Life on the Homefront

WHAT IS THE HOMEFRONT?

The Homefront

• Refers to civilian activities during wartime– NOT soldiers!

• Total war: when a country mobilizes all available resources and population.

HELPING THE WAR CAUSE

War Bonds

• Government needed money to purchase equipment and pay soldiers.

• People could buy War Savings Certificates or Victory Bonds.– WSC paid back $5 for every $4 invested after 7

years.– VB varied in interest rates and years to mature.

• About half of the Canadian war cost was covered by these bonds.

Stamps

• War Savings Stamps allowed people to contribute in smaller amounts than a bond.

• Stamps could be collected and later traded in for a bond.

Volunteering

• Women volunteered in recycling programs, the Red Cross, or in military canteens.

• Organized packages to be sent to Allied POWs in Axis countries.

CHILDREN HELP OUT

Children’s Work

• Children salvaged materials to recycle:– Rubber, scrap metal, glass, paper, and fat.

Children’s Work• Children wrote letters to soldiers overseas,

and helped pack Red Cross boxes for them.• Girl Guides and Boy Scouts ran fundraisers,

salvage drives, and sold war stamps.• Girls knit socks and hats, and made quilts to

send to the evacuated children in Britain.

RATIONING

Rationing

• Goods needed to go to the war effort.

• Coupon booklets were issued to buy rationed goods.

• Rationed goods included: sugar, tea, coffee, butter, meat and gasoline.

• Public transit became overloaded when people couldn’t afford gas for their cars.

Rationing

• Rationing made some products difficult to find, so people needed to find replacements.

• Nylon was limited, so women’s stockings became scarce.

• People grew gardens to produce their own extra food.

WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE“Roll up your sleeves for victory!”

Joining the Workforce

• To encourage women to fill jobs left by men, the government offered free child-care and tax breaks.

• By 1944, the women in the workplace had doubled.

• Unemployment disappeared.

WOMEN IN THE FORCES

Corps for Women

• Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC)

• Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division

• Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Services (WRENS)

Women’s Roles in the Forces

• Not allowed to join active combat.• Worked support jobs to free up men for

combat.– In clerical, administrative and communicative

areas.• Over 45,000 women enlisted during war.• 1 in 9 enlisted women served overseas.

WORKING IN RURAL CANADA

Agricultural

• Agriculture is extremely important during times of war, especially for:– Soldiers– Civilians near the front line

• Farmers’ sons and farm workers were not given compulsory military service.

• Rural children helped out on farms.

Working Women

• Women ran the farm while their husbands or fathers were away.

• Worked in forestry as ‘lumberjills.’

TRAINING IN CANADA

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP)

• Britain was not a good place to train because:– Bad weather– Chance of bombings– Airfields being used by active pilots

• Canada was an ideal location because of:– Good weather– Large open spaces to train– Not too close to the European or Pacific fronts

• A joint training program between Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP)

• WLMK saw this as a chance to keep Canadians safe at home.

• Over 167,000 students graduated between 1940 and 1945 as:– Pilots– Navigators– Air gunners– Bomb aimers– Wireless operators– Flight engineers

CAMP X AND INTREPID

Camp X• Officially named Special

Training School 103.• Trained Canadian, British and

American agents who were to be dropped behind enemy lines as spies and saboteurs.

• Trained over 2000 Allied recruits, many who graduated and continued training in Britain.

Hydra

• Hydra was a sophisticated telecommunications centre in Camp X.

• Coded Allied messages and decoded German messages.

• Handled most of the secret Allied messages that came across the Atlantic Ocean.

Hydra

Camp X Spies

• The Camp X pupils were taught:– Silent killing– Sabotage– Recruitment methods for resistance movements– Demolition– Map reading– Use of various weapons– Morse code

“Intrepid”

• “Intrepid” is the wartime intelligence codename for Sir William Stephenson.

• Ran the British Security Coordination (BSC) in New York, before establishing Camp X.

• He was the senior representative for British Intelligence in North America during WWII.

“Intrepid”

• James Bond is rumoured to be based on Sir William Stephenson, and Sir Ian Fleming likely trained at Camp X.