World War II in Photographs
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1942
BRITAIN AT WAR
Britain was emphatically a nation at war. Food rationing began in
January 1940, and that autumn saw the beginning of the London
blitz, with endemic air raids thereafter. A 1940 extension of the
1939 Emergency Powers Act gave the government "complete
control over ...all persons, rich and poor ... and all property."
Britain mobilized a higher proportion of its population than any
other combatant: by June 1944 22% of the working population
was in the services and another 33% in war work. Women replaced
men in factories, public transport and on the land. Men were not
only drafted into the forces, but eventually down the mines as well.
ABOVE
Mrs Minnie Murless of the Wynnstay
guest house clips the ration books of
her guests. There were weekly forms
for butcher and grocer, and every two
month the local Food Office required
detailed lists of consumption. Fuel and
animal food required separate permits.
BELOW
"Local defence," reads the original caption,
"releases men for overseas offence." Like
most Home Guard units, this one includes
those too old or too young for regular service
as well as men in some key occupations
which spared them regular call-up.
21 I
LEFT
Rail travel was cramped and uncertain.
Here a member of the WAAF (Women's
Auxiliary Air Force) and a soldier sit
on their luggage in the corridor of a
London to Scotland express.
BELOW
Crewe station in the small hours of the
morning. A Royal Navy petty officer
and his family on their way from
Northern Ireland await their connection.
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1942
ABOVE
In May 1942 Molotov, the Soviet
Commissar for Foreign Affairs, flew to
England to sign a Treaty of Alliance and
Mutual Assistance. Here he is walking next
to Churchill in the garden of No 10 Downing
Street. Clement Attlee, Deputy Prime
Minister, is shrouded in tobacco smoke in the
centre of the photograph, and Anthony Eden,
Foreign Secretary, is just behind Churchill.
RIGHT
Russian ambassador Ivan Maisky
accepts the first tank produced under
the "Tanks for Russia" scheme.
War material was shipped to Russia,
often at great cost, in the arctic convoys
through the Norwegian and Barents seas.
213
1942
ABOVE
Members of the Women's Land Army
ploughing in Hertfordshire, March 1942.
RIGHT
Between January 1942 and D-Day in
1944 more than a million and a half
US servicemen arrived in Britain. There
were complaints that the Americans
were "overpaid, oversexed and over here",
but paradoxically most civilians were
sympathetic to black GIs, victims of
colour bars in their own army.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Although women did not fly in direct
combat, 166 served in the Air Transport
Auxiliary which ferried aircraft from factories
to their bases, and servicewomen like this
Wren (from WRNS, Women's Royal Naval
Service) radio mechanic flew to test radios.
1942
LEFT
In 1942 the Germans mounted hit and
run "Baedeker raids" on historic cities
in retaliation for raids on Lübeck
and Rostock. Canterbury cathedral
was damaged in June.
ABOVE
Many anti-aircraft batteries has male
and female personnel. These women of
the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service)
operate a mobile power-plant on an
anti-aircraft site in December 1942.
217
1942
RAID ON DIEPPE
On August 19,1942, the British mounted Operation Jubilee, a large-
scale raid on the port of Dieppe. Some 4,900 Canadian, 1,000 British
and 50 US troops left five English ports in a fleet of 237 warships and
landing craft. Air support was inadequate and intelligence poor, and
despite some minor successes the main assault was a bloody failure,
with 3,367 Canadian casualties. The Royal Navy lost a destroyer and
several landing craft, and the RAF 106 aircraft to only 48 German.
Although useful lessons were learnt from Dieppe, the operation's
unjustifiable risks were worsened by its labyrinthine planning.
3ELOW
Landing craft run in towards the beach
under cover of floating smoke dischargers.
218
ABOVE
The frontal assault was mounted by
The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and
The Essex Scottish, with armour from
the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment
(The Calgary Tanks), supported by the
Fusiliers Mont-Royal. Twelve tanks were
stopped on the beach because shingle
jammed their tracks, and the 15 that
made their way inland were soon knocked
out. Here a German infantryman picks
his way among blanketed Canadian dead.
RIGHT
Canadian prisoners are
marched through Dieppe.
219
1942
ABOVE
Propagandists found some crumbs of comfort: No 4
Commando, seen here after returning to Newhaven,
had taken the Varengeville battery. The US Ranger
makes the point that this was the first time Americans had
been in action on the ground in Europe during the war.
220