A closer look at the life of a child growing up in Britain during World War 2...

Created by: Cameron, Josh, Jason, Fred and Marco

World War II (September 1, 1939-September 2, 1945) was

the largest, most destructive, and most widespread war in

history. During the conflict, more than 50 million people

died and hundreds of millions were wounded, physically

and psychologically. The war, fought on land, sea, and air,

was the epic struggle of the twentieth century and was

central to the whole century. It was caused in large part by

the unresolved issues of World War I (1914-1918), and its

aftermath became the Cold War (1945-1991)

Children had to carry gas masks (called Mickey Mouse gas masks) around with them everywhere they went. Children had to learn to live with strangers and share rations of food. To keep the children busy in the bomb proof bunker they played games for example monopoly and various card games. Children that lived in main cities like London, Berlin and Moscow had to be evacuated to the countryside. Interesting fact : Grenades were occasionally made from whine bottles and other different materials.

At school, children had to learn different things that they would have

never learnt if there wasn't a war going on, for instance first aid, knitting

and learning how to grow food from the ground. Children learnt all sorts

of skills like milking a cow for milk and cheese and lumberjacking for

firewood.

The drill that was most common was the bomb-shelter drill, the children

had to follow the teachers. They had to walk calmly and not run wildly or

other wise the children could hurt themselves. The children who did not

know how to read or write were put into the younger class and the ones

who could were put in the older class, even though some children were

13.

Bread was the main food in the World War 2 for children. Milk was

produced and sold more for children in World War 2. Food like eggs,

meat and fish were consumed more for a healthy lifestyle. Rations

were fairly poor at the time of the war .

To make the British weak, the Germans tried to cut off supplies of food and other goods. German submarines attacked many of the ships that brought food to Britain.

Before the war, Britain imported 55 million tons of food, a month after the war had started this figure had dropped to 12 million.

Around 2.2 million children were evacuated from their homes in

the city to the countryside during World War II. The children had to

endure rationing, gas mask lessons, living with strangers, etc. World

War II was the first war that Britain was targeted itself.

BOYS:

2 vests

2 pairs of pants

Pair of trousers

2 pairs of under pants