In recent weeks I’ve seen several media comments seeking
to contrast our current Coronavirus troubles with those endured on the Home
Front in World War 2. These have been mainly prompted by the rapid escalation
of Coronavirus deaths, with the reported number now exceeding that of UK civilians
killed during the Blitz in 1940/41. The two crises are of course very different
but I thought it might be useful to set out some facts and figures to enable
informed comparison.
As of the date of writing, there have been nearly
35,000 UK virus deaths according to the public health authorities. 32,000
deaths were caused by bombing in the Blitz and there were 87,000 casualties. The
total number of war-related civilian deaths was 67,000.
The London Blitz lasted for eleven weeks and the
city was bombed every night bar one. Other cities and towns were also subjected
to heavy bombing. These included Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol, Southampton,
Plymouth, Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool. While the 1940/41 Blitz
represented the worst phase of the Luftwaffe bombing of Britain, sporadic air attacks
continued throughout the war. In 1944 London again came under heavy
bombardment, this time from German V1 (and later V2) missiles, or as they were better
known, ‘Doodlebugs’. These killed over 6,000 people and caused more than 18,000
casualties.
In addition to civilian casualties, over 384,000
members of the armed forces lost their lives in the war.
The wartime population had some deprivations which
we in lockdown don’t have and vice versa.
Wartime food options were very limited. Many basic
products, such as sugar, meats, fats, bacon, and cheese were rationed. A number
of other products, though not rationed, were hard to find. Tropical fruits such
as bananas, oranges and lemons were like gold dust. By contrast during the
current crisis, apart from the hoarding panics seen in the early days, most
food and other domestic products have been in plentiful supply. There is one
point of food shopping we have in common, though – the requirement to form long
queues.
Apart from a few weeks at the outset of the war,
cinemas, theatres, dancehalls and other places of entertainment were open for
the duration. We appear to have a while yet to wait for them to be open to us.
It should, however, be remembered that the wartime population had few forms of
home family entertainment. The radio,
playing cards and reading were pretty much the extent. People from then would
be astonished at our world of Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Wartime pubs and restaurants were open. Restaurant
fare, except occasionally if you were very rich, was limited, but if you wanted
a change of scene from home, you could get it. We cannot, and it seems we have some
weeks to wait before we can.
In the war, as now, major sporting events were put on
hold. However, ordinary sport carried on during the war years. Professional
league football was suspended between 1939 and 1945 but where possible, other
non-professional competition continued. Inter-service football matches were popular
and drew large crowds. Rugby and cricket
continued on a similar basis. There were no limitations on the sporting
activities ordinary people could engage in, other than where facilities had
been put to alternative wartime use. Most golf clubs stayed open. Some new
rules were introduced to accommodate the war. For example Richmond Golf Club introduced
a rule that ‘in competitions, during gunfire or while bombs are falling,
players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play’.
Parks have been a godsend to many of us during the
lockdown. In WW2 most remained open, but some areas of parkland were
unavailable as they were taken over for military use. In London there were gun
batteries in Hyde Park and Holland Park. Other park space was used for allotments
and air raid shelters.
Petrol was rationed and many people mothballed their
cars for the duration of the war. Traffic on the roads declined substantially then,
as it has during lockdown. Shortages of petrol have not, however, been the
problem for us.
The war had a terrible impact on the economy. It
took a long time for Britain to recover and the last repayment of US and
Canadian war debts was only made by the British Government in 2006. The economic
impact of the virus is clearly going to be substantial, although one hopes much
more short-lived.
So there are points of similarity and points of
difference between then and now. The biggest overall difference, however, is
that the crisis faced by the British people in the war was an existential one. Defeat
would have meant the loss of liberty and the British way of life. Tragic as the
impact of the pandemic has been for many, it has not placed the existence of the
country in peril.
A Death in Mayfair by Mark Ellis
(Published by Headline)
December 1941.
On a bright Sunday morning in Hawaii, Japanese planes swoop down and
attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbour. America enters the war and Britain
no longer stands alone against Hitler. Conditions
on the home front remain bleak. In a city pulverised by the Blitz, with rampant
crime and corruption and overstretched police resources, life for Scotland Yard
detective Frank Merlin continues as arduous as ever. In the week of Japan's aggression, the
shattered body of beautiful film star Laura Curzon is found on the pavement
beneath her Mayfair apartment, an apparent suicide. A mile away, the body of a
strangled young girl is discovered in the rubble of a bombed-out building. Merlin and his team investigate,
encountering fraudulent film moguls, philandering movie stars, depraved
Satanists and brutal gangsters as they battle through a wintry London in
pursuit of the truth.
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