The British Prepare For War In 1940

A guardian of Regent Park Zoo in London puts a boa constrictor into a box, its shelter during the air raids. The bulb provided the heat.

Traffic signals, removed to confuse potential invaders waiting to be stored.  In the end the only victims of the measure were British drivers.

London City employees paint white stripes on a light pole to make it visible to drivers and pedestrians during blackouts.  Despite these precautions, the traffic accident rate increased during the first month of blackouts, but fell after the speed limit was fixed at 22 kilometers per hour.

An officer places a protective device  in the headlights of an official car to prevent high beam from being visible to Luftwaffe bombers.

The coaches of this train are being painted

Londoners watch in amazement at the pre-fabricated shelters provided free by the government

These ladies make use of them

Housewives queue to retrieve garbage in response to posters like the one below, designed to persuade Londoners to leave the pre-war practice of burning trash to cut municipal expenses. Now the government wanted to recycle everything possible

Members of the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, a group of volunteers supporting the soldiers from the rear. A motorcycle test for mail delivery.

With masks and protective gear, the female crew of an ambulance, which previously had been a carpet cleaning van, undergoes inspection.

Women workers in an ammunition factory

Dr. Jocelyn Henry Perkins, a priest of 70 years recruited by the national guard auxiliary force. The force assembled a million Britishers in August 1940. The instructors were retired NCOs.

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The British Turned Xenophobic In 1940

 In  London railway station, British armed police escort foreigners to a internment camp.

On May 12 two days after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, the British arrested 2000 foreigners mostly of German and Austrian origin and residents within 30 kilometers of the coast of the Channel. During the following five days thousands more were arrested.  the rest of women and men in countries hostile to Britain were arrested and taken to concentration camps. The camps were erected  in race tracks, old factories and even field properties in resort locations on the island of Man. In two weeks 4000 Italian expatriates were arrested  when Italy declared war in mid-July and there were more than 50,000 foreigners behind the barbed wire.

The restaurant on Old Compton Street, London, informs its clients that their noodles are Made-In-Britain.

For a short time the wave of super-patriotism swept the country. British entrepreneurs began to fire German employees, homeowners only rented to compatriots, restaurants that served foreign food till now, began preparing national dishes.

In the xenophobic panic  tens of thousands including many anti-Nazis who had fled the assault troops of Hitler were arrested. The indiscriminate arrests became a scandal in late summer and there was demand for a correction. A few months later many prisoners were released  And in less than two years there were only about 5,000 men and women; one tenth of the initial amount in British prison camps.

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