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Remembering World War II's |
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Remembering World War II's |
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April 2007 will be the 70th anniversary of the activation of the Air Raid Precautions Service in 1937 by a government planning for the probability of another major war. There will be people reading this who will have seen a wartime helmet with ‘ARP’ stencilled on it and, perhaps, an accompanying gas mark in its bag in their own own home or that of an elderly relative. But what do we really know about the ARP in our own communities beyond the reminiscences of a few individuals who were either wardens or remember some event during the war in which an ARP warden played a part? By the mid-1930s there were those who watched the rise of fascism in countries like Germany, Italy and Spain and thought that another war was inevitable, despite all the country’s best efforts to avoid such a conflict. Whilst the government of the day did not approve of its own subjects going to fight the fascists in Spain, it was beginning to plan for the possibility of a war with a fascist country, namely Germany. In 1935 the government committed £100,000 to initiate air raid precautions planning and an ARP Department was set up in the Home Office, but it was local authorities who, without any extra money, were to be responsible for the service. Preliminary planning revealed that expanded fire services and protection against chemical as well as conventional bombing attacks would be needed. There would also have to be some kind of supporting organisation at a neighbourhood level and it was realised that civil defence could only be effectively organised by local authorities. The Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defence and Emergency Management* says ‘At the bottom of the structure was the local (ARP) Warden’s Post, theoretically sited to provide control for an area inhabited by approximately 500 people. In major cities this resulted in approximately 10 Wardens’ Posts per square mile. Wardens’ Posts reported to a District and the District to the Borough. At Borough level, the chief executive (in most towns in the 1930s this would have been the Town Clerk) became the Air Raids Precaution Controller and (local) government officers filled the key civil defence positions. Boroughs, in turn, reported to a Group Headquarters, which reported to a Region.’ In the absence of money, some local authorities were slow to carry out their new responsibilities and it was not until 1 April 1937 that the ARP Service was activated, to be followed by the ARP Act in December 1937 providing government money for local ARP services and officially making local authorities responsible. By mid-1938 over 200,000 men and women had been recruited as volunteer wardens, at a time when the estimated number of volunteers needed was 400,000. Between 1935 and 1937 some local councils established their own ARP Committees and appointed ARP Officers to oversee the recruitment and training of ARP volunteers, whilst other councils waited until mid-1937 or later to do the same thing. Perhaps there is a database containing this information. If so, I haven’t found it, so my own information has been taken from books, articles, The National Archives and A2A website*, which lists 574 catalogue entries under ‘air raid precautions’, of which 431 relate to the Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Record Service and, with one exception, cover the period July 1937–November 1946. What is noticeable is how few ARP listings there are on these websites, which suggests that records have not yet been posted to the A2A website or have yet to be catalogued, although some may be archived under less obvious titles. At worst, the records have been thrown away or destroyed. In 1937 the Home Office published the first edition of the Air Raid Precautions Handbook with 100 pages, 18 photographs and numerous illustrations and in 1938 a series of fifty cigarette cards was produced and distributed in various cigarette brands by Imperial Tobacco. The album to hold the cards had an introduction by the then Home Secretary, Samuel Hoare, commending the cards. All this was happening at the same time as local councils were beginning to recruit volunteers to the newly formed ARP services through publicity in local newspapers and posters, although I haven’t found any of the latter. The local history of the ARP service is particularly important on a number of fronts. It was a community-based voluntary service which recruited men and women from a wide age range to provide neighbourhood leadership in the event of war and enemy air attacks. It seems, like the Home Guard, to have been undervalued at the time and since. Although it is seventy years since the first men and women joined the ARP, there is a good chance that quite a few are still alive today, albeit in their late-80s or older. What prompted them to join, especially before the outbreak of war in September 1939, and what do they remember of the training programme and the attitude of friends and neighbours? How did they cope with the routine of being ARP Wardens, especially before war was declared? Even during the war there would have been long periods when nothing happened. or was it like the fire service, where there were always equipment to maintain and clean, as well as endless local inspections to ensure all the required fire/air raid precautions were in place? Air Raid Wardens made sure blackouts were in place, sounded air raid sirens and were responsible for air raid shelters. They would have stayed in touch with the local rescue services and, in the event of damage or casualties, they would probably have been the first to report it, then helped to secure the area. In many places, because ARP wardens were local people, they were likely to know the names of the injured or their families. No doubt the training given to wardens and the mock exercises they would have taken part in were all to prepare them for coping with a real air raid. In other words, being in the ARP Service was a far more important than was generally appreciated at the time and since. There are plenty of questions and, given all the new recording and transcription equipment now available, there has never been a better time to undertake oral history projects with former ARP Wardens. Perhaps someone could devise a list of questions (or recommend a list of questions already used in a previous ARP research project) which could be publicised on this web site in the next issue of Local History Magazine? There was obviously more to it than waiting for an air raid, as the following extract from the book published by Middlesex County Council in 1939 to mark the council’s jubilee makes clear: ‘The Air Raids Precaution Act 1937 required the County Council, in consultation with local councils, to prepare and submit to the Home Secretary a scheme indicating the distribution of the necessary duties for guarding against loss of life and avoidable damage by air raids in the event of war. Under this Act, during the crisis of 1938, gas masks were supplied, trenches were dug in parks and open spaces, and other precautionary measures were taken’. One wonders if this was the case across the country or did some councils judge the risk of attack so low that they did little or nothing at all? Whilst local historians have researched and written a great deal about World War Two on the home front, more often than not any references to the ARP are reminiscences. The ‘Wartime Memories’ website collects reminiscences and stories from its contributors and has a number of entries relating to the ‘ARP’ and ‘air raid precautions’ — as does the Imperial War Museum website* The ARP Service appears to be local history’s ‘Cinderella’ when it comes to World War II. The 70th anniversary seems a good time to give it the attention it deserves, so that its 75th anniversary can be a real celebration. We would would love to hear from anyone who has more information about local ARP services or is planning to undertake a project of any kind. Robert Howard *Websites: |
7 March 2007 |
