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The air raid histories written shortly after the war include a wealth of information about the running of the Civil Defence Services. I recently obtained a copy of the book covering events in the city of Gloucester. It's full of detail but this short piece about air raid warning messages and colours is most interesting. "The siren was operated immediately the "Action Warning" message was received and this was timed to give not less than five minutes warning to that part of the district nearest the raiders’ line of approach. Some departments, however, e.g. A.R.P. organisations, both local and industrial, needed a longer interval than five minutes in which to make necessary preparations; to these an earlier message, called the Preliminary Caution, was sent, possibly about ten minutes before the Action Warning. This was kept confidential and was never divulged to the public. Other messages in the early days are given below: Preliminary Caution; was Air Raid message YELLOW Action Warning; was Air Raid message RED Raiders Passed; was Air Raid message GREEN Cancel Caution; was Air Raid message WHITE and most A.R.P. Headquarters, Posts and Depots devised a system of coloured lights or cardboard discs to correspond, so that all present could easily see the situation. In July 1940 an additional message, “Air Raid Message PURPLE” was introduced; issued only during the hours of blackout, this was a ‘lights’ warning, and on its receipt, all exempted lighting in docks, factories, transport undertakings, etc., had to be extinguished, and the Police might direct motorists to extinguish head lights. At the same time "Air Raid Message GREEN" was abolished, the WHITE serving the purpose of cancelling all messages which preceded it. In October 1941 the "Air Raid Message YELLOW" was abolished leaving only PURPLE, RED and WHITE, and these three remained throughout, except for certain modifications in 1944 to meet the new situation caused by flying bomb attacks. At the outset and for some considerable time thereafter, the messages were originated by Fighter Command, based on information received by them from the Royal Observer Corps. Finally, warnings were initiated direct by local warning officers of the R.O.C."  City of Gloucester Civil Defence history
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Adrian and George Blake have published Volume II of their Helmets of the Home Front. As with Volume I, this is a privately published labour of love and includes 377 pages of in-depth analysis and colour photos of rare helmets. The section on Control and Controllers helmets is fantastic. It's a must-have for anyone with an interest in the British home front during the Second World War. To get a copy, search for the authors on Facebook groups or online.  Helmets of the Home Front II A previous blog covered Francis Chichester's 'Night & Fire Spotting', but he also published 'The Spotter's Handbook' in 1941. It outlined the role and use of roof spotters and provided details on the various German aircraft, etc.  'The Spotter's Handbook' by Francis Chichester Not often for sale is this tome, 'Night & Fire Spotting' by Francis Chichester. The author used his aeronautical experience to publish a technical book about bombing in 1941. It was primarily targeted at businesses to reduce the loss of production due to false air raids. Chichester, a pre-war aviator, joined the RAFVR in 1941 as an Air Navigation Specialist. In the late 1950s, he took up yachting. Between 27 August 1966 and 28 May 1967, he became the first person to achieve a true circumnavigation of the world solo from west to east via the three capes. He was knighted in July 1967.  ‘Night & Fire Spotting’ by Francis Chichester, 1941 If you have even a passing interest in the British Home Front during the Second World War, chances are you'll have seen a photograph taken by George Rodger. He was a war photographer for LIFE, the American magazine, and his photos of the London Blitz are some of the best taken. I recently came across a second-hand book called "The Blitz – The Photography of George Rodger". It's an excellent book with many fascinating photos. It can be bought for under a fiver on eBay and I recommend it to everyone. A biography of George Rodger is available online.  "The Blitz" The Photography of George Rodger |
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