The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945

The rockets proved to be far less devastating than the science-fiction fears had supposed. Only 15 struck in September and 25 the following month. Rockets caused an exceptional amount of physical damage because of the velocity of impact, but with no more than two to six incidents a day during the autumn months, civil defence found it could cope as efficiently with rockets as it had with flying bombs. The public reacted to the rocket threat with less anxiety, partly because simply going to the shelter was no safeguard, partly because the number of incidents was generally small. Mass Observation found a widespread fatalism: ‘If it’s going to hit you, you’ll probably be dead, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’²⁶⁷ Incidents brought large numbers of sightseers each day, curious rather than fearful. An opinion poll showed that as many as 61 per cent claimed not to be much affected by the rockets, while the numbers using the public shelters as a result of rocket attack were recorded as zero.²⁶⁸ Numbers crowded into the Underground shelters up to August, but during the first two months of rocket attacks the shelter population fell to around 18,000 a night. Evacuation was sharply reversed once again as families judged the rocket a lesser threat and the risks manageable. Between October and December 734,000 evacuees returned to the capital. By March 1945 there were just 454,200 still billeted away from home.²⁶⁹ Missile attacks continued at a higher level in January and February 1945, a bizarre toll extracted from a civilian population whose front-line role had been in abeyance for years and which waited with mounting impatience for an end to the war in Europe. Altogether 2,618 died from rocket attacks and 5,661 were injured, a rate of 5 fatalities for each missile. The last rocket fell on 27 March, the last flying bomb two days later. The last bombing raid hit Hull on 17 March, damaging 64 houses. Total wartime casualties from all forms of bombing were 60,595 killed and 86,182 seriously injured.²⁷⁰

The threat of the new weapons slowed down the rate at which the whole civil defence system was to be wound down. Local authorities were told after the first flying-bomb attacks that nowhere could be considered immune and were instructed to keep shelters in good condition, well lit and locked, to avoid widespread vandalism. The reduction in personnel was finally ordered in August and September once it was realized that the threat from secret weapons could be contained. At the same time blackout restrictions were relaxed to a state known as ‘dim out’, with reduced lighting but not total darkness. People reacted to the sudden return of illumination very cautiously after five years of habitual observation. ‘My first impression,’ wrote one Mass Observer, after leaving the window lit, ‘was that the room seemed naked, uncomfortable, incomplete.’ Londoners were found in general to err on the side of continued caution and few lit windows were visible until the end of the war.²⁷¹ In practice many authorities outside the threatened districts had already begun to slim down the civil defence organization and to prepare for the massive task of dismantling the physical apparatus of protection and welfare. Some of the dismantling was done illegally by the community. It was reported in Newcastle in July 1944 that gangs of youths were stealing doors and bunks from shelters and selling them for firewood. In London so-called ‘marauders’ stole doors, pipes, taps and fencing, while prostitutes openly used shelters as business premises. Householders were breaking up metal Anderson shelters and bunks for other uses or turning the garden shelters into workshops and coalhouses. Authorities were still trying to demolish surface shelters, collect Andersons and Morrison tables and sell off civil defence vehicles well into 1946 and 1947.²⁷² In one case a candidate in the July 1945 General Election was given permission to use a number of surface shelters as Committee Rooms for electioneering as long as all parties were given the same opportunity and he paid rent for the privilege.²⁷³ In London sheltering in the Underground declined steadily during the rocket campaign. By January 1945 it was down to 16,000, by April around 10,000. A notice to quit was served on 4 May. On 6 May there were still 334 intrepid sleepers. On 7 May, when Germany surrendered unconditionally, there were none.²⁷⁴