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Rationing
During the blitz there were three major commodities rationed. The government set up the rationing system in case
the blitz would last even longer than predicted. Rationing for the people of London was so tough, because they didn't
have very much due to the the constant bombings. The first important commodity rationed was food. Food became
very sparse due to the large demand on importation that England possessed. England did not have the ability to raise
many cattle, or have the climate for a lot of fruits. This led to England importing many of its necessary goods.
The German U-Boat blockades that existed in the Atlantic ocean kept many of these imports from coming to London. These
blockades limited the amount of food that each family could have, and especially meat was very rare. Most of the meat
was imported from Argentina and Australia and without these trades, England was denied meat.
The second good that was rationed was clothing. Much of the clothing that was produced ended up in the hands of
the army. The soldiers in battle always needed a constant supply of spare clothing, and this led to shortages of
cloth and pre-made clothing. Because the army received so much of the clothing, the people of London often times were
without any cloth to buy. When cloth was available it became so expensive, that the typical family could only afford
one pair of clothes per year (when using the rationing book). A rationing book was introduced that supplied each person
with a number of points. The points could be traded in for food or clothing, but there were not a lot of these points
in each yearly book.
The last good rationed was gasoline (petrol). Petrol was very hard to find throughout London, because of its constant
need in battle. All of the tanks, planes, and other war apparatus' used petrol. This made it very sparse throughout
the nation. Each citizen was given between 4-10 gallons of gas (depending on how far they had to travel) for each time
they filled up their car. This led to public transportation becoming more important. Public buses, however, had
their own problems. Buses were not receiving the necessary petrol, and this led to problems with the bus scheduling.
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Blackouts
The second major precaution was blackouts. A few weeks into the blitz, the Germans changed their day attacks to
night attacks. They believed that if the Germans could not tell the difference between a city and the fields, then they
might not be as successful in hitting London. Two months into the blitz the blackouts began. No one was allowed
to have lights on in their houses, stores, or public buildings. Due to this lack of light many accidents occurred.
People began tripping over curbs, running into objects, and being hit by cars. This became very dangerous to all of
the people throughout the city. Many of them decided not to go out during the night, and they just stayed at home
or in a bomb shelter. These types of accidents affected about 20% of the population directly, and it came at a very
poor time.
Most of the city believed that the blitz would only last for two months, and now that two months had come, and passed
many were getting worried. The citizens were curious as to how much longer they would be subjected to the German blitz.
As no answer to their question became more evident, the government took more and more precautions. The blackout precaution
led to much sadness and distrust of the government. Unfortunately for the people of London, the Germans did not seem
to be missing the city of London too often, and the blackouts put a demeanor over the entire city. This helped to crumble
the spirit of the people, because they believed that it was all going to be over, but they began experiencing the worst and
most painful times of the blitz.
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