History
Christmas 1940
December 1940In many ways, Christmas 1940 was the first war-time Christmas of World War Two. Celebrating during heavy rationing and restrictions – whilst surviving heavy bombing and coping with the threat of invasion – was a battle in itself.
Photo: A child sleeps in an air-raid shelter festooned with Christmas decorations – a not uncommon sight in December 1940. (Getty Images)
Introduction
Christmas 1940
Highlights from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ programmes Video (12)
Firemen who fought the Second Great Fire of London recall fighting the fires until New Year 1941, in a film by J.B. Priestley.
Firemen who fought the Second Great Fire of London recall the extent of the devastation and fighting the fires until New Year 1941, in a film by J.B. Priestley. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ war reporter Robin Duff also contributes.
Britain bombs Berlin, then Germany retaliates.
Richard Holmes explains how the bombing campaigns escalated. He also interviews Ernst Wedding, an ex-German bomber pilot, about the war in the sky.
Jonathan Dimbleby describes the 1940 bombing campaigns.
Jonathan Dimbleby describes the Allied and Axis bombing campaigns in 1940 and 1941.
The resilience of Churchill and the British people
A summary of the 6 months from Germany's advance through Europe, to the end of 1940 and Britain's continued resistance to German bombing.
Alan Bennett recounts future MP Michael Foot's view of Christmas 1940.
Alan Bennett recounts future MP Michael Foot's view of Christmas 1940 in his editorial for the London Evening Standard.
More information about: Christmas 1940
Christmas under fire
By the end of 1940, 24,000 civilians had been killed in the Blitz and hundreds of thousands made homeless. In November, German bombers had obliterated Coventry city centre and there had been particularly fierce raids on Manchester and Liverpool in the days leading up to Christmas. The public were now mourning the loss of their loved ones on the home front and in combat, as well as praying for the 41,000 British soldiers captured on the continent.
In order to avoid the bombs, many families spent some of the festive period in air-raid shelters and other places of refuge and decked out their temporary homes with makeshift decorations. Very short Christmas trees were in demand because of the height of the shelters.
'On the ration'
Assuming that gas or electricity was available, Christmas dinner would have still been a triumph of ingenuity. Turkey was unaffordable and most made do with other cuts of meat, which were still expensive. For example, a family of four's weekly meat ration probably wouldn't even cover the cost of a small chicken. One alternative was home-reared chickens or rabbits, much to the shock of young children who often regarded them as pets. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ-grown vegetables and chutneys would have also made the table.
Rations were scrimped and saved including ham, bacon, butter, suet and margarine. The tea and sugar rations were increased in the week before Christmas. Very little fruit was imported and nuts were very costly. Consequently, cooks had to improvise Christmas cakes and puddings devoid of dried fruit and marzipan, using instead sponge or other unlikely ingredients. Alcohol was available but, again, prohibitively expensive. There would have been no after-dinner French cheeses or brandy due to the German occupation.
Presents and gifts
The public were discouraged from giving presents and encouraged to give as much as they could to the war effort. Almost £10 million in war bonds was sold in the week before Christmas. Consumer goods were becoming scarcer as the war wore on but a theme of air-raid-shelter-friendly presents emerged. Flasks and sleeping bags were in demand and even 'gas masks' for dolls.
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ-made presents were popular too, as were second-hand ones. For working-class people 'make do and mend' was the norm. Dads carved sailing ships and dolls' houses, whilst mums knitted with spare bits of wool and made sweets. Children's gifts were also donated from other countries and charities.
Men and women on duty
Postmen attempted to deliver millions of letters and parcels to streets that had been razed by the bombing, whilst many more civilian men and women were on duty in their roles as ARP wardens, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Guardsmen, Observers, fire fighters, ambulance drivers and other crucial occupations. Travel was discouraged; not just because of fuel rationing, but to keep the roads and railways free for transporting war goods and returning troops.
No Christmas bells
Entertainment over the festive period included Charlie Chaplin satirising Hitler in "The Great Dictator" and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio broadcasts of "Kitchen Front", the King’s Speech and variety shows. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ also broadcast a Christmas sermon from the ruins of Coventry Cathedral. Elsewhere, church services happened as normal (bomb-damage permitting) but bells were not allowed to be rung, as this signified an invasion, and the windows were not allowed to be lit.
The City burns
Mercifully, there was an unofficial postponement of the bombing by both sides from Christmas Eve until the 27th. Sunday 29 December marked one of the fiercest bombing raids of the whole Blitz - so fierce it caused what became known as the Second Great Fire of London. As the City rapidly became a raging inferno, the dome of St Paul's Cathedral was photographed towering unscathed above the carnage. This became one of the most powerful images of the whole war, and one which inspired the British public on the eve of another year of conflict.
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