EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOME FRONT
Q: What do we mean by ‘home front’?
A: When we talk about the home front, we tend to have in our minds a clear division between a fighting front, where combat and service personnel – mostly men – fought, and the home front, which was less militarised. But in reality, the lines between both fronts were far more blurry.
One of the things that happens in Britain during World War II – and this was typical of a wider European experience – is that the home front also becomes a fighting front, exposed to attacks by air and sea. From 1940, there was a real perceived threat of invasion, and an awareness that the so-called home front could well transform into a land fighting front.
From an early stage in the war – and escalating as it goes on – the British home front was a site of military action against Germany: bombers were flying out, and small boats and ships were also leaving. And then, of course, in 1944, Britain becomes the major base for D-Day preparations – shipping both men and equipment to France. So, this was a time when the distinction between home and fighting fronts was much more blurred.
Q: How soon after war broke out did life start to change on the home front?
In a way, things started to change before war was even declared. Local authorities were instructed to spend money on air raid precautions from 1937, and that, I think, was
