Air+raids

Anderson shelter

__**Air Raid shelters**__ In the war people built air raid shelters. The shelters protected them from the deadly bombs that Germany dropped over Britain. The air raid siren would go off if a bomb was detected or seen and people would go into the shelters at the bottom off their garden or into the tube station. Normally people would build their shelter and dig a big hole in their garden where the shelter would go. They then covered the shelter back up with the soil and planted vegetables on the top to disguise the shelter from the German bombers. __Air raids__ Birmingham suffered from quite a lot of air raids. There were air raid sirens. Which when they went off was warning every one to get into their shelter. The first sirens went off in London in 1939.The sound of a siren was a rising and falling note lasting one minute. When air raids are threatened warning would be given to towns by sirens.

Coventry was another city that was very badly bombed. This was because there were lots of munitions factories near there that made guns and bombs, so the Germans wanted to destroy them so that the British couldn't use them against the Germans.

__North shield__ At 11.12 pm on Saturday May 3rd 1941 Air raid sirens went of around North shields. Local peaple rushed to a Air raid shelter.

__Shelters__ They had Anderson shelters, which were made out of 6 sheets of steel which protected them from air raids. These usually contained two benches which you could sit or sleep on. A Morison shelter was put up inside houses.

So what should you do if you don't have an air raid shelter, or you can't get to one? The government recommended under the stairs as the safest place to shelter in your house. Many people who lived in London used Underground stations to shelter in during air raids.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/war/blitz.htm#siren

__Air Raid Shelter! __ Air raid shelters were used in WW2 where children, women and men (who weren't in the army) went when a bomb came and was about to hit them. Children took their belongings there, which were teddys, blankets and other personal things.Familys usually went in the air raid shelter when a bomb was coming their way or when a warning went off. Men who were in the army weren't allowed in there because they had to fight and fight back to the German soilders. Air raid shelters are still around today in schools, maybe some homes, in Tonbridge and even near your home!

One of the most devestating air raids was on the 29th December 1940 when the city of London was attacked. Afterwards it was a bit like the Fire of London with lots of fires and smoke. Out of all the cities it was London that suffered the most. The first attack in London took place late afternoon on 7th September 1940. The last attack on London took place on 10th May 1941. This attack hit The Houses of Parliament and St James Palace. London underground stations were at first shut during air raids but people undid the chains and reopened them so they could shelter there. Blankets would be laid out in strips along the platforms for people to sleep.

After there had been an air-raid, people from the Women's Voluntary Service and other women would deal with unexploded bombs and rescue people from destroyed buildings.

60,000 British people died in air-raids.

__Air raids__ Before WWII started the Prime Minister, Stanely Baldwin, requested that councils organised protection for their people. Some prepared this and some did not. The Government believed that there would be a war therefore formed the Air Raid Warden Service. When WWII commenced and the Luftwaffe(the Nazi German Air Force) began to drop bombs on British cities the Air Raid Wardens organised sirens. Sirens were alternating pitched, high volume sound which lasted for approximately one minute to alert people tomake their way into a shelter. A further siren was heard to declare that the Air Raid had finished. However, the people doing the essential war work, for example fire service and Air Raid Wardens were to go to the shelters when the second siren was heard. This meant the Luftwaffe were directly over head.

__Morrison Shelter__ There was also a shelter called the Morrison shelter, this was created when the raids reducedand many people wanted to sleep in their houses once more. They started to put matteresses under their tables and sleep there. However, the Minster of Home Security, Herbert Morrison did not think this was safe, as a result a steal, wire, mesh cabinet was invented. This was to put under the table-people used it as a table in the day time and a safe place to sleep at night. If the house fell it would save lives, however if they were trapped in by rubble or a fire they may not survive because they had no escape route.

When the war started the goverment was scared that when people went into public shelters they would be to scared to come out. It was also aware that a bomb hitting public shelters would mean more deths, so it encouraged people to live there lives as normal as possible and build there own shelters in the garden if possible.