CIVILIAN DEFENSE


During WWII

by MICHAEL SCHOEN






During World War Two, the American civil defense program consisted of the incorporation of non-military personel into the defense of their country. Although it has been argued that civil defense may have been nothing more than a gimmick to keep a fretful nation busy, it represents an important part of the story of America's involvement in World War Two.

This page deals with the role of American men, women, and children in the nationwid civil defense effort during the second world war. Whether in the big city or a small community like Greenbelt, Maryland, citizens contributed greatly to the defense of their country.

The 1942 manual, What Every Citizen Should Know About Civilian Defense states, "In previous wars, the Army evacuated civilians from combat areas." (1) However, as demonstrated by the massive air-raids on England by the German airforce, the Luftwaffe, there was no place to which the civilan population could be evacuated.


The air raid sirens sounded just after 5pm and Gladys, her mother
in law and her sister in law went to the council shelter because
she could not get home. Don could not get back because he had to
take shelter where he was. Gladys and Don's mother and sister
stayed in the shelter. 'We went under the stairs because we
thought it was safer' she said. When they got out of the shelter
the city was ablaze. 'You could look up and see the planes coming
over and see the bombs dropping' she said. Gladys had some
difficulty getting back to her house. Don was a warden for the
area and Gladys met him on her way back to the house. Gladys said
'It was pouring with rain and the water was running down our
stairs just like a waterfall, the door was blown open, we hadn't
got a window in the house, the first floor ceilings were all down,
the two love birds that we had were dead in the cage and the cat...
well we didn't see it for weeks'. (2)


In any wartime country, it is impossible to provide protection from air-attack in any way that can truly be deemed "safe." The war effort, i.e. the funneling of time and resources towards creating the tools necessary for winning the war, is paramount. Redirecting these energies for the purpose of fending off enemy raiders is playing right into the enemy's hands. (3) Air-raids have two main purposes. Primarily to disrupt or destroy the manufacturing centers of a nation, and secondly, to hurt the morale of its citizens. Thus, any movement to alter production of war materials from offensive to defensive purposes aids the enemy.
Although the United States government felt that some sort of air-attack was imminent, they did not belive that it would come in the quanitiy in which it had to England. As far as our intelligence services knew, neither the Germans nor the Japanese had any aircraft that were capable of reaching America, bombing her, and then making the return trip. However, sacrificial one-way missions were not ruled out. Protected on either side by great oceans, these "nuisance raids" would be solely for the purposes of damaging morale of Americans and causing inconvenience. (The Doolittle Raiders used this tactic when they bombed Tokyo from the USS Hornet on April 19, 1942).
Despite the fact that the aircraft available to the Axis in the early part of the war were incapable of making practical air-raids on the U.S., American strategic planners had the foresight to realize that as technology progressed, these weapons might very well become available.

At the outbreak of war, the mainstay of Luftwaffe bombers were two-engine medium-range types: ideal for attacking cross-channel England, but incapable of bombing America from any Axis-held territory.
However, Axis engineers were working round the clock to solve this problem. In 1942, a prototype Me-264 four engine "Amerika Bomber," was flown from Germany, across the Atlantic, non-stop and unrefueled, to within sight of New York City's lights.

Fortunately, this was just a test of the Me.'s range. The pilot did not attack, rather, he turned around and flew back to Europe. This bomber flew faster than the interceptors we had stateside, and, had it been manufactured in large numbers, could have given Americans a taste of what the British had received.

With the threat of Axis bombs raining down upon their cities, the American government set about creating a system that would protect the country's local and national vital services in the event of an air-raid. According to What Every Citizen Should Know About Civil Defense, this was the primary objective of the movement: keeping everything running as smoothly as possible in order to maintain the war effort.The beleaguered British offfered this advice to Americans about aerial bombardment: "You cannot be too well prepared." (4)
Enemy bombers might carry either conventional high-explosisve bombs, or gas-filled bombs, carrying various types of poison. Although chemical warfare was not deployed by either of the fighting factions, the population had to be prepared for the worst. Government orders for millions of civilian gas-masks enusured that America would be have a fighting chance agianst toxic bombardment. Scool children were required to carry their masks with them to class everyday, and in the event of an air-raid drill, they had to don them immediately.
Conventional bombing was not so easy to defend against. There are four main causes of damage from high-explosive bombs. (See fig.) . . .



Protection against gas . . .



Aircraft warning and Air raid warden service . . .



First Aid and medical service . . .



Fire precautions . . .



Rescue and debris clearance . . .



Protection of Industrial and domestic establishements



"V" for Victory . . .



Specific examples in Greenbelt (?)



Miscellaneous . . .






FOOT NOTES



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BIBLIOGRAPHY