenWhen it became clear that London covild not be battered into surrender by aerial bombardment, the German high command decided to focus its attention on Britain's main industrial towns and key ports. The first city to suffer from this switch in Nazi strategy was Coventry, an aircraft- and tank-manufacturing region. On the night of November 14, Coventry was subjected to a continuous bombardment that lasted for ten hours. Hundreds of tons of explosives were dropped in this raid. The city's ancient cathedral was In

sive against Britain.

gutted,

and the entire heart

of the city

was demolished.

Shortly thereafter Hitler, alert to the demoralizing effect the raid

had had, announced

to the

or the act of Coventrating)

world that "Coventrieren" (Coventration,

would be the future bombing policy

of the

Above: mother and child share an underground platform "bedroom" during the blitz. Below: the underground was not always a safe place to be. This tube rggi

station collapsed following a direct hit

by a bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe.

y

'^

f

m. vOKt'i

V

^V-:*^

Above: underground platforms became homes away from home for so many Londoners who were driven there by the blitz, that picnics and Christmas parties were held to below-ground boredom while ivaiting, for the it was never safe aboveground during an air raid. This bus and nearby buildings were destroyed during a heavy nighttime air raid.

relieve the

all-clear to sound. Right:

Althoufih air raids,

many

British cathedrals

churchgoers continued

Here, a child

is

were badly damaged by German worship in them nonetheless.

to

being baptized in a roofless cathedral in the Midlands.

Luftwaffe against other British

good

more than twenty other major But (>oventration failed to

cities unless Britain

to

have exactly the opposite

and key

industrial areas

war

the

all for

what was

effort,

Even

and tank

it

seemed

the citizens of Coventry re-

the people of these cities

the aircraft

left of

ports.

hreak British morale. Instead,

effect.

turned to their shattered city and began to rebuild of

surrendered. And,

as his word. Hitler (|uickly ordered Co\entration raids against

Most important returned to work in it.

factories.

TOTAL WAR ON THE BRITISH HOME FRONT During the worst part of the German tion's

creased. British

Urged

Britain, the na-

Minister of Supply Herbert Morrison to

b\'

workers went to

mercy, refusing to go

it

with a

home from

will.

Total war on the British

men and women between were

million

either in the

Seventy percent of

The

home

in-

to it,"

and often working

front

now knew, was

meant

seventx',

total

war.

that of the 33 million

the ages of fourteen and si\t\-f()ur. o\er 22

armed

forces or

engaged

in \ital

war work.

manufactured goods were government

all

or-

manufacture of consumer products was cut to a bare mini-

mum. Income

taxes

taxed 100 percent.

were raised

No

to

Such things

50 percent. Excess profits were

paper, bones, or metals were thrown awa\'. Sal-

vage squads collected tons of scrap materials.

"Go

Man\' dro\e themselves without

factories

even ninety hours a week. This, they

eight)',

dered.

on

aerial assault

production of guns, ammunition, tanks, and aircraft actually

as

iron, rubber,

and other \aluablc

wrapping paper became nonexistent.

WOMEN AND NATIONAL SERVICE E\er\ British

woman between

the ages of eighteen and

fift\

had

to

and was liable to be drafted. Man\ ser\ed as nurses and in noncombatant roles in the women s corps of the arm\', navy, and air force. Others joined the Women's Land Army and worked register for National Service

as farm hands.

Still

others

worked

as

bus conductors, railwax porters,

machinists, crane operators— at almost any job that had to be done.

The work

Women

force of

some

aircialt hulories

with families worked part-lime

was

neai- ihcir

fio

pcMfcnt wonuNi.

homes. Those w

ilh-

out lamilies would often he sent to i^ether, of

the 16 million

old, 7.5 million

work, or

were GIs

the

in

work

women hetween

were employed

womens

in factories far

away. Alto-

fourteen and fifty-nine years

in industry, in full-time civil

defense

corps of the armed services. Most of the rest

schoolgirls, invalids, or the

mothers of infants.

ON THE

BRITISH

HOME FRONT entire war, Great I3ritain

For nearly the

some 2

was

to serve as a vast staging

American GIs served in war with several thousand female nurses, Red Cross workers, and memhers of the WAG. This friendly invasion force had an enormous and lasting impact on the 50 million British citizens. Even before the United States entered the war, there were already several thousand Americans in Britain, who had gone there to volunteer for the British armed forces. Among these volunteers were members of the famed Eagle Squadron of the Royal Air Force. The British were not greatly impressed with American fighting men as represented by the Eagle Squadron. Its members were wild, ground

for Allied troops. In

all,

million

Britain during the

reckless,

rowdy, and completely undisciplined.

did .shoot

down more

than seventy

Nevertheless,

German planes

they

in a relatively short

period of time, a contribution to the war effort that could not be wholly ignored.

When

the United States Eighth Air Force arrived in Britain

Eagle Squadron was transferred

in 1942, the

command and

the discipline of

But few of the GIs

its

who

(juickly

improved.

followed the Eagle Squadron to the

United Kingdom were noted for

were simplv

members

to the Eighth's fighter

their soldierly qualities.

They dressed and marched when the mood struck them,

civilians in uniform.

they saluted superior officers

Most GIs sloppily; if

at all;

they addressed each other bv nickname rather than rank; officers and enlisted

men mixed

freely

when

off duty;

and they regarded the war

as

an unfortunate but temporary interruption of their civilian lives— situation that

would soon be straightened out now

that they

had arrived

on the scene. In the beginning

many

of the British resented the Americans'

superior attitude, and the GIs gave them every reason for resentment. First of

[42]

all,

they were paid far more than their British counterparts.

Left: British

iiomcn were ur^cd

to join the Air

Raid

Precaution services to help the tear effort. Hinlit: this woman trelder, like many other British women,

worked

alonfiside men in shops and factories at had long been regarded as "for men only.''

rifiht

jobs that

on a wartime sightseeing tour of London, a pair of GIs carrydown Regent Street, just off Piccadilly Circus. Early in the war all GIs were supposed to carry gas masks, but the soldiers usually forgot them or used them as sacks for candy, gum, and extra rations. Right: two American GIs in London stroll casually Left:

ing gas masks walk

—

number 10 Downing Street, headquarters for Britain's great wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. A British "Bobbie" makes

past

sure that the GIs

dont get

close

enough

to see inside the building.

This difference

in

pay made

possible for GIs to far oiitspcnd not

it

only British military personnel but most British civilians as well, in

pubs, restaurants, and elsewhere.

Perhaps the greatest resentment

felt

toward the GIs, however,

had to do with their monopolizing of most of the British women. No voung British man, in military service or out of it, could compete with the lavish way the GIs spent money on their "dates." Nor could they obtain the sweets, gum, cigarettes, food, stockings, undergarments, and other clothing that the GIs received in a never-ending stream from home, from their post exchange, or from their mess halls. In addition, the chivalrous if

to

Much lar

devil-may-care "Yanks" were a refreshing novelty

most war-weary young British

British

women.

of the early resentment against the

comment about them: "They're

GIs resulted

in a

overpaid, overfed, over-

and over here." To which the GIs were apt to threaten loose all the barrage balloons and let this crummy island sink." sexed,

Nevertheless, as the for

months and then

GI "occupation"

years, the

popu-

to "cut

of Great Britain continued,

Yanks and the British came

to

under-

stand and respect each other.

"GOT ANY GUM, CHUM?" some children seemed main reason the GIs had come to Britain was to pass out chewing gum and sweets. It was a common sight in British towns to see a lone Yank surrounded bv a group of noisy children. And whereever GIs went they heard the same question from their young admirers, "Got any gum, chum?" Many British famlHes were more than generous in in\ iting GIs into their homes on Christmas and other holidays. On these occasions the Americans would frequently overwhelm their British hosts with armloads full of food from the American mess halls. Army authorities encouraged such visits and e\en insisted that the GI guests take with them not only food but ration booklets as well. Such insistence was necessary thanks to early visits when GIs, imaware ol their hosts' rationing situation, had eaten up an entire week's worth British children invariably loved the GIs. In fact

to think that the

of Briti.sh ration points at their

first

breakfast!

I4r>]

"^^

m: -^

^^.

\r

^^fc**"

r^T»

t^

^T.

^4.

>^.

-4.

^ THE SOVIET HQViE FRONT Despite the fact that

Germany had signed

with the Soviet Union

The

1941.

in

had

Soviets

August

of 1939,

also helped

a

it

prewar nonaggression pact attacked Russia on June 22,

Germany

defeat Poland in an action

had brought Great Britain and France into the war. Nevertheless, when Germany attacked Russia, Winston Churchill announced that, "Anv man or state who fights on against Nazidom will ha\e our aid. that

Any man

who marches

or state

whatever help

we

FDR agreed States

mere

our foe.

is

.

.

.

we

shall give

with Churchill, and soon both Britain and the United

were sending supplies

at first a

with Hitler

can to Russia and the Russian people.'

trickle,

was month

to Russia. In the case of Britain this

but the quantities mounted month

as British factorv workers staged special production

Soviet Union. American Lend-Lease aid to

b\-

drives for the

Russia amounted

to

some

$11,000,000,000 during the course of the war.

The German all

attacks against Leningrad,

through the Ukraine were

viets suffered

more

Moscow,

Stalingrad,

at first spectacularlv successful.

The

and So-

than 2.5 million casualties as well as the loss of

hundreds of thousands of acres of crops which the So\iet leader, Premier Josef Stalin, had ordered destrox ed before the adxancing Ger-

man of

armies. This "scorched earth

much-needed

for the

When

supplies, but

it

polic\ did indeed depri\ e the Nazis

also created a near-starvation situation

Russian civilian population.

Ck-nnantj tuintd on the Soviet I'nion,

the tvorst

fifihtinfi

of the

war took place

as the Russians jowjit fiercehj to defend

every inch of their hind. Here, Soviet civilians search for their

hattle for the Hussion

dead

vilhii!,e

after a of Kriw.

[4-

As the German columns approached Moscow in mid-November— few weeks before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor— nearpanic giipped the Soviet capital. Civilians and government officials

just a

alike fled the city, but Stalin stayed

on inside the Kremlin. Speaking

over the radio, Stalin urged Soviet citizens to "fight the barbarian invaders in the streets" to save "Mother Russia."

Almost everyone dren vowed

rallied to Stalin's words.

to fight to the

death and

to destroy

Men, women, and

chil-

everything in the Nazis'

path— homes, bridges, dams, anything that could be of use to the invaders. Thousands of women journeyed by train, bus, truck, or on foot to the west of Moscow, where they dug deep ditches and helped construct tank traps. Many shops and factories began turning out weapons. Instead of pots and pans they made hand grenades; instead of business machines they produced

rifles.

The Russian army led by General Georgi Zhukov also responded heroically. The Germans advanced into the Moscow suburbs and were in sight of the Kremlin walls. But they could get no farther. Here the defenders held and gradually drove the enemy back. They would never again come so close to capturing the Russian capital. Zhukov later said he was aided by two other generals, "General Winter" and "General Mud." German supply lines were some 1,500 miles (2,400 km) long, and when winter set in, the Nazis became bogged

down

in a sea of

mud and

ice created

by heavy

rains

and snows.

Although the Russians were better equipped and, because they were used to the climate, more able to fight a winter war, they decided instead to take advantage of the temporary

lull in

the fighting to re-

inforce their armies.

Meanwhile, in

to the north of

September of 1941 that

Moscow,

at

Leningrad, a siege began

lasted for sixteen months.

Here Soviet work-

men left their factory jobs and fought side by side with the troops. The workmen were replaced in the factories by women and children. Fuel for

cooking food became almost nonexistent, but then so did the food

itself.

Water had

to

be rationed. Sewers and drains were put out of artillery. Disease ran rampant among the heroic

commission by German

defenders, but they fought on.

When

spring came, the Nazi attack on beleaguered Leningrad

was renewed with

[48]

full force,

but the people of the city refused to sur-

This

is

one of the

first

pictures to be issued showiiif^ the

dehris-streicn streets of Stalitifirad. carryinfi supplies to help

defend

These Russian

women

are

their city afiainst the Sazis.

render. Despite raging shell da)'

and repaired

fire,

the\

worked

tables in every inch of available space

by Thev planted \ege-

at their factory jobs

the citv's fortifications b\- night.

and tended and har\ested

their

small crops on their hands and knees to avoid being hit by bullets or shell fragments. Eventually, the struggle

ended

as a bitter stalemate.

THE SIEGE OF STALINGRAD In the

summer and

fall

of 1942, Stalingrad

went through

its

ordeal by

fire. Although his armies had suffered severe setbacks in Moscow and Leningrad, Hider was still determined to defeat Russia. He felt he

could do this bv capturing Stalingrad. But once again Soviet ci\ilians

war machine. On August 22 the German Luftwaffe and artiller\' began a bombardment that destroyed three-quarters of Stalingrad. When the Ger-

and

soldiers joined in a heroic effort to defeat the Nazi

man ground

troops

moved

into the rubble that remained, the\ expected

had refused to began the most leave or even consider surrender. There immediately savage fighting ever to take place in a world war. deserted

to find a

German it

was up

city.

But

civilians as well as soldiers

tanks could not get through the debris-strewn streets, so

to the

Nazi foot soldiers

to enter, the soldiers

to take oxer the

were met by Soviet troops and

cit\-.

As

the\' tried

ci\'ilians

brandish-

ing gims and knives. There followed hand-to-hand combat not merely for ever\ building

Women

but also for everx remaining room

and children joined

in this sa\

age

fight,

in

every building.

attacking the

Germans

front, sides, and rear. Each dav thousands of Russian defenders died. But they took thousands of German troops with them in this mad death struggle. Dead bodies lay piled in the streets and were used for barricades. In the end the German ann\ faltered. And, as it did, the Russian army under Zhukov counterattacked and sent the Germans reeling to defeat.

from the

By the time another Russian winter had set in, the remnants of the German arnn of 700,000 men that had besieged Stalingrad were surrounded some 50 miles (80 km) from what was now being proclaimed as the Soviet

"hero citv." Within a matter of w(^eks these renmants

were hirther cut suiTcndercd

Auiid rtihhic (ind

at

(h'l)ris,

this Staliir^rad jumil\i

attempts to cook a meal.

to pieces.

The German

the beginning oi U)43-

officers

and men who were

lett

Their failure to occupy Stalingrad represented the worst defeat for the Nazis in

Thev paid

World War

II.

But the Russians

triumph with almost

for their

as

also suffered severely.

many

battle deaths at

Stalingrad as the United States suffered during the entire war. Soviet

were estimated

battle deaths at Stalingrad

and

civilians,

but no

official

SOVIET WARTIME was no need

among

ing

being given all

to

civilians first

some 200,000

soldiers

ECONOMY

Since the Soviet prewar there

at

count was ever taken.

economy was already wholly government

impose a special

set of

wartime

run,

controls. Ration-

simply became more severe, with the military

consideration in regard to food, clothing, housing, and

other necessities.

Very few Russians owned private automatically went to the military. flourishing black

The

market despite the

were caught were summarily

shot.

cars, so

during the war

scarcity of food

all

fact that black marketeers

The

fuel

resulted in a

who

best clothing, especially the

choice winter garments, went to the troops. Yet most civilians had an

ample supply of clothing

left

Military conscription

over from before the war.

was

virtually universal. This included not

men up to the age of fifty-five and teen-age boys, but also older women and teen-age girls. No women were officially used in combat roles, but the bodies of many of them, found clutching hand grenades only

were discovered among the battle casualties after the sieges of the various cities were over. Girls and women worked willingly on farms as well as in factories. Special awards were given to civilians who excelled in production, and these almost invariably went to girls and and

rifles,

women. Union was war than the civilian population of almost all the other warring nations. Russia was largely a nation of peasants, who were used to long and difficult toil, simple food, rough clothing, rude housing, and few, if any, luxuries. This fact plus enormous courage and a deep love for their vast "Mother Russia" made the Soviet civilians and their military counterparts formidable In a major sense the civilian population of the Soviet

better prepared to withstand a long

foes indeed.

[52]

and

difficult

A

Stalingrad familtj

shown eatinfi their first meal former home. They were forced

is

at the remains of their

to leave during the fierce Battle of Stalingrad.

when President Franklin Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war follotvinf^ the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Here, the members of a U.S.

All of America listened

Army of

recruiting station listen to the radio broadcast

FDR's message

to the joint session of Congress.

m THE UNITED STATES HCWViE FRONT December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his White House office when he received a telephone call from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. "Mr. President," Knox said, "it looks like the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor." Then he read a message he had just received

On

the afternoon of

from Naval headquarters

Honolulu, Hawaii:

at

AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. went into action, summoning the Secretaries War, and Navy, and the Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, to his office. Also summoned was FDR's close friend and trusted adviser Harr\' Hopkins. Hopkins later noted in his diar\- that the President had obviously been surprised and angered by the news IniniediateK' Roosevelt

of State,

seemed

of the attack, but "he also

made

the decision for

him— the

reliexed that the

enemy had now

question of whether or not the U.S.

should enter the war had been taken out of his hands."

The

next day,

session of Congress

8,

and asked

for a declaration of war.

speech, in which he described in

infamy,

President Roosevelt convened a joint

December

was broadcast

to

December 7

President

which some 60

as "a date

a radio audience of

The

s

will li\e

million

Americans.

The Senate uiianimouslv pa.ssed the declaration of war against the Japanese Empire. In tlie House of lU'presentatives there was just one no \()te. This was cast bv Congi'esswoinan Jeannetle Rankin of Montana. Pacifist Rankin, the

also voted against

America

first s

woman

entr) into

e\er elected to Congress, had

W orld War

I.

Tlireo days later in this

new war Germany and

Italy,

siding with

japan, dechired war on the United States. Congress then deelared war against them.

Like the President, most people across the nation were angry

and surprised

that

a tiny nation

a giant like the United States.

Japan would dare to attack

like

(They were

the Japanese had chosen to attack.

Many

also

puzzled by the place

people had never even heard

was roused by the sneaky nature of the which took place while Japanese diplomats were in Washington

of Pearl Harbor.) Their anger attack,

talking peace with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull. But there also a general feeling of relief that

that

many had

felt

it

America was now

should have been

America's anger grew as

in

off

long before

was war

this.

became known just how had been. The American fleet

gradually

it

successful the Japanese surprise attack

had been caught completely

definitely in a

guard at Pearl Harbor. Eight batde-

and several smaller ships had had been destroyed on the ground. More than 2,300 Americans had died in the raid, 960 were missing, and more than 1,100 were wounded. The success of Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor at first ships, three destroyers, three cruisers,

been sunk. Nearly 200 American

aircraft

caused a near-panic throughout the United States. Even citizens living in

inland states feared possible invasion. People in Arizona prepared

for invasion

from across the Mexican border. American Legion

officers

Wisconsin attempted to form a home guard composed of 25,000 men armed with hunting rifles. In Wyoming plans were made to use abanin

doned mine

shafts as air-raid shelters. In

to coast antiaircraft

the roofs of

tall

many major

cities

from coast

gims and searchlight batteries were installed on

buildings.

anti-invasion obstacles

And

along both the East and West coasts

and gun emplacements were

installed

on the

beaches. Everywhere people tried to improvise blackout curtains. Mass

evacuation plans were devised for major Millions of volunteers

Every

city

and town

became

in the

air-raid

cities that

wardens and

aircraft spotters.

country had nightly blackout

Actually, of course, the United States

ever from large-scale

might be attacked.

enemy

attack,

and

in

was

in

drills.

no danger whatso-

time the

drills

became

a

bore and air-raid wardens were scoffed at for enforcing regulations.

But

at the start of the

and people were

[56]

war the threat of aerial attack seemed very months following Pearl Harbor.

jittery for

real,

«.«44 LU. *

Civilian defense measures included this air raid spotters post built

on the laivn

White House in Washington, D.C. The site is being inspected by the

of the

President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt.

After war with Japan teas declared, the U.S. liovernment moved many Japanese-Americans from their West Coast hom.es and placed them in internment camps.

THE ONLY HOME FRONT CASUALTIES FROM ENEMY ACTION In Septt'ml)er of 1942 the Japanese did attempt to set fire to forests in

the Pacific Northwest

1)\-

aerial attack. This incident

occnrred

when

a

Japanese aircraft was launched from an aircraft-carr\ing submarine

Oregon

off tlie

coast.

It

chopped several incendiaries,

or

fire

bombs,

but no serious damage resulted. Later

war the Japanese launched numerous bomb-carrying

in the

balloons that drifted at high altitudes from Japan to the Pacific coast

where

of the United States,

a timing device

was supposed

to release

bombs which would then explode on impact. Nine thousand of these balloons were launched and several hundred bombs actualh' did make it to American soil. The onl\- known casualties the\' caused,

the

5, 1945. On that day a and fi\e Sunda\- school children were having a picnic in the woods. Thev found one of the unexploded aerial bombs in the forest, and when the\' examined it, it exploded,

howe\er, occurred near Bly, Oregon, on Ma\-

minister's wife, Mrs. Archie Mitchell,

and the

killing Mrs. Mitchell

five children.

Althoutih none of these aerial attacks was cause for
news that

them was kept from the public b\ the government, tor the\' might cause mass hysteria among the civilian population. of

fear

INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS As

was, wartime h\steria resulted in one of the most shamctul epi-

it

sodes in American history. This was the internment of thousands of

West

coast Japanese-Americans in

what amounted

concentration camps. Wartime secrecv also kept

to

this

Amcrican-stxle stor\

trom the

general public. Innn(>diatel\ ol

after Pearl

Harbor nian\ people on the \\est coast

the United Stales began lo fear that

Americans lusterical

honi

tlieir

result, ()rd(>r

who

some

of the 112,000 Japanese-

among them might be spies or saboteurs. Soon demands were being made to move all Japanese-Americans li\ed

homes along the

on Februarx

19,

Pacific coast into the nation

s

interior.

As a

1942, President Roosevelt issued an executi\e

authorizing a mass e\acnation ot the feared population.

[59]

which the evacuees were moved and where most war were called "relocation centers." Actually they were crude military-style camps located in barren and isolated areas scattered throughout half a dozen Western states and Arkansas. There, in rough barracks behind barbed wire and guarded

The camps

remained

by U.S.

to

for the duration of the

soldiers, the hapless

Japanese-Americans were forced to live as

virtual prisoners. Ironically, 8,000 of the

young men

living in these

American concentration camps were eventually drafted into the U.S. armed forces, where a number of them performed heroically in combat. Furthermore, no Japanese-American was ever brought to trial as a

World War

II

enemy spy

or saboteur.

VOLUNTEERS AND DRAFTEES In the weeks immediately following America's entry into the war, there was a rush to join the military services. Army and navy recruiting offices were literally swamped with volunteers. During the entire course of the war a total of about 16 million men and women would be in uniform. On an average some 12 million Americans, or one in eleven,

would be serving in the military at any one time. Although there were hundreds of thousands of volunteers, about two-thirds of the men in uniform were so-called draftees. In 1940 the United States had passed its first peacetime military conscription law. Under this Selective Training and Service Act all men between the ages of twenty-one

million

and

men were

thirty-five

8 million fathers were fathers

were subject

exempt from the

draft,

had deferments. Eventually

still

to the draft.

More than 16 first some

registered with their local draft boards. At

all

but by 1944 only 80,000

men between

the ages of

eighteen and sixty-five had to register for the draft, but only those be-

tween the ages of eighteen and

thirty-six

were actually inducted

into

the services. Surprisingly, cal,

educational, or

were a

million

result of the long period of

preceding the war, cal care or the

resulted in

economic depression immediately too poor to obtain proper medi-

when people were

proper food. During the Great Depression

were also too poor

[60]

men were rejected because of physimental deficiencies. Many of these deficiencies

some 5

many

to allow their children to attend school,

many young people

families

and

of draft age being unable to read.

this

Top

left: this

the U.S.

Bottom

Chicago mother, father, and son all joined shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Navy

left:

patriotism ran high in

World War

11.

All six

brothers in the Robertson family of California volunteered for the U.S. armed services. Five of them served overseas,

and

home unharmed.

Right: Eleanor Roosevelt Japanese-Americans by visiting detention camps. Here she is presented with a corsage by an inmate of one of the camps in Arizona. all

returned

tried to ease the plight of the

i

Left:

members

of the

Women's Army Corps,

or

WAC(s),

served m,ainly in Great Britain and on the European continent.

These

WACs are

boarding a troop transport ship on their WAVES comprised 18 percent of the total naval personnel assigned to shore establishments. These WAVES worked as aviation mechanics in California.

way

to

France. Right:

Almost 45,000 potential draftees were registered as conscientious people who refused to hear arms for their country hecause of their religious training or heliefs. Ahout half of these served as non-

()i)jectors,

combatant medical corps personnel. Some 15,000 others served nonmilitar\ roles, and the rest went to

jail

in other

for refusing to serve in

any

capacity.

Few

people realized

how

poorly prepared the United States

was

minimum

men

to watje war. Mobilization plans called for a

under arms. But when the draft law onK- 300,000

in

the regular arm\'.

first

went

of 8 million

into effect, there

were

took another two years for this

It

and the had to be uniforms slow Also, was a process. processing of draftees manufactured and camps built for all the new civilian-soldiers. In the early months many draftees trained with rocks for hand grenades, rifles and machine guns made of wood, and mock tanks made from passenger automobiles. What weapons and equipment were avail-

number

to

grow

to 1.5 million.

able were largely left over from rifles

train at a

and old-fashioned 1917 volunteers and draftees

The

selection of draft boards

World War I— Springfield

"tin" helmets, for in the

bolt-action

example. \'eterans to

"school of the soldier" were also

premium.

WOMEN ANSWER THE CALL TO ARMS Athough they were not subject to the militar\- draft, thousands of young women answered America's call to arms. Of the more than 200,000 women who volunteered for the armed forces most— some 143,000— served in the Women's Army Au.\iliar\- Corps, which later became the Another 77,000 served in the Women s Naval Reserve and the WAVES (Women Accepted for \'olunteer

WAC.

Women's Army Corps,

or

Emergency

Smaller numbers served as marines or coast

Ser\ice).

guard auxiliary personnel. Several thousand members of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrving Squadron to air bases for the

army

(WAFS)

from factories

air forces.

Although thev were not allowed of the

ferried aircraft

to

engage

in

combat, members

WAC were allowed to serve almost an)'where overseas. women's

Members

were sent onl\ to areas that were regarded as safe from enemy action. Their main purpose was to perform tasks that would free men for combat.

of the other

auxiliary services

[fi.l]

AMERICA, ARSP:NAL OF DEMOCRACY Before the United States entered the war, President Roosevelt urged the nation's workers to

make

the United States the "arsenal of democ-

racy" by producing record amounts of war materials for Lend-Lease

and Russia. After Japan attacked the United States, became imperative for the United States to perform even greater production miracles in order to win the war in the Pacific as well as the aid to Great Britain it

one

in

Europe.

One

of the miracles

Some

FDR called for was the manufacture

of 60,000

FDR's critics ridiculed this demand, since at the American industry time was turning out only a few thousand planes a year. Nevertheless, by 1944 just one plant, the huge Willow Run aircraft factory near Detroit, Michigan, run by the Ford Motor Company, was turning out B-24 bombers at a rate of one an hour. U.S. aircraft factories were producing almost 100,000 planes a year by the end of the war. By 1945 U.S. factories had produced some 300,000 planes, more than 100,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,500,000 military trucks, 600,000 Garand automatic rifles, 500,000 carl)ines, almost planes a year.

400,000 lery

artillery

of

weapons, and almost 50,000,000,000 rounds of

artil-

ammunition. In the shipbuilding industry

Henry

Kaiser's workers

performed

their

own

little

time as one every three and a half days. These cargo ships were

kind of miracle by building the so-called Liberty Ships in as

prefabricated and their separate sections were welded together rather

than riveted. Almost 3,000 of them were built during the war to carry supplies to every fighting front.

Such production

efforts

demanded considerable

sacrifice

on the

part of the American worker. In 1942 the manufacture of all automobiles for private use was discontinued. Fuel was severely rationed, so that even

if

a worker

had

a car he or she could not

depend on

it

for

were the most common solution, but groups seldom could obtain enough fuel for the entire week. New

getting to work. Car pools of riders

tires also became nearly unobtainable after the Japanese Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, thereby cutting off most of America's rubber supply. Although American factories soon began to turn out synthetic rubber— by 1944 the output was 800,000 tons

automobile seized

[64]

To boost morale, President Roosevelt frequently wounded servicemen in military hospitals.

visited

MJ

i

*i

Top

left:

everyone tvho did not

enlist in the military services

war plant. Here, an overseas veteran acts as a job recruiter on a Midwest street corner. Bottom left: the President's daughter was presented with a bouquet of war stamps by a tvorker at an Oregon shipyard when she christened a merchant ship. Right: Washington officials toured war plants to encourage workers to increase production and to make

teas

urged

to get a job in a

the United States the "arsenal of democracy." Here, FDR and his aides visit a plant in Milwaukee.

went

Many

(725,600 m.t.) a year— almost

all

workers who had seldom had

before began to use public transporta-

tion, vvliich also

to

became severely

of

it

to the military.

strained and suffered from frequent

breakdowns. Nevertheless, Ajnerican workers continued to get to work in record numbers somehow, some wav, and to turn out record amounts of the

needed military material.

To perform production

miracles despite a shortage of workers,

emploved more women, blacks, teen-agers, and retirees than ever before. Even convicts were used for war work. Midgets were used to work in cramped sections of planes, blind people sorted screws and nuts, deaf people worked in factory areas where the noise was too great for people with normal hearing. Preteen-aged boys and girls also factories

work in factories after school and on weekends when child work laws were temporarily suspended. By the middle of the war more than 3 million boys and girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen

went

to

were working

WOMEN

in factories.

AT

WORK

Before the war relatively few American

women worked

in factories. B\'

war they made up a third of the nation's total work some 6 million women were engaged in factor)' jobs. Immediately after Pearl Harbor 750,000 women had applied for factorv jobs, but onlv 80,000 were accepted at first because it was comthe middle of the force.

By

war's end

monl) believed that

women

could not handle machinery as well as

men. This m\th was soon destrcned and within a matter of months hundreds of thousands of women were pro\ing the\ could do "men s jobs" as well as

and

in

many

cases better than the

"Rosie the Riveter" posters recruiting

and magazine

stories

women

men

the\ replaced.

workers and newspaper

about actual "Kosies" became commonplace.

In addition to the millions of

women who were

work, man) millions of others joined

in

the

war

paid for their war

effort as

unpaid volun-

Some ran canteens where service men and \\ onuMi could get free meals when they were awa\ from their own militar) camps. Others worked for the United Ser\ ice Organization (USO), for the Red Cross teers.

as nurse's aides, as civilian defense

volunteer Iiclj")

the

members

war

of

fire

I)rigades

wardens, as ambulance dri\ers, as

and so on.

in

an) job that would

effort.

[fiT]

Top

left

:

ivomen

factory.

Top

staffed this aircraft assembly line in a Detroit

right: this

woman Marine

bomber

truckdriver freed a male

Marine for combat duty. Bottom: during the war, women worked unprecedented numbers. These women are working in a Douglas aircraft plant on plexiglass nose cones for bombers.

in factories in

home front were constantly cnaaficd in would boost the morale of C.Is overseas. This C.I

Left: Americans on the projects that

Cookie GirF holds cookies for C.ls on the fifihtinfi, fronts. Right: thousands of women also joined the military services. These Marines are at trork in an aircraft repair plant in \orth Carolina.

:-«p»*^'

Stationed outside a small town in Germany, this platoon of the 104th Division were all black volunteers. They captured 24 SS troopers near this spot.

THE ROLE OE BLACK AMERICANS IN THE WAR EFFORT America

had perhaps

13 million black people

s

the nation's

war

effort

than any of

services were rigidly segregated.

On

less

reason to back up

other citizens. All of the

its

the

home

front blacks

armed

who had

long suffered from racial job discrimination continued to suffer from it during much of the war. Nevertheless, out of sheer need more and more black men and women were employed in factories. The number of black women workers, for example, grew by 12 percent during the war, and overall black employment increased by more than 9 million. President Roosevelt eventually issued an executive order which made racial discrimination in war industries illegal. The Fair Employ-

ment

Practices

Commission (FEPC) was established

the executive order

continued on the

was

home

to see to

it

that

carried out. Nevertheless, racial discrimination front throughout the war.

BOY AND GIRL

HOME FRONT WARRIORS Fortunately, American boys and girls were never directly subjected to aerial attack or

enemy

invasion during the war. Nevertheless, they

participated wholeheartedly in supporting the nation's

war

effort.

were collected from children in school classrooms across the nation for the purchase of war stamps and war bonds. Boys and girls also led scrap drives, collecting tons of newspapers, used metals, tin and lead foil, and worn-out rubl)er tires Millions of dollars in small change

for recycling.

Many Junior

of these drives

Red Cross and

were led

(49,000 m.t.

appeal by the President in 1942. the Junior

Commandos,

also ran obstacle courses

life

)

Members

The

as the

Scouts

of rubber following an of

one youth organiza-

not only took part in scrap drives but

and engaged

DAILY LIFE ON THE Daily

youth organizations such

the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

collected almost 54,000 tons

tion,

b)-

in ci\il

defense exercises.

HOME FRONT

on the American wartime home front was

and boring. This was largelv due

to shortages of all

for man\' tiresome

kinds— a situation

[71]

left: boys and girls throughout the United States were deeply concerned about their relatives and friends serving overseas. These sixth-graders at Chicago's Holy Name Grammar School pray for the successful invasion of France by the Allies in 1944. Above right: scrap metal drives by young people often resulted in truckloads of badly needed materials. Chicago boys collected this load in one day. Facing page: a five-year-old

Above

West Sider roamed the city streets of his New York neighborhood collecting aluminum pots and pans.

that

most Americans were not used

while not so severe as that

in

Rationing of food and clothing,

to.

other warring nations,

was nonetheless

severe enough to cause major inconveniences.

Rationing and price controls were established

ernment early in the war. Floods that

were the

cluded sugar,

1)\

the federal gov-

were rationed on a point basis, items

most canned goods, butter,

scarcest calling for the

points.

coflFee,

fats,

Rationed foods

in-

and meat. To prevent

hoarding, food stamps were redeemable for only a specified period,

time— and frequently caused when people who had

usualK' a month, and could be canceled at any

were, despite the angry explosion this

been saving them to use for a special occasion suddenly learned their ration stamps were invalid. Each person was allowed an average of 2 pounds (.9 kg) of

meat a week. Eggs were plentiful. Chickens were never rationed. Fresh fruit and vegetables were usuall\' available in season but mainly in and near the areas where they were grown. Canned goods of most kinds were often a\ailable but in short supply.

Some 20

million 'Victor\- gardens," or vegetable gardens,

planted by Americans by the middle of the war.

evervwhere— in backyards,

were

They were planted

zoos, public parks, parking lots, even at

a racetrack near Chicago. So successful were they that the\' pro\ ided

home

Americans with one-third of the vegetables eaten

front

Not

in 1943.

war was the black market

so positixe a bv-product of the

up virtually overnight. It flourished especialh' in the illegal sale of meat and fuel, but also made man\' other rationed items readilv available to anvone who had the monev. Black market items usualK- .sold for two or three times above the legal price ceiling.

that sprang

So widespread were black market operations that Office of Price

(OPA)

Administration

officials

estimated that thev accounted for a

quarter of the nation's retail business. All in

all,

war were honest

regulations but accepted

even managed

home who complained about OPA

however, most of the people on the American

front during the

to smile

th(>

citizens

shortages and the inconxcMiiences.

occasionalK

at

shopkeepers

answered special requests with the angr\there's a

By

retort,

who

"Don

I

They

constantK'

xou know

war on?"

htirnind cushions,

woodwork, mid other comhusfihlc

material, junked automobiles in Virfiinia trere turned into

scrap for America's


War

Production rro^,ram.

^751

Above: these are food and shoe stamps indicating the point value for each purchase. Facing page left: in order to purchase food and other essential goods, all civilians had to have ration hooks issued by the OP A. Here, hundreds of people line up to get their second war ration hook, issued early in 1943. Most ration books were issued at public schools. Facing page right: despite all the hardships, Americans supported the

war effort wholeheartedly. This giant cash register in New York's Times Square recorded New York State bond purchases.

i

^';^'^w|l

•,—^'U

f

^

*^!«l ill ^

'*

4

^t 1/

%v.

}

fc

% V

m

THE JAPANESE HOME FRONT when news

of the successful attack

on Pearl Harbor reached Tokyo,

clapped and cheered. Man\- headed for the palace

people

in the streets

of the

Emperor, where they stood outside the gates and prayed for

complete victory. Bands plaved the Japanese national anthem, the "Kimigayo," and the people joined in singing:

The Emperors

reign will last

For a thousand and then eight thousand generations Until pebbles

become mighty rocks

Covered with moss. That night Prime Minister Hideki Tojo spoke to the nation b\- radio. "The West," he said, "has been trying to dominate the world. To an-

enemy and to establish a new order in East Asia, Japan must anticipate a long war. The hundred milHon people of the

nihilate this

Japanese Empire must pledge

all

of their energies, their lives, to the

state."

A few to

days later the heroes of Pearl Harbor were welcomed

home

Tok)'o with a parade and a great celebration. Flowers were strewn

along the parade route, and people cheered until thev were hoarse.

Once again Prime Minister Tojo warned that Japan would ha\e to win manv battles before it could claim ultimate victory, but his words went unheeded.

Streamers and confetti are thrown by Japanese people as the military hand passes thr()tifs,li a main street in Tokyo at the Itefiinnin^, of the tear. [TM]

The people

of

Japan did not expect a long war, especially when

the Japanese army, navy, and

air force

went on

to victory after victory

—in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Burma, French Indochina, and even in the Aleutian Islands

Where, they asked, would the next great victory come? The Japanese became more aware of the costs of victory when the casualty lists began to be published. But even here there was a somewhat different attitude about casualties than there was in the of Alaska.

West.

The Japanese soldier was taught that to die in battle for the Emperor was a great privilege. Few Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, since to surrender was a disgrace. The Japanese soldier fought he surrendered, he was considered dead by his family and his name was removed from the register in his

to the death. If

and

friends,

home town

or city.

THE DOOLITTLE RAID ON TOKYO home front had the Led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, sixteen B-25 bombers took off from the deck of the United States aircraft carrier Hornet and bombed Tokyo. The daring raid took the Japanese completely by surprise. First of all, two-engine army bombers were not supposed to be able to take off from the decks of navy carriers, but the Americans had accomplished it. In addition, the B-25s had flown some 650 miles (1,050 km) across the Pacific, an almost impossible distance at that time, and had still manIn the spring of 1942 the people on the Japanese

war brought home

aged

to hit their target right

By in

directly to them.

on the nose.

a strange coincidence, the people of

an air-raid

drill right at

Tokyo were taking

the time of the Doolittle raid.

Many

part

thought

American bombers were simply a realistic touch added to and people in the streets waved at the lowplanes. But when they saw bombs begin to fall, they finally

that the

their drill. Schoolchildren

flying

realized they

were being attacked.

Actually, the daring Doolittle raid caused

[80]

little

physical

damage

mother and her child await the arrival of U.S. militartj forces on Okinawa after the Japanese were driven off the islatid. Top right: on the Saipan home front in the Pacific, a Gl escorts a mother and her children away from the combat zone. Bottom

Left: this

right:

on the Philippine home front, wounded civilians are helped to American medical up shortly after U.S. forces recaptured the islands from the Japanese.

stations set

Japanese

to the (

It

capital,

but

it

news had, up

to this point,

believe that an attack on

been

to fear

all

bad.) Everyone had been led to

Tokyo was

occurred and there had been

began

damaged the nation's morale. home front, however, where war

severely

boosted morale on the American

more severe

literally

but these

raids,

now

a raid had The Japanese would not come until late

impossible. But

no opposition

to

it.

war.

in the

INCREASING HARDSHIP ON THE

HOME FRONT Japan suffered

week

of

anese

lost

its

first

decisive defeat of the

June 1942. This was

in the Battle of

war during the

Midway. In

first

the Jap-

it

four of the aircraft carriers that had taken part in the attack

on Pearl Harbor plus a cruiser and 258 aircraft. U.S. losses were one carrier, one destroyer, and 132 aircraft. This proved to be the turning point of the

war

in the Pacific.

Japanese merchant shipping U.S. stepped

up

its

losses also

mounted

steadily as the

submarine campaign. In the year

Pearl

after

Harbor, U.S. submarines sank 150 Japanese cargo ships, and soon serious shortages of fuel; iron, coal, and other vital production terials;

the

ammunition; and food began

war

to

plague both the

but only

levels

were maintained on the home

maand

and more

front,

Most war production, and more

great sacrifice on the part of Japanese civilians.

at

private businesses had been converted to

war

front

front.

For a time production

the war,

home

women had gone

to

work

in

war

factories.

By

the middle of

few children were attending school. Most were working in

plants,

and

their school buildings

were being used

as

storage

depots for military supplies.

Young and were

in short

old put in a seven-day

work week.

All

consumer goods

supply or nonexistent. Food and clothing were severely

rationed and often unobtainable.

The common

diet

was

fish, rice balls,

beans, pumpkins, and occasional sweet potatoes. Everyone,

women

[82]

alike,

wore a so-called national uniform— loose

men and

fitting

khaki

shirts

and

and

slacks

uniforms while

at

peaked cap. Schoolchildren wore

a

work

their school

in the factories.

There was such a shortage of wood and metal that even such things as coffins were scarce and had to be reused for each new funeral service. Gas and charcoal for home heating were obtainable only on the black market. Newspapers printed only one edition a day, and the size of that edition

was

greatly reduced. In the

major

cities virtually

crowded that occasionalK infant passengers were smothered. Xo one was allowed to take a train journey of more than loo km (62.5 miles) without a govall

amusement

places

were

closed. Trains

were

to their jobs until their

ernment permit. Most workers rode bicycles bicvcle tires wore out.

Despite the

mon home

front

Then

strictest

they walked.

kind of censorship

knowledge

so

that

it

gradually

became com-

Japan was losing the war. The knowl-

edge became a certainty when American bombing planes began intense raids on the Japanese home islands in 1945. American B-29 bombers from bases in China and the recently captured Mariana

and Saipan, began conducting fire-raids on Tokyo and other major cities. Homes and factories in these cities were made mosth' of wood, and they burned like tinder bo.xes once they were set Islands, Tinian

by napalm bombs. In a single night's fire-bombing raid 16 square km) were burned out of the heart of Tokyo, killing some 130,000 people. Similar results were obtained on successive nights through B-29 incendiary-bomb raids on Nagoya, Osaka, Yokohama, and Kobe. Within a week 45 square miles (117 sq. km) were burned

afire

miles (41 sq.

out of the hearts of these

cities,

bringing activity

in

them

virtualK' to a

standstill and leaving 13 million people homeless. Then-Lieutenant Colonel Curtis E. LeMay, who was in charge of these raids, insisted

he was destroying Japan's war industries with these tion

was made of the several hundred thousand

No menwho were

fire raids.

cixilians

killed in the process.

But the Japanese government refused

to

accept defeat. In the

face of disastrous aviation fuel shortages, ersatz fuel

pine

trees. Millions of

Japanese civilians were put to

was made horn work digging up

pine tree roots from which only a few gallons of crude

oil

could be

[83]

distilled

And

per day.

in the face of severe

food shortages the govern-

ment began converting acorns into food. Each child of school age was required to collect five bushels a week to be processed. Millions of^adults who had been burned out of their homes journeyed into the countryside to harvest acorns. But despite

all

efforts

on the part of

both the government and the civilian population, Japan was faced with near-starvation by the spring of 1945.

>

ATOM BOMBS END THE WAR The Japanese and the Germans thought they might avoid unconditional surrender when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 1945. But the

12,

man who

Truman, was the United States and

replaced him, Harry

S.

FDR had been that would achieve total victory. Germany surrendered on May 7. In July Truman met with Stalin and Churchill at Potsdam, Germany. At this meeting Truman told the other two Allied leaders that America had perfected an atomic bomb and he intended to approve its use on Japan. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was indeed dropped on Hiroshima from the B-29 Enola Gay piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, Jr. The bomb destroyed much of the city, and the blast and firestorm every bit as determined as its

allies

killed

some 80,000 people. Another 100,000 people died

bomb was piloted city

dropped,

this

by Major Charles W. Sweeney.

and

killed

2,

from

It

too destroyed

much

of the

some 75,000 people.

On August September

later

On

August 9 another atomic one on Nagasaki, from the B-29 Bock's Car

the effects of burns, blast, and radiation.

10 the Japanese government offered to surrender.

the

official

the U.S. battleship Missouri.

Perhaps the most

On

signing of the surrender took place aboard

World War

fitting

II

was

epitaph to the

over.

way

the

war ended were

the words spoken by the copilot of the Enola Gay, Captain Robert A.

Lewis. Looking that

he and

his

down on crew had

the holocaust caused by the atom just

"My God, what have we done?

[84]

dropped on Hiroshima, Lewis

bomb said,

pm!<3 Left: victory at last! Allied prisoners near

Yokohama wildly cheer

their U.S. military rescuers. Right: Japanese prisoners on listen

with

hawed heads

Guam

as they learn that Japan has been defeated.

]

'

1

1

1

•

1

1

I

Left: after the atomic

bomb was dropped on

Hiroshima, the

weeping relatives view American war dead being returned from Europe. Facing page: thousands cheer in New York's Times Square when news of the final Allied victory reaches the American home front.

city lay in ruins. Right:

^/.

^^1

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^j^^^^^H


^k ^^E!lni imm

H

i

i!

1

i

.^hai

i »ll«««

RlALTO

\/ MmmWZjW'

.-

S

ADDITHDNAL READING Ronald H. The

Bailey,

Home

Front: U.S.A.

New

York: Time-Life

Books, Inc., 1977. Collins,

Larry,

and Lapierre, Dominique.

York: Simon

&

Is

Paris

Ehrlich, Blake. Resistance: France 1^40-1^4^. Boston Little,

Brown &

Feis, Herbert.

New

Burning?

Schuster, 1965.

and Toronto:

Co., 1965.

Japan Subdued. Princeton,

New

Jersey: Princeton Uni-

versity Press, 1961. Fest, Joachim. Hitler.

New

York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.,

1974-

Goldsmith-Carter, George. The Battle of Britain— The

London Mason & Lipscomb :

Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas.

Home

Front.

Publishers, 1974.

An Album

York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1977. Lawson, Don. The Secret World War H.

World War H.

of

New

New

York: Frankhn Watts,

Inc., 1977. .

The United

States in

World War H. New York: Abelard-

Schuman, 1963.

The Goebbels Diaries ig42-iQ42- Garden City, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1948. Longmate, Norman. The G.l.s—The Americans in Britain, 1^42-1^45. Lochner, Louis

P., ed.

New York: New York:

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975.

Schnieder, Franz, and Gullans, Charles (translators). Last Letters from Stalingrad.

New York:

William Morrow & Co., 1962.

William L. Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Correspondant. York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941.

Shirer,

Snyder, Louis L. The War, ig3Q-ig4$.

New York:

New

Julian Messner, Inc.,

i960.

Memoirs of Albert Speer. New The Macmillan Company, 1970. Toland, John. The Rising Sun. New York: Random House, 1970. Yass, Marion. The Home Front, England 1939-1945- London: Wayland Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich,

York:

Publishers, 1971.

[88]

1

1

1

51

1

5

1

INDEX Page numbers

Coventry, 36 Czechoslovakia,

in italics

refer to illustrations

Air Raid Precaution (arp),

28,43 Air raids, 39,

19

38

1,64,68,83 Aleutian Islands, 80 Aircraft,

Allies, 7-8, 87 Atomic bomb, 84

11, 12

7-8 of,

GIs, 42-45, 69

De

Girl Scouts, 71

Caulle, Charles, 15 (

U.S.

,

)

Draft (U.S.), 60-63

blitzkrieg, 29,

Dunkirk, 31 Dutch East Indies, 64, 80

civil

defense

tion,

Eagle Squadron, 42 Eisenhower, Dwight D., 36 Enola Gay ( B-29 84

28,

Factory workers, 67, 68

Royal Air Force,

,

National Service, 41

liarrage balloons,

27

Belgium, 12, 16

Employment

Fair

Practices

Commission (fepc), 71

1

30

Food

rationing, 7-8, 24, 31,

Black Americans, 67, 70 Black market, 24, 32, 52, 75

Finland, 12

Blitzkrieg, vi,

France,

1,

cities,

Estonia, 12

Baltic states, 12

'Billy's Bulletin,"

prepara-

35 food rationing, 31 32 GIs in, 42-45 Home Guard, 28-31

) '

B-29 bombers, 83

35-36

27-28

evacuation of

Automobiles, 52, 64

1

Goring, Hermann, 27 Great Britain, 5, 12, 27-45

60 James H., 80

Depression Doolittle,

84

Gestapo, 20

Daladier, Edouard, 5 day, 36

AustraUa, 5 Austria, 5

Belsen,

rationing,

surrender

victory in France,

1

D

40

shelters, 34, 35, 37,

Auschwitz,

Dachau,

Operation Sea Lion, 32 4, 5,

29, 35

1 1,

32,

42 Royal Navy, 3

Women's Land Army. 41

75 5, 12,

Guam, 85 15-24

Boy Scouts, 71

rationing,

Britain, Battle ot,

Resistance, 16-23

Hiroshima, 84, 86

surrender to Germany,

Hitler, Adolf, 2-3, 7-8, 27,

32 British Broadcasting Company ( BBC 11, 16 Buchenwald, 1 Burma, 80

32.51

15

) ,

\'ichy government,

1

French Forces of the Interior (kki),

Canada, 5 Chamberlin, Neville, 5 Chemical factories, 12 Children, and war effort, 71, 72 China, 80, 83 Churchill, Sir Winston. 5, 16.

Heydrich, Reinhard, 20

24

Hopkins, Harry, 55 Hornet, 80 Hull, Cordell,

19

Gasoline, 32, 64

56

India, 5 Intelligence operations,

Germany annexation of Austria, 5 immigrants to U.S., 1

60, 61

invasion of Czechoslovakia, 5

Japai., 78,

79-84

invasion of Poland, 1-2

aerial attack

Cologne, 13 C^ommittee of Public Safety,

in\ asion of Russia,

POWs, 85

19 Concentration camps, 11-12

nonaggression pact with

18, 27, 32, 47,

84

23

Internment camps, 58, 59-

news media, Russia,

47

47

1

on U.S., 59

shortages, 83

bombing of, S3 war production, 82 U.S.

[89]

Japanese-Americans, intern-

ment of,

58, 59-60, 61

Partisans, 19

Tojo, Hidcki, 79

Pearl Harbor, attack on, 54-

Tokyo, 78

Truman, Harry

56,79

Jews, 11

Tube

Pctain, Henri, 15 Kaiser, Henry, 64

Petrol rationing, 32

"Phony War" Latvia, 12

(Sitzkrieg), 12,

1,64,68,83

Curtis E., 83 Lend-Lease Act, 32, 47, 64 Leningrad, 48-5

Planes,

Liberty Ships, 64 Lithuania, 12

Railways, sabotaged, 20

London, evacuation

of,

27-

Poland,

1,

32, 35, 36, 51

Luxembourg, 12

Luxembourg Red

Lion, 22

81

1, 5,

12,

resistance,

16-

23 Underground

trains.

Sec

Tube

47

Malaya, 64, 80 Maquis, 19, 22

Mariana Islands, 83 General George,

Marshall,

draft,

Relocation centers, 58, 5960, 61

Japanese-American

86 war production, 64-71,

Rhineland, 5 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 57, 61 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 32,

47.54.55.56,59.65,71

U.S. Marine Corps, 6g U.S. Navy, 61,62

84

V-for-Victory symbol, 16-19

Saipan, 81 Selective Training and Ser-

Mussolini, Benito, 15

Sitzkrieg ("Phonv War"), 12,

Nagasaki, 84

28,31 South Africa, 5 Soviet Union, 47-52

2, 7

German

New Zealand,

invasion of Baltic states,

5 invasion ol,

Normandy, Norway, 1 6, 2 Nuremberg, g

23

of,

47

12 invasion of Finland, 12 invasion of Poland, 2

nonaggression pact with Office of Price Administra-

yj

Okinawa, 87 Operation Sea Lion, 32 1,

12

Paris, evacuation of, 14

missile, 19, 23,

Germany, 47 rationing, 52 wartime economy, 52 Spies, 23 Stalin, Josef, 47, 48, 84 Stalingrad, 4,9, 50, 51-52, 5,3 Sweenev, Charles W., 84

36

Versailles Treaty, 2, 5 Viipuri, surrender of, 12

WACs,

Netherlands, 12, 16

invasion

V-i missile, 19, 23, 36

V-2

vice Act, 60

48, 51

Panzer divisions,

74 U.S. Congress, 54, 55, 56 U.S. Eighth Air Force, 42

U.S. Senate, 55

Missouri (battleship), 84 Morrison, Herbert, 41

[90]

rationing, 75 war casualties, 59,

23

Sabotage, 20

23

tion (opa), 75,

in-

ternment, 59-60

Battle of, 82

Missiles, 19,

to,

11

Resistance, 19

of,

60-63

German immigrants

Cross, 42, 67

death

55

stations

(uso), 67 United States, 55-75

Rankin, Jeanette, 55 Ration books, y6, jj

Restaurants, 8, 25

Nazi party,

shelters,

Underground

Resistance movements, 16-

MacArthur, General Doug-

Moscow,

84

United Service Organization

Red

28,29

Midway,

as

34-38

28, 31

LeMay,

las,

S.,

Philippine Islands, 80, 81

Kremlin, 48

Luftwaffe,

stations,

42, 62

Warsaw,

Battle of, 1-2

WAVES,

62

White House, 57 Women, war jobs, 41-42, 4,3, 52, 67, 68, 6'g

Women's

Auxiliary Ferrying

S(juadron (w.\fs),63

Women's Naval

Reserve, 63

Yugoslavia, 19

Zhukov, General Georgi, 48, 51

See ,

..^;-.-;

.^s*^

"•

*^

' '

•

f

AN ALBGM OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

>:

.r^

^

byWiiyamKatz

,

";

kN ALBUM OF NAZISM

T

by William Katzk.,

[y'^j^^r, I

...-u.-

-

^ *^ ;

A^ '

:

:

also;.

^i;;'

^;-^'r'''%rfilBQPA OF WORLD WAR by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler* rH,

'':^

AN ALBUM OF WORLD WAR

S

I

•^^feit'; 11

by Dorothy ^nd Thctlrnas Hoobler

•'•j^

J;

i

'

^,

r

>^^^ :^

"^^

>*:^

-f^'r

,*^v%;';.rtif^^

'

^i 'j'ot;^^!^

watts library edition

'"^

V-

'./.

:

k'

'

•

f-

v'^*.