War time spirit in British society

Hello,
in this time of war and crisis I am wondering what we - as modern individuals and as western societies - can learn from WW2 and the morale of the British home front?

The perception that I have - please correct me if I am wrong - is that morale was rather high: unity, resilience, solidarity, a sense of purpose, defiance would be some of the terms I can think of. Humour, stiff upper lip? Or is this just a blurry-eyed view of a past that was actually awful, drab, sad and frightening? I understand that in the days of the Blitz the morale was shaken in some cities - but the war went through various stages of setbacks and successes and I suppose morale underwent a development as well.

Why am I looking at the British experience? Britain would be as close as one could get to a liberal, free, democratic society under great threat. There is America, too, and Canada - similarly interesting to look at... as a European, though, the British experience seems more interesting to me.

 

Thanks, dbf!

 

During the Southampton blitz the response of the civilian population was such that the army was moved closer and in a history book read long ago was the closest that a city came to martial law in WW2. In my limited, more recent reading on here I have never come across similar information for Glasgow / Clyde towns or Liverpool.

This 'wartime spirit' and the associated myths etc was documented as I recall by Mass Observation, so their reports may help and I expect someone has written a PhD thesis on the theme.

Even yesterday I read of dockers refusing to load / unload shipping as it was too dangerous; as it was not my focus when looking through the British Newspaper Archive no notes were made. Industrial strife was not unknown either, even with the Labour Party in the coalition.

Plus, the Communist Party GB was staunchly pro-Soviet and opposed - as I recall - that the UK was at war; all of which changed when Hitler attacked the USSR. Industrial agitation may have resulted.

Nor should one overlook the draconian legislation in place (DORA) and some opponents of the war were interned.

 

Thanks davidbfpo,
I realize that the popular myths are to be taken with a grain of salt - in a fairly free but complex society there will always be dissent, protest etc.

Still, I am wondering whether there was a prevailing mood that helped people to deal with difficult and dangerous times -and whether that could inspire us today now that we are facing a reckless aggressor who despises and endangers our way of life.

 

Yes it was resolute
But crime and badness still went on Great Britain from start to end of WW2 so it wasnt all sweetness and light stiff upper lip times
Crime rates went up

 

As davidbfpo says, a trawl through the Mass Obs diaries (1939/40, for example) is instructive - they paint a fairly nuanced picture. They're held at The Keep (University fo Sussex) but I think online access is available.

Cheers, Pat

 

Jan 1941
Talking of bombs, a week ago yesterday I read a most hair raising letter from auntie Edith describing most vividly the the most recent of their ordeals when they were driven out of their flat by the fire next door. They certainly seem to have faced up to the whole of Hitler’s repertoire now and apparently unflinching. In fact aunties powers of blitz resistance are one of the revelations of this war, to me at any rate. I suppose it was spiritualism though to my materialistic mind it is very difficult to understand how and why it’s made such a revolutionary difference. Incidentally, talking of faith and so on I had a letter from Jack recently. As you know he joined The Friends Ambulance Unit and has been doing social services work in blitz’s here there and everywhere in the country. Reading between the lines, I imagine he has had a pretty tough time as an ambulance driver, canteen organiser and cook; all the time working in the big shelters in London’s East End, Birmingham and other smaller industrial places “under fire” as it were. He tells matter of fact tales of hospitals being blown up while he was male nursing and of houses crashing across the road while he was driving his canteen. And he still believes this is far different from a soldiers job or even a civil defence post. No amount of argument will shake his belief that he’s right in what he’s doing. Which only goes to show, that logic is a poor weapon, especially when you try to use it to settle vital matters of conscience. Anyway he seems completely happy whatever his beliefs.

 

I have talked to people from Guernsey, some had the Wehrmacht on the island, others were deported to a POW camp in Germany and prevented from going home until 1945.
Interesting to listen to both as to who had the worst time.
Stefan.
Some watched bombers flying toGerman cities very close to the camp.

 

I once attended a lecture regarding the occupation of the Channel Islands which focussed on the labour camps, the occupants of which were used to build the defences there.
Quite horrifying.

However to return to "War time spirit in British society" one has to consider the way in which we look back interpreting reports etc from our current perspective.
The examples that I am posting were written at the time by a man who was killed in 1944 so reflect the world as he saw it at the time.
All communications were monitored and letters censored. Anything considered demoralising would be redacted by a thick black pen. People soon adapted to "read between the lines."
The population were also largely ignorant of the technology used by the defence forces. The writer was a soldier stationed on coastal defence but seems remarkably uninformed about bomb decoy sites, or maybe he realised that this would result in censorship and possible reprimand.
In civilian life he was a Public Relations Manager so had a good idea what he could and could not mention.
Even so the following paragraph is remarkably revealing for its time.

April 1941
We’ve had a lively week to report on for once and I’ll wade in with a resume. Air raids have returned again after a long absence. It has been awe inspiring to hear the planes going over on the last big London raids – a constant hour after hour roar that gets inside your head after a while and stops you thinking coherently. Or if you get to sleep, one dream follows the other and all semi nightmares.
However, mustn’t paint too gloomy a picture for one soon recovers ones spirits as soon as there’s five minutes silence or one shaft of daylight.
The worst night we had was on the second big London raid when they put a bomb barrage over all the Eastern Counties at the same time.
Approaching the island on the bus from Colchester around 9.30 it seemed as though the whole sea was on fire and great red flashes were leaping up behind this white glare of incendiaries. As we walked from the bus to the front several of those peculiar flash bombs went off overhead, a blinding flash of white fire followed by a terrific bang. (They say they are for photographic purposes) This firework display went on for an hour after we were in bed. It’s difficult to see why they wasted so many thousands of bombs on such a wide rural area. The only concrete damage they seem to have done was to delay railway traffic for a day by unexploded bombs and knock a few houses down at Chelmsford.

 

Yup, heres a couple of lessons learnt from the Second World War that are relevant to 2022 -

1. Don't attempt to guarantee the sovereignty of an Eastern European country - if you do you might cost tens of millions of people their lives.
2. Don't expect Londoners in 2022 to understand what Blitz Spirit is - none of them are British!

Cheers