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Air Raid Precautions

Intro.

On September 7, 1940, the commander-in-chief of the German air force, Herman Göring; launched a massive daylight raid on the East End of London which left over 430 dead, over 1600 seriously injured, and thousands homeless, this was later known as the Blitz which I will be looking at later in my project. Thereafter, the German air force returned for 76 consecutive nights until the 2nd November 1940. Consequently, Britain needed to act prepare against these bombing raids; so air raid precautions were put in place. Air raid precautions insisted of everyone carrying a gas mask, shelters, blackouts, sirens and other ways to prevent the public being injured; additionally air raid warden’s protrolling to make sure everyone was obeying the new laws.

In September of 1935, the then British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, published a circular entitled 'Air Raid Precautions', inviting local authorities to make plans to protect their people in event that Britain should go to war. Some towns did respond to the suggestion by arranging the building of public air raid shelters. It was, to say the least, a half-hearted attempt to allay public opinion that war with Germany would happen. However, some local authorities ignored the circular and in April 1937 the government decided to create an Air Raid Wardens' Service and during the next year recruited around 200,000 volunteers



Shelters

Even as early as 1924 there were moves to set up precautions against Air Raids, should Britain ever be forced into war. Such as building air raid shelters. It sprang from the experiences of the bombing raids during World War I when Germany mounted 103 raids on Britain. Fifty one of which were carried out by Airships, mostly on London. The fact that Britain was not invincible because of the use of bombs lingered on in the minds of people long after World War I had ended...