WORLD WAR II

BY NIAMH AND KAROL

WORLD WAR II1939=World War II starts1940=Germany occupies Poland,Holland,Belgium,France,Denmark and Norway

Leader of Germany

1941=The Soviet Union and America join theWar

Children Evacuee from home land

Many London children went to Devon Cornwalland Wales

Every evacuee hada gas mask ,food for the journey (such as sandwiches chocolate)a small bag for washing things and clothes .

WEAPONS

The picture to your right are the weapons they used in WORLD WAR II

RationingThere were no supermarkets. You went to different shops for different items. For fruit and vegetables, you went to the greengrocer. For meat, to the butcher. For fish, to the fishmonger. For bread and cakes, to the baker. For groceries such as jam, tea, biscuits and cheese you went to the grocer. Other shops sold clothes, shoes, medicines, newspapers and all the other things people needed to buy.In most shops, the shopkeeper or shop assistants served customers from behind a counter. Many shops were small family businesses. Most big towns had department stores.

Food rationing began in 1940. This meant each person could buy only a fixed amount of certain foods each week.Much of Britain's food came from other countries in ships. Enemy submarines sank so many ships that there was a shortage of some foods. Rationing made sure everyone got a fair share. You had to hand over coupons from your ration book, as well as money, when you went shopping. When you had used up your ration of one food (say, cheese or meat), you could not buy any more that week. Vegetarian could swap meat coupons for other 

People had to register with local shops to use their ration books. Often long queues formed as soon as people heard that shops had more supplies. The first foods rationed were bacon, sugar, tea, butter and meat. Lots more foods were rationed later, including sweets! One egg a week was the ration in 1941. There were no bananas, so younger children did not see their first banana until the war ended.Clothes were rationed too, so clothing factories could switch to war work. Paper, petrol and other things, such as soap (one bar a month) and washing powder, were also rationed.

Listening to the RadioAlmost every home had a radio or 'wireless'. Most radios came in a case made of Bakelite, a kind of plastic. In Britain, all the programmes came from the BBC. People listened to the radio news, and read newspapers, to find out what was happening in the war.The BBC also broadcast war news in foreign languages. People in France and other occupied countries listened in secret, because the Nazis punished anyone caught listening to the BBC.Radio was not all news. There were comedy shows, talks and plays, and sports broadcasts. Lively music on the radio helped weary factory workers keep working!

Blackout timeSome homes had gas lamps, but by the 1940s gas lights were a bit old fashioned. Many homes had electric light. Every window had 'blackout curtains', which were drawn at night. If not, the ARP warden came along, shouting 'put that light out'. 'Blackout curtains' stopped light from rooms showing from outside. There were no street lights either. The idea was to stop lights from towns guiding enemy planes to drop bombs.Coal fires kept people warm in winter. Coal was a very important fuel. It kept people warm. More important, it kept factories and trains working.

The pilot appears to have crash-landed the plane and then walked off into the desert

There was no trace of the pilot, Flt Sgt Dennis Copping, but the British embassy says it is planning to mount a search for his remains.The RAF Museum in Hendon, north London, says it is hoping to recover the plane as soon as possible.There are fears souvenir hunters will start stripping it.The 24-year-old pilot, the son of a dentist from Southend in Essex, went missing over the Western Desert in June 1942, flying an American-made P40 Kittyhawk single-engine fighter.

The BlitzAir raids on London began in September 1940. This was the start of the Blitz. Lots of other places were bombed, including industrial cities and ports such as Birmingham, Coventry, Southampton, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Hull and Glasgow. There were air raids on seaside towns, such as Eastbourne, and on cathedral cities such as Canterbury.In 1944, Britain faced attacks from new weapons. First came the V-1, a robot 'flying bomb'. Then there was the V-2, a rocket which flew so fast no-one could see or hear it coming. London was the main target for V-1 and V-2 attacks.

The last battles6 June 1944 was D-Day, when Allied forces landed in Normandy (France) to begin the liberation of western Europe. Everyone hoped the war would soon be over. However, there were many fierce battles in Europe and in the Pacific war with Japan before the fighting stopped in 1945.Life was very hard for children in the countries where the last battles were fought. Towns were bombed day and night. Railways and roads were blown up. There was fighting in villages and city streets. There was so little fuel or food that millions of people were cold and starving. Many people became homeless refugees.

Families reunitedSoldiers, sailors and airmen came home: over 100,000 every month. Men and women swapped uniforms for 'civvy' (civilian) clothes. Also coming home were thousands of prisoners of war or POWs. Some had been prisoners for 5 years.People had got used to war. Now they had to get used to peace. Families were together again, but life was not easy. Many homes had been destroyed in air raids. Some homeless families moved into 'prefabs' - concrete bungalows built in factories for quick assembly. Many children found it strange getting to know again a father who'd been away for years. Not all families got back together happily.