Air Raid Precautions

Resources

As the fear of attack from German bomber planes grew, air raid shelters were built.

Some were large underground shelters built in cities - such as in The Tube in London.

Others were smaller, such as Anderson shelters and were built in the back gardens of people's houses. Families would move to these shelters in the event of an air raid. These shelters contained beds where they could sleep and would provide some protection from falling masonry but would not have been able to withstand a direct hit by a large bomb.

The Morrison shelter was a reinforced table structure which was located inside a house where a family could sit underneath it and obtain some protection from falling masonry.

If people had no access to these types of shelters, they would stand under a door frame in their house or shelter under the stairs.

In the event of an attack, the wailing sound of the siren would act as a warning and sound out over an entire city.

Alternative methods of announcing the beginning or end of an air raid would be either the ringing of a handbell, the sound of an air raid clacker or a whistle.

People would hear a siren, handbell, whistle or clacker and would go to their nearest available shelter until the all-clear was announced.

Many emerged from their shelters to find their homes or communities had been bombed during an air raid.

Many women and men volunteered to keep cities and towns safe during air raids and had a variety of different roles that they could hold.

They could become Air Raid Wardens, Plane Observers, Rescue Workers and Fire Fighters. They joined organisations such as the Air Raid Precautions Service (ARP).

Appointed volunteers had the authority to enforce black out procedures and could order people to black out their windows, put out their cigarettes or torches if they were breaking the black out rules.

In addition, they would help evacuate people to shelters in the event of an air raid. They would assist in fire fighting and first aid when it was required.

German bombers would drop small and large bombs from their aircraft which would cause vast destruction in the cities below. Their aircraft could drop small bombs known as Incendiary Bombs which would explode into flame when they landed.

Thousands of these bombs could be dropped from one plane. If they all caught fire, they could create thousands of fires across a city at one time. The Fire Services would not be able to fight so many fires simultaneously so people were trained in how to put out small fires caused by incendiary bombs.