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.... Roles & Duties |
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Duty in the Armed Forces....
Many local men and women left the town to serve in the armed forces. Given the town's maritime traditions, I suspect that a fair few opted for the Royal or Merchant Navies and saw action at sea.
Duty in Other Services....
Older members of the community, those unfit for service and people in reserved occupations were drafted into other services.... such as the Home Guard (based at the Drill Hall in Cromwell Road), the ARP, medical services and Observer Corps. Some of these are described below....
Reserved Occupations...
Some people worked in Reserved Occupations including vital duties in the emergency services such as the fire brigade. However, this could involve disruption and dangers....
The Home Guard....
The Home Guard used the Drill Hall in Cromwell Road as their base. Now, thanks to Alan Hadler, we can provide some details of the unit...
Fire Brigade & Medical Service..
Apart form the defence of Britain, many people played vital and dangerous roles in rescue and medical services....
Observation....
Although Britain operated radar, less sophisticated means of "spotting" were needed to provide backup and detailed observation....
Due to their prominent locations and design, church towers were often used for aircraft observation. In Whitstable, All Saints Church provided one such location.
Firewatch...
There were other forms of watch duty needed to alert local emergency services....
In fact, as you will see from our other pages, special arrangements were introduced for incendiary bombs and Whitstable did suffer such attacks.
Industry and Agriculture....
Whilst Britain's island status helped to protect it against invasion, it also posed a threat in terms of lines of supply. With Europe occupied by enemy forces, those lines stretched across an entire ocean in which German U-Boats were proving a deadly threat. It was vital that the country stepped up home production of raw materials, equipment and food. With so many young men drafted into the services, problems arose in keeping vital industry functioning. Thus, many women took their place in the factories to produce vital equipment for the war effort....
Every piece of suitable land was used for food production and many young women played a vital role.... in the Land Army.
Vital Role of Women...
Apart from the roles mentioned above, many young women joined the armed forces and played vital roles in a wide range of activities including driving military vehicles and manning guns....
They also undertook secret and (sometimes dangerous) intelligence operations.
Duty of Mums
With so many men away on active duty, women held families together and single-handedly guided their children through testing times. Some of the problems involved in this task are discussed in our Family at War chapter.
Emancipation?
It is worth pointing out here that the war laid down a major stepping stone in the path towards equality of the sexes. Emily Pankhurst may have kick started the process but the years from 1939 to 1945 gave emancipation a big push. Things would never be quite the same again.
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