MASS OBSERVATION ARCHIVE
Papers from the Mass-Observation Archive at the University of Sussex

Part 7: Topic Collections - Air-Raids, Morale and the Blitz

There are over 80 Topic Collections in the Mass-Observation Archive at the University of Sussex covering issues as diverse as Adult & Higher Education; Air Raids; Anti-Semitism; Beveridge Report Surveys; Commodities; Drinking Habits; Happiness; Housing; Leisure; Personal Appearance and Clothes; Reconstruction; Sexual Behaviour; Shopping; Work and Youth.  These represent surveys and investigations carried out by Mass-Observation mainly between 1937 and 1949, with some later files for the 1960s and 1970s.

This seventh part continues coverage of Topic Collections relating to the Home Front During World War II.  Specifically, this part covers:

Air-Raids, 1938-1945 (TC23, 12 boxes)
Propaganda and Morale, 1939-1944 (TC43, 5 boxes)
London Survey, 1940 (TC65, 5 boxes)

There is exceptional material on the Blitz, with first-hand accounts of air-raids, descriptions of the devastation caused and the impact that this had on those concerned.

London was not alone in sustaining damage and there is also extensive coverage of air-raids across the country, including: Aberdeen, Barrow-in-Furness,  Billingshurst, Birmingham, Bishop Auckland, Bolton, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Bromley, Campbeltown, Argyllshire, Cambridge, Cardiff, Caterham, Cheltenham, Chepstow, Clacton, Clydeside (including Glasgow), Coventry, Croydon, Derby, Doncaster, Eastbourne, Exeter, Gateshead, Great Malvern, Harrow, Hastings, Huddersfield, Hull, Isle of Dogs, Leatherhead, Leeds, Leek, Leicester, Liverpool, Loughborough, Lowestoft, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Norwich, Northampton, Oxford, Petersfield, Plumstead, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Radlett, Redcar,  Romford, Salford, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Southend, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon, Trowbridge, Watford, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Woodbridge, Worcester, and York.

There is material on the preparations that were made for the raids and the reparations that followed them.  There is much on the ARP and fire services and on the building of shelters.  Above all, these papers capture the experience of ordinary people caught up in the war.

The following extracts give a flavour of the material:

A group of six men were looking quietly at the Cathedral ruins.  They said little, but awful and terrible were words they applied to the scene.  When one middle-aged man remarked And this is the Twentieth Century, he probably epitomised the feelings of the whole group. (TC23, Box 8, File T: Description of the aftermath of a raid on Coventry).

Dont remember when a.r. warning went: was enlarging Joyces portraits went from dark room to scullery to examine in light.  Heard what sounded like cannon (machine cannon which had heard before during dog-fights over town). As stood at door opening to yard, cannon fire very loud: heard some things falling & thinking these might be empty shells, went in - as did so heard bangs definitely very loud and close, quickly land on face on scullery floor & put head under sink - another bang.  Heard more stuff coming down - glass and rubble .  (TC23, Box 8, File G: Description of air-raid over Brighton).

The village of Radlett is not more than twenty miles from London.  But the impression that many people have is that London is razed to the ground, crucified as a waiter said.  One lady living in St Johns Wood wont risk even going back for a day to her house, another refuses to visit her house in Kensington.  Apparently part of this scare had been caused by a lady from Golders Green who had produced some very vivid stories.  (TC65 Box 4, File A).

[I] got the impression that people whose homes are completely destroyed seem to have a more carefree attitude to the whole situation, and to be much more optimistic and full of plans, than those whose homes were only partially damaged - windows broken, etc.  A woman who has kept a little shop and finds it reduced to a heap of rubble would display quite an amount of gaiety and joking good humour about it, while one whose windows had been blown in and spoilt the current load of goods tended to be just miserable, and sometimes full of grievances about compensation etc (about which there seems to be almost total ignorance and many rumours on all hands).  It seemed that total destruction brings with it a sense of relief from responsibility. (TC23, Box 7, File A).

Topic Collection 43 (Propaganda & Morale) looks at the psychological impact of the bombing campaign and also at a wider range of issues such as attitudes towards Evacuation, Jews, War Aims and the like.  In Tom Harrissons words: Its value is that it tells us exhaustively about the lower professional group (shopkeepers, clerks, civil servants) who probably dominate the country numerically and otherwise.