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Sheffield Blitz

Sheffield Blitz. Sheffield Archives and Local Studies: History Key Stage 2 Unit 9 Sections 2 and 3 ( What was it like for children in the Second World War? What was the Blitz? Why were children evacuated?). Sheffield as a Blitz Target.

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Sheffield Blitz

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  1. Sheffield Blitz Sheffield Archives and Local Studies: History Key Stage 2 Unit 9 Sections 2 and 3 (What was it like for children in the Second World War? What was the Blitz? Why were children evacuated?)

  2. Sheffield as a Blitz Target • These are pictures of Sheffield steel works in operation before the Second World War. • Sheffield was famous for making steel and the city’s steel works produced many of the weapons used by British soldiers in both the First and Second World Wars.

  3. Sheffield as a Blitz Target • These are extracts from secret German plans to bomb Sheffield during the Second World War. • As part of Hitler’s plans to invade Britain, the Germans started to bomb Britain's cities in air raid attacks from September 1940, hoping that the British would panic and surrender. • This period was known as The Blitz. 'Blitz' comes from the German word 'blitzkrieg', which means 'lightning war'. • According to the 2nd document, how many aircraft were the Germans planning on sending to attack Sheffield? Why do you think the Germans were particularly interested in targeting Sheffield?

  4. Defence Barrage balloon Anti-aircraft guns • These are pictures showing some of the ways Sheffield tried to defend itself from attack by German aircraft during the Blitz. • How might each of the following have helped in the defence of the city? • Barrage balloons • Anti-aircraft guns • Sandbags Sandbags

  5. Defence • These are Sheffield pictures of people wearing gas masks. • At the start of the Second World War there was a fear in Britain that German bomber planes would drop poison gas bombs and so the government gave out gas masks to all British people. • People were expected to put on their gas masks during an air raid. • What do you think was the purpose of the gas mask? s02555[1]

  6. Defence • These are photographs of air raid shelters in gardens in Sheffield. They were known as ‘Anderson Shelters’. • Anderson Shelters were half buried in the ground with earth heaped on top to protect them from bomb blasts. • As soon as enemy aircraft were spotted in the night sky, air raid sirens sounded to warn everyone that an air raid was coming. • On hearing an air raid siren, many people chose to go into air raid shelters rather than stay in their homes in case their houses were hit by bombs. • What do you imagine conditions would have been like in these shelters? • What might you have taken with you into an air raid shelter during an air raid?

  7. Defence • These are Sheffield cartoons of Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Wardens. • ARP Wardens helped to defend the city. Their duties included: • Making sure everyone turned off their lights at night time when an air raid was expected (this was known as ‘blackout’). • Handing out gas masks and organising air raid shelters. • Reporting on bomb damage and helping emergency and rescue services. • Why do you think it was important for lights to be switched off during an air raid? • What different pieces of equipment can you identify being carried by the warden on the left? What do you think he might have used each item for?

  8. Evacuation • These are extracts from Sheffield School Log Books (school diaries) mentioning government plans to ‘evacuate’ school children. • ‘Evacuation’ meant moving people to safer places outside the city to protect them during the Blitz. Why do you think children would have been safer in smaller towns and the countryside? • In early September 1939, with heavy German bomb attacks looming, 20 special trains took 155 groups of Sheffield children to places like Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. • What happened to the schools during the evacuation period according to the documents? Did the children travel alone?

  9. Evacuation • These are newspaper pictures of children from a school in Carbrook, Sheffield, preparing for evacuation. • Most children were evacuated in school groups with their teachers. Children and their teachers met in the school grounds. They wore name tags and carried their gas masks in cardboard boxes over their shoulders. • What object in the sky are the children looking at in the first picture?

  10. Evacuation • This is a photograph of Sheffield children about to board a train and be evacuated. • Many children were sent away from their families for months (and sometimes years) until it was thought safe for them to return. • How do you think these Sheffield children are feeling?

  11. Blitz • This is a map showing where the bombs fell in the Sheffield Blitz (bombs are marked by dots). • Can you identify where on the map your school would have been located? • Were there any bombs which fell nearby?

  12. Blitz • These are photographs showing the impact of the Blitz on Sheffield. • The main attacks on Sheffield took place on the nights of 12/13th and 15/16th December 1940. On 12th December over 330 German aircraft are believed to have attacked the city. • Two nights later the bombers returned and 90 enemy aircraft attacked the city. • Almost 700 people were killed during the air raids. Over 82,000 houses were damaged. 106 out of a total of 154 Sheffield schools were damaged, with 8 being completely destroyed.

  13. Blitz • These are more extracts from Sheffield school log books (school diaries) written the day after air raid attacks on the city. • What particular damage did the bombings do to these schools? • Why do you think the schools were closed? • What happened to children who turned up to school the day after the bombings?

  14. Blitz • Look at the statistics on the left for the Blitz attacks on Sheffield in December 1940. • To the nearest 100, how many people were killed? • How many unexploded bombs were found? • Were more buses destroyed in the city or more pictures lost in the art gallery? • Read the account on the next slide of Muriel Rodgers who was a schoolgirl in the Sheffield Blitz and see if you can answer the following questions: • Why didn’t Muriel’s dad join the family in the air raid shelter at first? • What emotions did Muriel feel as she entered the shelter that night? • What animal did she compare herself to and why? • How did Muriel’s mum suggest they entertain themselves in the shelter? • What nasty shock did the family get when they climbed out of the shelter the following morning?

  15. Blitz

  16. Rescue • This is a photograph taken after a bomb raid on Sheffield. What is happening? • Once an air raid was over, a siren sounded the “all clear” and people went outside to survey the damage. • Some found their homes destroyed. Others found dead or injured relatives and friends. • Explosive bombs, fire bombs and delayed action bombs (or “time bombs”) kept police, fire fighters, bomb disposal men, ambulance drivers and air raid wardens very busy. • More recently, other parts of the world have suffered similar destruction to that illustrated in the photograph as a result of disasters other than war. Can you think of any examples?

  17. Rescue • These are extracts from an air raid report describing the rescue of a boy and his parents from a house on Ellesmere Road, Sheffield, and the bravery shown by an air raid warden, H K Sandford. • How did Warden H K Sandford get into the bombed house? • How did the boy Kenneth Middleton help the rescuers?

  18. Peace and Reconstruction • Despite the terrible bombings, British cities like Sheffield stood firm and refused to surrender. • In May 1945, Germany was defeated and the Second World War was over in Europe. • The black and white pictures on the left are taken from a Sheffield Town Planning Exhibition in 1945, showing plans to rebuild large parts of the city. • Why do you think Sheffield would have needed to make special plans to rebuild the city after the war? • If you were responsible for rebuilding Sheffield what changes/improvements would you make?

  19. Recap • 1. Why was Sheffield targeted by the Germans during the Blitz? • 2. Name three ways the city tried to defend itself from attack/protect its people. • 3. In what month and year did Sheffield suffer its worst air raids? • 4. To the nearest 100 how many Sheffield people were killed in the air raids? • 5. Give one example of an ARP Warden’s duties.

  20. Sheffield Archives and Local Studies If you prefer to use this presentation as a basis for a class visit to Archives and Local Studies or in a visit by us to your class please contact us. Students will have the opportunity to see and touch the original items. We offer Access to original primary source material from Tudor times through to the 21st century. Class visits to the Central Library and to Sheffield Archives. Visits to schools to deliver classroom sessions. Introductory sessions for teaching staff. Online PowerPoint lesson resources. Focus Packs of colour facsimiles linked to the National Curriculum. www.sheffield.gov.uk/archives

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