Liverpool's War - Part 2 of 3

RATIONING

A further fact of life you got used to quite quickly was rationing. Because everything was concentrated on the war effort and most things were in short supply almost everything, in time, became’ rationed ‘by the government. You had to go to the Corporation offices every three months or so and obtain books of ‘coupons’ for every member of the family. When you went to the shops you had to surrender so many coupons as well as money.

IDENTITY CARDS

Before you could get rationing coupons you had to get an Identity Card from the appropriate authority. You had to carry this with you everywhere you went at any time of the day. You had to show it on demand to a police man, A.R.P member or similar.
It was the cheapest ever official document poorly designed and printed on the cheapest paper and yet despite its frequent use during a 6 year war there are many people who still have it locked away at the back of an old wardrobe.

FOOD

What you missed most of all was food. Sometimes you would go to the shops and although you had sufficient money and coupons, the shopkeepers often had no supplies of certain things such as butter, sugar, fruit from overseas — oranges, lemons, grapefruits, bananas etc…There were no fridges or freezers and so you could only buy provisions that were in season.

In fact during 1941 many shops began to close for varying periods due to lack of goods to sell.

Some people showed great ingenuity in supplementing their food supply or their income. If they had a garden, which did not apply in our area of Scotland Rd/Stanley Rd/Kirkdale Rd, they turned their flower beds and lawns into vegetable gardens. Many took to keeping hens, ducks, geese and even pigs, plus the odd cow. Not unnatural I suppose if you had the space but there were many people nearby who did it all in a 12.00 feet x 6.00 feet small paved backyard of a terraced house.

This arrangement was O.K. until some of the livestock got out. This happened from time to time but was more common after an air raid when it was good entertainment to us kids to round them all up. We left the cows and horses (from local horse transport stables) to the adults.

CLOTHES

Clothing was also rationed and in short supply and therefore many people did not throw away any old clothes but sold them to second-hand dealers in the markets.

Shortages bring ingenuity and one example was silk stockings. In those days a young lady would not go out over the week end without stockings. As a last resort they would paint their legs with “stocking paint “ together with a firm black pencil line seam.

Other changes in fashion included:-

The Snood — this had the appearance of a woollen net and was used in factories as a safety factor for women. They became a fashion garment with better coloured and better quality material and were used to go out without a hat
Overalls — overalls had not generally been seen on women outside of factories but the ‘Bib and brace’ overall became quite popular.
The Siren Suit — this seemed to be a re-working of the armed forces’ battledress except that the blouse and trousers were all one single garment. It was popularised by Winston Churchill.
Balaclava — this became a ‘must have’ article of clothing for winter for all members of the family irrespective of age, and it was worn under a hat.
Gaiters — leather lower leg garment with what seemed to be a million studs closed with a special tool and it took hours. Had gone from use by the end of the war.
Silk Underwear — this came into popularity towards the end of the war when parachute silk became available probably on the Black Market

PETROL — CARS

Petrol was in such high demand that it was tightly rationed and available only to registered users on a complicated registering system and obtainable only from a special depot which was called a “pool “. This word was painted on all tankers and similar vehicles.

To prevent “fiddling” the authorities would take the wheels from cars and leave them standing on four piles of bricks so that they could not be driven away.
They also requisitioned some people’s cars, especially if they were large or specialised types, so that they could be used by the armed services or the defence services. I don’t know whether they ever got them back at the end of the war.

BEER — Beer was never rationed and although pubs never closed and beer was never unavailable the pubs from time to time ran out of glasses. This meant that the customers would often be seen with an empty pint glass in their coat pocket. If it “ went missing “ or was broken during the evening fights would ensue.

COAL — Coal and Coke were other items never rationed but sometimes it was not available for various reasons — lack of transport — high demand from key factories — air raid damage — for example — then you had to fall back on ingenuity — the most common ruse was to brush up all bits and pieces and even all the dust from your coal cellar add a little sawdust and chippings and mix it all up with a little water. The resultant mix was then placed in a cardboard box (sugar boxes were just the right construction and size) and “ puddled “ with a stick or iron bar and left to dry under cover. The result was difficult starting, slow burning and low heat value.

POSTERS
One aspect of fighting a war which fascinated me as young as I was, was the poster campaign. Everywhere there was a bit of spare vacant space suddenly sprouted a government poster exhorting us to do or not to do something to help the national war effort. Buses, tramcars, lorries, vans, hospitals, shop fronts, cinemas, sides of the new E.W.S’s, all seemed to be carrying new and varying exhortations to change our slack ways. Some of those I still remember with the appropriate subjects are:-

TRAVEL SAVINGS
IS YOUR JOURNEY REALLY NECESSARY? LEND TO DEFEND
SPEND YOUR HOLIDAYS AT HOME BUY WAR BONDS
SAVE YOUR HOLIDAY MONEY BELONG TO YOUR
SAVINGS GROUP
BUY NATIONAL SAVINGS
CERTIFICATES
LEND TO DEFEND
FOOD CLOTHES
THE NEED IS GROWING KNIT COMFORTS FOR OUR MEN
GIVE A HAND ON THE LAND MAKE DO AND MEND
DIG FOR VICTORY BACK UP OUR FORCES
WE WANT YOUR KITCHEN WASTE
FOOD FROM YOUR GARDEN
SPYING
CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES
BE LIKE DAD AND KEEP MUM
(I’M CONVINCED THIS WAS/IS A JOKE

GIVE US YOUR MONEY
Other ways of raising money to pay for the war and to replace under supply was by way of events designed to appeal to people’s local pride and commitment.
Each city and big town would have an “ AEROPLANE WEEK “ and a few weeks later a “ SPITFIRE WEEK “ followed in due time by a “ WARSHIP WEEK “. each town/city trying their best to outdo the performance of the opposition.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
After a short while you noticed that there were not many young men about. Every man over 18 years old was conscripted by law to join the army, the navy, the airforce or some similar service and some were sent down the coal mines(See Bevin Boys).
Older men or young ones not physically fit for military service were obliged to do some part time war work, such as Air Raid Warden, Fire Watcher, Ambulance Driver or Auxiliary Policeman.
Up to the start of the war most women did not work after marriage and their first baby. Now there was a shortage of labour with so many men away in the forces. So many women went to work especially in those factories that made guns, shells, bullets, hospital supplies, medicines and parachutes. One of Littlewoods’ offices became a parachute factory.
Gradually as the fortune of war appeared to be on the turn confidence was further augmented by the arrival of troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other Commonwealth and Empire
However the most popular were the “ Yanks “ - see (Odd Words) later — especially with the kids because they always had chewing gum, virtually unobtainable here at the time.
“ The Home Services “ — comprised the following as well as others
“ Firewatch “ — at night they patrolled a specific area and immediately gave notice to the Fire brigade of any fire caused by the bombing. They then damped down the fire until the Fire brigade arrived
“ The Home Guard “ — If you’ve seen “Dad’s Army” you know what they did.
“ The Civil Defence/A.R.P. “ — they did lots of things — put out small fires in houses, shops, small factories etc., - gave warning of air raids — helped civilians to the nearest shelter — organised local evacuations — gave first aid — got people to hospital — made sure that people had their gas masks — made sure that blackout and sandbagging regulations were in place — looked after the public shelters and a thousand other things.
“ Women at War “ — Many of those women who did not go into factory or office work were recruited into the “ W.A.A.C.s,” , “ W.R.E.N.S.”, or the “ W.AA.F.s “ — these were uniformed auxiliaries of the Army, Navy, and Air force. There was also the “THE LAND ARMY. This organisation took women from the towns and cities to the countryside where they lived and trained as agricultural workers to keep up the productivity on the land and help feed the civilian population and release pressure on the need to import foodstuffs on the danger haunted naval convoys. They were known as “The Land Girls

ODDS AND SODS MEMORIES
New Brighton Beach. A Sunday out to New Brighton was a kid’s idea of heaven, but from early on in the war you could not get to the water, tide in or out, because, for security in the event of a sea-borne invasion there were great concrete and steel posts holding into the sand the miles of razor-sharp barbed wire to entrap enemy tank invaders. There were lots of posters and notices warning that there were mines about. Try explaining that to 5 to 10 year olds.
There was, and still is, an old anti-landing fort ( PERCH ROCK ) left over from some earlier war (the Napoleon war I was told) and which jutted out into the river, and which was only during low water. On the roof was painted in very large letters “ AFTERNOON TEAS “ and this was supposed to puzzle the Luftewaller and persuade them not to bomb it as it was at the time being used by the Defence Forces
The Royal Daffodil was the name of a famous ferry across the Mersey and was one of the hundreds of “little” ships taken from their home port to Dunkirk to help bring back the hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Great Britain to regroup and retrain for the Normandy landings 4 years later.
JUST “ JET “ - ??
“ Jet “ was a dog but not just any old dog. In fact he was once a very famous dog. He was not famous for living near Calderstones Park. He was famous for being brave. How brave?. Well during the war he sniffed his way into and out of hundreds of bombed buildings, seeking out unexploded charges and finding people who had been trapped during an air raid. After the war he was awarded the DICKENS medal which is the canine equivalent to the Victoria Cross. I know because I read about it in the “Echo

FREE CINEMA
Going to the ‘pictures’ — was always a good idea. To go free of charge was a better one. To go with your mates and no adults was even better. All that you had to do was wander along a main road and very often you would find a gang of your mates crowded around the back of an army lorry. It was the regular visit by a Ministry of Info or such showing how well our troops were doing and urging further exertions to the civilians to speed up our victories.
We never understood that bit but the action was superb!

DISTURBING MEMORIES
Guns — for my first birthday after the end of the war I was given by a friend of the family, of whom I now have no recollection, a magnificent Heinkle air rifle and said to have been used to train the Hitler Youth. It worked perfectly. It was accurate. It cleaned up like a dream. It had no spare/additional ammunition. It was of no use after a couple of weeks.
On moving house in 1952 I came across a box of junk and found a relatively dainty decorated leather purse containing a ‘ladies’ hand gun. I packed it for removal and never thought of asking my Dad the story. It had no ammo and looked like a toy. Apparently it was disposed of in the 1980’s. What it was intended for during the war I cannot imagine.
The feared knock from the boy on the bike — Nobody had a telephone and the military authorities must have thought that the Royal Mail was too slow and open to delay so they always used the telegram delivery service. The one thing a family dreaded was to answer a knock on the door and to see the telegram boy’s bike leaning against the wall. It was never good news.
ODD WORDS
We had to learn some new words and adapt some old words for the new daily way of life. Most of them are now forgotten.
“Monty” — the nickname for Field Marshall Montgomery and commander of all Allied Ground Forces in Europe.
“ Ike “ — nickname for the American General Dwight Eisenhour the overall commander of all Allied Forces in Europe.
“ Winny “ — nickname for Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the U.K. 1940-May 1945
“ Clem “ — nickname of Clement Attlee Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. 1940-May 1945.
“Molotov “cocktail — a lethal bomb consisting of a milk bottle ¾. Full of petrol with a burning wick stuffed in the neck and which was used by occupied partisans against the German forces. Still is use today in certain areas of the globe. It was named after the USSR foreign secretary.
“ Uncle Joe “ — a “cuddly” name given in certain sections of the Western Press to one eventually exposed as possibly the most brutal practitioner of genocide in history.
“Bevin Boy” — Coal Miners who, when conscripted for war, were forced, in many cases against their will, to go back down the mines rather than into the armed forces
“ Barrage Balloon” — a gas filled silver grey unmanned “ floating “ balloon approx 800 feet long by 55 feet wide. They were anchored to the ground by means of a metal bond or rope and encircled key defence positions such as airdromes, factories, docks etc. Good fun was to be had by chasing them after they had broken free of the anchor. They always seemed to be floating slowly and gently, if not ungainly, just over the level of the roof tops but always just missing a collision. Of course they had the advantage as they were not obliged to follow the street pattern as we were. They always escaped.
“Boffin” — nickname given generally to anybody who was of a scientific leaning and who was working (generally) for the government. They were always too clever for the man in the street.
“ Yanks “— or “ Yankees “. Our allies from 1942 to 1945. When they got to Liverpool they were stationed in Aintree and their arrival brought a revival of the World War 1 song “ The Yanks are Coming Over there “ The girls here liked them because they had more money and better clothing than our men. They also brought spirits, cigarettes and nylon stockings. Our men didn’t like them because they had more money, better clothes, cigarettes and nylon stockings. Whatever, over 1,500,000 American troops went through the Port of Liverpool onto the Continent.

“ Doodle Bugs “ — V.1/ and V.2 — Thank God we did not have any of these around Merseyside. They were confined to the Southern counties and London, because of their limited range. We saw the devastation on the News Reels and were grateful when they were eventually stilled.
“ Utility “ — this was a standard laid down by the government which many articles had to attain. It carried certain undertakings regarding quality, fit for purpose and, I think, value for money. The goods themselves bore a sign somewhat like C.C.5 to show that they met these standards. They were still in use many years after the war.
“ SPIV “ — this was an unspeakable person who dealt in the practice of obtaining coupons or goods illegally and selling them on the black market for a much larger sum.
“ Aliens “ — This was one of the saddest stories of the war. For many years earlier there were a fair number of people in this country who were born in, or married to people who came from countries such as Germany, Austria and Italy. Many had fled the persecution used on them by the NAZIS and the FASCISTS. They detested Hitler and Mussolini and lived law abiding lives here. At the outbreak of war they were declared to be Aliens and they had to register. They were then arrested and put into temporary camps such the one that was in Huyton. They were then interned on the ISLE of MAN. Many had British families and friends and both were distressed at their treatment. Many were not deported but were released before the war was over and went back to their British homes

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