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Nearer home, fighting had also been going on in Northern Africa as well as Europe. British and allied troops had landed in Northern Africa in 1940 to fight against Italian and German forces. Eventually, after much fighting the British troops forced the Germans back and from the base in North Africa, in 1943, Allied forces first conquered the Italian island of Sicily and then, on 3 September, landed on the mainland of Italy. Slowly but surely the allied troops advanced. Eventually, in June 1944, the capital city of Rome was captured but by then the allies were planning something far bigger.

The fighting in Europe continued and more and more was being done by both British, American and German heavy bombers. Great cities were being destroyed and in 1943 an RAF bombing raid succeeded in bursting some dams which flooded a large area of Germany where there were many factories. In order to bomb these dams, a special bouncing bomb was invented by a man called Barnes Wallis. Inventions, as well as the skill, devotion to duty and plain stubbornness of the British armed forces, all played a part in the winning of WWII.

Although many of the children had returned home from the country by now, and life had been safer there, it had still changed drastically. Despite some of the convoys from the USA getting through, food was scarce. Before the war, because we could buy cheaper grain and cereal from Canada and the USA, our farmers had concentrated on livestock farming, cattle, pigs and sheep. 60% of our food was imported. Now we had to grow our own crops.

The government ordered that an area the size of Wales was needed for crop growing. This meant that many livestock had to be slaughtered. The number of pigs on farms was reduced by a half. Before the war there were 55,000 tractors in use on British farms, by the end of it there were 175,000. There were fewer men to work the land, they had been conscripted into the army, although a farmer was a protected occupation. This lack of manpower was solved by an influx of woman-power. These women who helped out on the farms were known as land-girls. They worked for over 50 hours a week but were paid two thirds of what men were paid. There were also about 5,000 conscientious objectors, people who could claim it was against their conscience to fight, who also worked on the farms. Alongside them, by the end of the war were 150,000 Italian prisoners of war and 300,000 German ones. Children were also let out of school to help at harvest time. Camps would be set up and in 1943 70,000 people worked in these harvest camps. Funnily enough, going back to those old Stone Age people, flax was a major crop. It was used in parachute harnesses and other things.

Wherever you lived, food was scarce and the government had begun to control this by introducing rationing. On 8 January 1940 bacon, butter and sugar were rationed. Each person had a ration card which allowed them so much food each week. Vegetables and bread were not included in this. You could have as much of these as you could afford, grow or make. People made their gardens into vegetables patches. It was estimated that 20% of calories people ate came from bread. You could have half a pound (250g) of meat per person per week. You had to register with one butcher and that was where you shopped. You could have 1 egg a week and 1 packet of tinned eggs.

If you like animals you may not like this next bit but people would eat stewed starlings, roast lark, stinging nettles and other strange things. The government produced hundreds of leaflets on how to make your food last. Rabbit was never rationed so people would breed their own or, if you bought it, then it was half the price of beef.

In 1941 wasting food became a crime and if found guilty you could be sent to prison. Some people were quite creative and so, for their Christmas dinner, they would buy some sausage meat, shape it like a turkey and put parsnips on for the legs. These are some posters the government sent out.


Food rationing continued until 1954. What some people don't know was that other items were rationed too; this included petrol, clothes and soap. People would collect all the little bits of soap left over, wrap them in a flannel, hold it in hot water and the bits would all meld together and you had a new bar of soap. People devised all manner of ways of saving. Before the war, only 4% of timber needed in Britain was grown here, by the end of the war 60% was home grown.

Other big changes were that newspaper were often only 4 pages so the radio became the best way for people to know what was going on and for the government to talk to the people. In 1939 weather forecasts were banned as they might help the enemy.

It was a tremendous change in the way people lived. Yet, listening to people like my parents who lived through it all, life went on as normally as possible. People went to the cinema and saw films although in the interval there was usually a short government film with advice or instructions. Music was played on the radio and in the dance halls. Artists would also go out and entertain the troops all over the world. One of the most famous was Vera Lynn, known as the forces sweetheart. She had left school at the age of 11 to embark on a singing career. Live entertainment was very popular and she had sung with many of the top orchestras. When the war began she volunteered for war work but was told the best thing she could do was to keep singing. In 1939 she first sang We'll Meet Again which became her most famous song. Eighty one years later, during the COVID-19 crisis, the message of hope in the song was reiterated by The Queen when she spoke to the nation.

When I was a young boy, Vera Lynn had a weekly television show each Saturday night. I learned many songs by listening to her. During the war years she not only performed in England but travelled to places as far away as India and Burma to entertain the troops and raise morale. She gave her last public performance in 1995 singing in front of Buckingham Palace but continued to have records released and, in 2009, aged 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the British album charts. Dame Vera Lynn, as she became, died on 18th June 2020 at the age of 103, a truly great entertainer and an amazing human being. These are two of her songs.



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