Британская система гражданской обороны во время войны

British civil defence programme

Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s and 30s, with the Raid Wardens' Service set up in 1937 to report on bombing incidents. Every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties, and liaison with police and fire brigades. From 1 September 1939, ARP wardens enforced the "blackout". Heavy curtains and shutters were required on all private residences, commercial premises, and factories to prevent light escaping and so making them a possible marker for enemy bombers to locate their targets. With increased enemy bombing during the Blitz, the ARP services were central in reporting and dealing with bombing incidents. They managed the air raid sirens and ensured people were directed to shelters. Women were involved in ARP services through the Women's Voluntary Service. The Auxiliary Fire Service was set up in 1938 to support existing local fire services, which were amalgamated into a National Fire Service in 1941. From 1941 the ARP officially changed its title to Civil Defence Service to reflect the wider range of roles it then encompassed. During the war almost 7,000 Civil Defence workers were killed. Between 1949 and 1968 many of the duties of the Civil Defence Service were resurrected through the Civil Defence Corps.

During the First World War Britain was bombed by Zeppelins and Gotha bombers and it was predicted that large scale aerial bombing of the civilian population would feature prominently in any future war. In 1924, the Committee of Imperial Defence set up a subcommittee to look at what measure could be taken to protect the civil population from aerial attack. The new committee, known as Air Raid Precautions, was headed by the then Lord Privy Seal, Sir John Anderson. For the next ten years this committee looked into issues of new aerial weapons development and the possible impact on civilians. The use of gas attacks in the First World War played heavily on the decisions and protection via gas masks was a core decision taken by the committee. Every single person would need a gas mask which meant nearly 40 million would be required. Together with ideas around the building of air raid shelters, evacuations of people and blackout requirements these were all termed passive air defence. With the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany's remilitarisation during the 1930s, a further Home Office committee, the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Department, was created in March 1935. This department replaced the earlier subcommittees and took overall control of the British response to passive air defence. In April 1937, the Air Raid Wardens' Service was created which aimed to seek some 800,000 volunteers (some 200,000 people had joined by mid 1938, and following the Munich Crisis of September 1938 another 500,000 had enrolled). After the bombing of Guernica, Gaumont British began distributing newsreels on air raid safety to British cinemas. Wardens gave ARP advice to the public and were responsible for reporting bombs and other incidents, and were joined by the Women's Voluntary Service in May 1938.

The role of ARP services came into their own during the Blitz of 1940–41. ARP control centres would sound the air raid sirens and wardens would marshal people into the shelters and then watch out for the fall of any bombs within their sector – often done during air raids and therefore highly dangerous. When the wardens came across the site of a bombing they would telephone for the emergency services, render first aid to victims with minor injuries and deal with small fires (placing sand on incendiary devices). Other ARP units included first aid, light and heavy rescue parties, stretcher parties and messenger boys and girls (who cycled between incidents carrying messages from wardens). Other duties included helping to police areas suffering bomb damage and helping bombed out householders. They were also tasked with keeping an emergency under control until official rescue services arrived. From 1 September 1939 a small percentage of ARP wardens were full time and were paid a salary (£3 for men, £2 for women), but most were part time volunteers who carried out their ARP duties as well as full time jobs. Part time wardens were supposed to be on duty about three nights a week, but this increased greatly when the bombing was heaviest. One in six was a woman, and amongst the men there were a significant number of veterans of World War I.

At the beginning of the war, ARP wardens had no uniform, but wore their own clothes (wardens wore helmets, arm bands and badges on their civilian clothes) and in October 1939 issued with 'bluette' overalls with a red on black 'ARP' badge. From the formation of the ARP until 1939, the badges were produced by the Royal Mint and made of solid sterling silver, with a crescent shaped button hole attachment for men and a pin style brooch for women. From 1940 on, the badges were made of a base metal. From May 1941 full time and regular part time wardens were issued with dark blue battledress and beret. Women were issued with a four pocket tunic, again in dark blue serge with skirt. There were around 1.4 million ARP wardens in Britain during the war. Full time ARP staff peaked at just over 131,000 in December 1940 (nearly 20,000 were women). By 1944, with the decreasing threat from enemy bombing, the total of full time ARP staff had dropped to approximately 67,000 (10,000 of whom were women). Volunteers in 1944 numbered nearly 800,000 (of whom 180,000 were women).

Many wardens went considerably beyond the call of duty and a search of medal citations in the London Gazette demonstrates this. The first ARP warden to receive the George Cross was Thomas Alderson, who won his award for actions saving civilian life in Bridlington in 1940.