Air Raid Precautions
After World War One, military experts predicted that in any
future war there would be large-scale bombing of the British civilian
population, resulting in huge casualties. In April 1937, an Air Raid Wardens'
Service was created. By the middle of 1938 about 200,000 people were involved,
with another half a million enrolling during the Munich Crisis of September
1938. By the outbreak of war there were more than 1.5 million in the ARP (Air
Raid Precautions), or Civil Defence as it was later re-named.
The most
visible members of the ARP were the air raid wardens. ARP posts were initially
set up in the warden?s home, or in a shop or an office, but they were later
purpose-built. Each post covered a certain area, varying across the country,
but with about ten to the square mile in London. Each post was divided into
sectors, with perhaps three to six wardens in each sector. An ARP warden was
almost always local - it was essential that he or she knew their sector and the
people living there.
Since no significant German air raids followed the
outbreak of war in September 1939, the main duties of the ARP wardens in the
early months were to register everyone in their sector and enforce the
?blackout?. This meant making sure that no lights were visible which could be
used by enemy planes to help locate bombing targets. These activities led to
some ARP wardens being regarded as interfering and nosy.
However,
during the Blitz of 1940-1 wardens and other civil defence personnel proved
themselves indispensable and heroic. Whenever the air raid sirens sounded, the
wardens would help people into the nearest shelter and then tour their sector,
usually in pairs, at considerable risk from bombs, shrapnel and falling
masonry. They would also check regularly on those in the air raid shelters.
In the aftermath of a raid, ARP wardens would often be first on the
scene, carrying out first-aid if there were minor casualties, putting out any
small fires and helping to organise the emergency response. Other members of
the Civil Defence services included rescue and stretcher (or first-aid)
parties, the staff of control centres and messenger boys. Their work often
overlapped with the fire and medical services and the WVS (Women's Voluntary
Service).
A small percentage of ARP wardens were full-time and were
paid a salary, but most were part-time volunteers who carried out their ARP
duties as well as full-time jobs. Part-time wardens were supposed to be on duty
about three nights a week, but this increased greatly when the bombing was
heaviest. One in six was a woman, and amongst the men there were a significant
number of veterans of World War One. At the beginning of the war, ARP wardens
had no uniform, but wore their own clothes, with the addition of a steel
helmet, Wellington boots and an armband. In May 1941 full-time and regular
part-time wardens were issued with blue serge uniforms.
The Civil
Defence services, including the ARP wardens, were maintained through the war.
There were still hundreds of thousands of volunteers in June 1944, although the
numbers of full-time personnel had fallen from 127,000 at the height of the
Blitz to 70,000 by the end of 1943. In all 1.4 million men and women served as
ARP wardens during World War Two.
Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline
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