Home front during World War II
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The home front is the name given to the activities of the civilians during a state of total war. Life on the home front during World War II was a significant part of the war effort for all participants, and had major impact on the outcome of the war.
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[edit] Overview
The major powers devoted 50–60% of their total GDP to war production at the peak in 1943. The Allies produced about three times as much in munitions as the Axis powers.
| Country/Alliance | Year | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935-9 ave | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | Total 1939–44 | |
| U.S.A. | 0.3 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 20.0 | 38.0 | 42.0 | 106.3 |
| Britain | 0.5 | 3.5 | 6.5 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 41.5 |
| U.S.S.R | 1.6 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 11.5 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 56.6 |
| Allies Total | 2.4 | 10.0 | 20.0 | 41.5 | 64.5 | 70.5 | 204.4 |
| Germany | 2.4 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 8.5 | 13.5 | 17.0 | 53.4 |
| Japan | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.5 | 6.0 | 16.9 |
| Axis Total | 2.8 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 11.5 | 18.0 | 23.0 | 70.3 |
Source: Goldsmith data in Harrison (1988) p. 172
| Country | Year | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | |
| Japan | 100 | 107 | 109 | 111 | 108 | 99 | 93 | 78 |
| Germany | 100 | 108 | 117 | 108 | 105 | 95 | 94 | 85 |
| USA | 100 | 96 | 103 | 108 | 116 | 115 | 118 | 122 |
Source: Jerome B Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruction (1949) p 354
[edit] United States
[edit] Britain
The Britain's total mobilization during this period proved to be successful in toppling the Axis Powers, but carried a steep cost. Economic malaise and supply shortages soon followed victory. Debts incurred also ultimately led to the abandonment of its major colonies around the world.
Most women who volunteered before the war went into civil defence or the Women's Land Army. The main civil defence services were Air Raid Precautions (ARP), the fire service and Women's Voluntary Services (WVS). Initially, the women mainly carried out clerical work, but their roles expanded to meet demand, and female pump crews became commonplace.
The WVS was the largest single women's organisation at this time. It was formed to support civil defence and to provide services not provided locally by other organisations, and had over one million members. Typical WVS contributions included organising evacuations, shelters, clothing exchanges and mobile canteens. "Typical WVS contributions included organising evacuations, shelters, clothing exchanges and mobile canteens" [1]. The Women's Land Army/Scottish Land Army was reformed in 1938 so that women could be trained in agricultural work, leaving male workers free to go to war. Most WLA members were young women from the towns and cities. Annice Gibbs, who worked for the WLA Timber Corps, remembers an encounter with Italian prisoners of war (POWs). "After our training, we soon got used to heavy work, such as lifting pit-props and cutting them into various lengths for the coal mines" [2]. There were no mechanical devices used then and every pit-prop was cut by hand. "...the Italian POWs worked to measure the trees. They were very well looked after and we were amazed to see them erecting field ovens. They cooked bacon and cabbage for their lunch and brewed delicious hot coffee ... and we sat under a tree eating beetroot sandwiches ... We were fortunate - they gave us some of their coffee and food" [3].
In the 1930s, social roles were clearly defined. A woman's place was in the home, a man's place was out at work. It was acceptable for women to work outside the home if they had no family to look after, but they were paid less than men were - even when doing the same jobs. Before the war, nearly five million women in Britain had paid employment, but most would have expected to leave as soon as they married, or when they had their first child. "...so mothers often ran the home alone - and had to get used to going out to work, as well" [4]. With the onset of war, everything changed. Fathers perhaps joined the armed forces, or were sent away to do vital civilian work, so mothers often ran the home alone - and had to get used to going out to work, as well. Young single women, often away from home for the first time, might be billeted miles from their families. Flexible working hours, nurseries and other arrangements soon became commonplace to accommodate the needs of working women with children. Before long, women made up one third of the total workforce in the metal and chemical industries, as well as in ship-building and vehicle manufacture.
They worked on the railways, canals and on buses. Women built Waterloo Bridge in London. Nellie Brook left the munitions factory where she worked due to poor health, and was assigned to aircraft manufacture. "I was told my services were needed at A V Roe at Yeardon, where they made Lancaster bombers. That was like something out of science fiction. To get there, we were taken out into the country. When you arrived you would never have thought there was a factory there, it was so well camouflaged; great big grass hillocks and once you went inside it was amazing. No windows, all these hundreds of people of both sexes all working away like ants. All doing different jobs that finished up producing one of Britain's finest planes" [5].
[edit] Rationing
Food, clothing, petrol, leather and other such items were rationed. Access to luxuries was severely restricted, though there was also a significant black market. Families also grew victory gardens, and small home vegetable gardens, to supply themselves with food. Many things were conserved to turn into weapons later, such as fat for nitroglycerin production.
From very early in the war it was thought that the major cities of Britain, especially London, would come under air attack, which did happen. Provisions were therefore made for the evacuation of children from urban centres to more rural and remote areas.
[edit] Soviet Union
After rapid German advances in the early months of the war reaching the city of Moscow, the bulk of Soviet industry and agriculture was either destroyed or in German hands. But in one of the greatest logistics feats of the war, thousands of factories were moved beyond the Ural Mountains along with well over a million workers. In general the tools, dies and machines were moved, along with the blueprints and skilled engineers.
The whole of the Soviet Union become dedicated to the war effort. Conditions were severe. In Leningrad, under German siege, over a million died of starvation and disease. Many factory workers were teenagers, women and old people. Despite harsh conditions, the war led to a spike in Soviet nationalism and unity. Soviet propaganda toned down socialist rhetoric of the past as the people now rallied by a belief of protecting their motherland against "evil" German invaders. Ethnic minorities thought to be collaborators were moved into exile.
Religion, which was previously shunned, became an acceptable part of society.[citation needed]
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[edit] Japan
| Year | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic production | 9,928 | 9,862 | 10,324 | 9,107 | 8,245 | 9,999 | 9,422 | 8,784 | 6,445 |
| Imports | 2,173 | 2,546 | 1,634 | 1,860 | 2,517 | 2,581 | 1,183 | 874 | 268 |
| All rice | 12,101 | 12,408 | 11,958 | 10,967 | 10,762 | 12,580 | 10,605 | 9,658 | 6,713 |
Source: Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruction (1949) p 368-9
[edit] China
China suffered the second highest amount of casualties of the entire war. Civilians in the occupied territories had to endure many large-scale slaughters. Japanese forces also unleashed newly developed biological weapons on Chinese civilians leading to an estimated 200,000 dead [6]. Tens of thousands are thought be have died when Nationalist troops broke the levees of the Yangtze to stop the Japanese advance after the loss of the capital, Nanking. Millions more Chinese died because of famine during the war.
Millions of Chinese moved to the Western regions of China to avoid Japanese invasion. Cities like Kunming ballooned with new arrivals. Entire factories and universities were often taken along for the journey. Major cities like Shanghai were taken in the early in the war—though after a brutal long struggle—and effectively cut-off China from its greatest source of revenue and industry.
The Nationalist army drafted men and often kept them in brutal conditions often without food. Peasants often recount of being tied in a group and march off to war. This led to poor morale and made the Nationalist Army deeply unpopular with citizens. A substantial number of Nationalist soldiers are thought to have died from hunger alone.
The city of Chongqing became the most bombed city in history [7].
Though China received aid from the Allies, China did not have sufficient infrastructure to properly arm its military forces. Much of the aid was also funneled away through corruption.
Communist forces led by Mao were generally more successful at getting support than Nationalists. Based mainly in Northern China, they worked with local villages to counter the over stretched Imperial Army with guerrilla tactics.
In occupied territories under Japanese control, civilians were treated harshly. In Shanghai, rickshaw drivers who asked for money after services were performed often were killed. People who were caught stealing would get their hands chopped off so severely that they were bound to be killed.
[edit] Germany
It was under Albert Speer that Germany finally got together a massive armament build up.
Civilian populations were subject to propaganda from both sides.
[edit] Rationing
For the first part of the war, there were surprisingly few restrictions on civilian activities. Most goods were freely available in the early years of the war. Rationing in Germany was introduced in 1939, slightly later than it was in Britain, because Hitler was at first convinced that it would affect public support of the war if a strict rationing program was introduced. The Nazi popularity was in fact partially due to the fact that Germany under the Nazis was relatively prosperous, and Hitler did not want to lose popularity or faith. Hitler felt that food and other shortages had been a major factor in destroying civilian morale during World War I which led to the overthrow of the Kaiser and other German monarchies at the end of the war. However, when the war began to go against the Germans in Russia and the Allied bombing effort began to affect domestic production, this changed and a very severe rationing program had to be introduced. The system gave extra rations for men involved in heavy industry, and lower rations for Jews and Poles in the areas occupied by Germany, but not to the Rhineland Poles.
[edit] The points system
According to a 1997 post by Walter Felscher to the Memories of the 1940's [sic] electronic mailing list:
For every person, there were rationing cards for general foodstuffs, meats, fats (such as butter, margarine and oil) and tobacco products distributed every other month. The cards were printed on strong paper, containing numerous small "Marken" subdivisions printed with their value – for example, from "5 g Butter" to "100 g Butter". Every acquisition of rationed goods required an appropriate "Marken", and if a person wished to eat a certain soup at a restaurant, the waiter would take out a pair of scissors and cut off the required items to make the soup and amounts listed on the menu. In the evenings, shop-owners would spend an hour at least gluing the collected "Marken" onto large sheets of paper which they then had to hand in to the appropriate authorities.
Felscher claims the main foods that were rationed in Germany were similar to those rationed in Britain - items such as bread, butter, eggs, meat, margarine, oil, coffee, cheese, sugar, jam and tinned foods were the most common. Unlike in Britain, bread was rationed, but milk was not. At first, potatoes were not rationed, but they were after a particularly harsh winter in 1942, which also created a cut in the amount of rationed bread, meat and fat.[1]
[edit] Rare foods
The amounts attributed under rationing were sufficient to live from, but clearly did not permit luxuries. Whipped cream became unknown from 1939 until 1948, as well as chocolates, cakes with rich crèmes etc., and meat, of course, could not be eaten every day. Other items were not rationed, but simply became unavailable as they had to been imported from overseas: coffee in particular which throughout was replaced by substitutes made from roasted grains. Vegetables and local fruit were not rationed; imported citrus fruits and bananas were unavailable. In more rural areas, farmers continued to bring their products to the markets, as large cities depended on long distance delivery. Because coffee was scarce, people created a substitute for it made from roasted ground down barley seeds and acorns. Many people kept rabbits for their meat when meat became scarce in shops, and it was often a child’s job to care for them each day.
[edit] Labor
Women were idealized by Nazi ideology and work was not felt to be appropriate for them. Children were expected to go to houses collecting materials for production of war equipments. The German industry used forced labour, called Arbeitseinsatz from countries that they had occupied.
[edit] References
- ^ Walter Felscher (1997-01-27). Recycling and rationing in wartime Germany.. Memories of the 1940's mailing list archive. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
[edit] General
- Beck, Earl R. The European Home Fronts, 1939-1945 Harlan Davidson, 1993, brief
- Costello, John. Love, Sex, and War: Changing Values, 1939-1945 1985. US title: Virtue under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes
- I.C.B. Dear and M.R.D. Foot, eds. The Oxford Companion to World War II (1995), detailed articles on every country
- Harrison, Mark. "Resource Mobilization for World War II: The U.S.A., UK, USSR and Germany, 1938-1945". Economic History Review (1988): 171-92.
- Higonnet, Margaret R., et al., eds. Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars Yale UP, 1987.
- Loyd, E. Lee, ed.; World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources: A Handbook of Literature and Research Greenwood Press. 1997. 525pp bibliographic guide
- Loyd, E. Lee, ed.; World War II in Asia and the Pacific and the War's aftermath, with General Themes: A Handbook of Literature and Research Greenwood Press, 1998
- Marwick, Arthur. War and Social Change in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative Study of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States 1974.
- Milward, Alan. War, Economy and Society 1977 covers homefront of major participants
- Noakes, Jeremy ed., The Civilian in War: The Home Front in Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. in World War II Exeter, UK: University of Exeter, 1992.
- Wright, Gordon. The Ordeal of Total War 1968.
- 10 Eventful Years: 1937-1946 4 vol. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1947. Highly detailed encyclopedia of events in every country.
[edit] Australia
- S.J. Butlin and C.B. Schedvin, War Economy 1942–1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1997
- Darian-Smith, Kate. On the Home Front: Melbourne in Wartime, 1939-1945. Australia: Oxford UP, 1990.
- Saunders, Kay. War on the Homefront: State Intervention in Queensland, 1938-1948 (1993)
[edit] Britain
- Brivati, Brian, and Harriet Jones, ed. What Difference Did the War Make? The Impact of the Second World War on British Institutions and Culture. Leicester UP; 1993.
- Calder, Angus . The People's War: Britain 1939-45 (1969)
- Corelli, Barnett. The Audit of War: The Illusion and Reality of Britain as a Great Nation. 1986.
- Marwick, Arthur. The Home Front: The British and the Second World War. 1976.
- Postan, Michael. British War Production. London: HMSO, 1952.
- Rose, Sonya O. Which People's War?: National Identity and Citizenship in Wartime Britain 1939-1945 (2003)
[edit] Canada
- Granatstein, J. L. Canada's War: The Politics of the Mackenzie King Government. Oxford UP, 1975.
- Granatstein, J. L., and Desmond Morton. A Nation Forged in Fire: Canadians and the Second World War, 1939-1945 1989.
- Keshen, Jeffrey A. Saints, Sinners, and Soldiers: Canada's Second World War (2004)
- Pierson, Ruth Roach. They're Still Women After All: The Second World War and Canadian Womanhood. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1986.
[edit] France
- Gildea, Robert. Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation (2004)
- Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944 (2003)
- Paxton, Robert O. Vichy France 2nd ed. (2001)
[edit] Germany
- Hagemann, Karen and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum; Home/Front: The Military, War, and Gender in Twentieth-Century Germany Berg, 2002
- Kalder N. "The German War Economy". Review of Economic Studies 13 (1946): 33-52.
- Milward, Alan. The German Economy at War 1965.
- Overy, Richard. War and Economy in the Third Reich Oxford UP, 1994.
- Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs 1970.
[edit] Japan
- Cohen, Jerome. Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruction. University of Minnesota Press, 1949.
- Cook, Haruko Taya, and Theodore Cook. Japan at War: An Oral History 1992.
- Dower, John. Japan in War and Peace 1993.
- Havens, Thomas R. Valley of Darkness: The Japanese People and World War II. 1978.
- Havens, Thomas R. "Women and War in Japan, 1937-1945." American Historical Review 80 (1975): 913-934. online in JSTOR
[edit] Poland
- Gross, Jan T. Polish Society under German Occupation: The Generalgouvernement, 1939-1944. Princeton UP, 1979.
[edit] Russia
- Barber, John, and Mark Harrison. The Soviet Home Front: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II, Longman, 1991.
- Braithwaite, Rodric. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War (2006)
- Thurston, Robert W., and Bernd Bonwetsch (Eds). The People's War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union (2000)
[edit] Scandinavia
- Andenaes, Johs, et al. Norway and the Second World War (ISBN: 8251817773) Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanum Forlag, 1966.
- Nissen, Henrik S. Scandinavia During the Second World War (1983) (ISBN: 0816611106)
- Salmon; Patrick (Ed.) Britain and Norway in the Second World War London: HMSO, 1995.
[edit] See also
- Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II
- Rosie the Riveter
- Women's Land Army
- Female roles in the World Wars
- Utility furniture
[edit] External links
- WWII Homefront - Collection of color photographs of the homefront during World War II
