A Time of Tyrants by Trevor Royle

Author:Trevor Royle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2011-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

8 Home Front

For the first time in the history of modern warfare, civilians across the UK discovered that they too might find themselves on the front line or that they were required to make substantial and valuable contributions to the nation’s war effort, not just in the armed forces but also in the civilian support services. That had been true to a lesser extent during the previous conflict, but in most respects the Second World War proved to be all-embracing as far as the population was concerned. Very few British people, even children, escaped being caught up in what was taking place, and while that inclusiveness helped to democratise the war, it also meant that civilians had to share many of the dangers and privations that had previously been the lot of service personnel. Certainly, no one in Scotland, even in the most remote or under-populated rural areas, escaped the reality of modern total war. By the same token, just about every family contributed members (male and female) to undertake some form of service under the various National Service Acts which harnessed the energies of the bulk of the population.

The idea of universal effort and combined hardship was so rooted within the national consciousness that when the BBC broadcast loyal messages to the king during the celebrations for the end of the war in Europe, the words of the civil defence services took pride of place immediately after the tributes offered by the armed forces: ‘We are ordinary citizens, men and women, old and young, weak and strong; and most of us are part-timers. Our battle was fought around our homes, in the villages, the towns and the cities of our country, among our people and our own kin. For us, the sounding of the Alert was a summons to face the danger, and to face it without the satisfaction of being able to hit back.’1

Those sentiments were given voice in May 1945 at a time when the war had been won and there was some reason to express satisfaction, but they give a good indication of the sense of common cause which had guided Britain’s war effort throughout the conflict. By then, too, the hardships facing the civilian population had been revealed and people wanted their suffering to be recognised as part of the communal war effort. Enemy bombing had destroyed buildings and made people homeless, and the death toll in the main cities had been considerable, but this was balanced by an understanding that it was part of the price that had to be paid. In fact, even before hostilities had broken out, preparations had been put in place for children and vulnerable adults to be evacuated in advance of the anticipated bombing campaign against major cities. On 24 May 1938, the Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare had set up a commission under the chairmanship of Sir John Anderson, MP for the Scottish Universities, which outlined the need for evacuating children from potential target areas and to provide billeting for them with families in parts of the country considered to be safe.

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