Air Raid Sirens During WWII

In ancient civilizations, drums were used for both music and to deliver messages, including reports about invading armies. As time passed, bells replaced drums. The Middle Ages saw a rise in the use of bells, especially in churches where they were used as an early warning system and general messaging. Several sources indicate that during the mid-1600s, men responding to fires in New York would ring a bell as they approached to alert nearby residents of the danger.

Then came 1799.

A rise in science occurred during the 18th century. Inventions were created, then other scientists offered improvements on those innovations. One such device was the siren. First invented by Scottish physicist John Robison in 1799, French engineer Charles Cagniard de la Tour enhanced and named the siren (most scholars say he took the name from Greek mythology). His siren used a bellows apparatus to force air through its rotor. The pitch could be raised or lowered by increasing or decreasing the speed of the rotor. For the first time, scientists could create tones of specific frequencies. At some point, it was realized sirens could be used to alert citizens of fires and tornadoes.

After World War II commenced, thousands of sirens were installed in cities across Europe to warn of

air raids. All other uses were prohibited. In England, the air raid wardens arranged for the sounding of sirens. Inhabitants were expected to take cover before the raid started. A second “all clear” siren indicated when it was safe to leave shelters.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, authorities on America’s West Coast realized that Japan’s military capabilities could result in an air strike to that part of the country, perhaps even farther inland. Fearing that chaos would ensue with the air raids, officials issued strict instructions about what to do and how to behave. Having anticipated America’s entry into the conflict at some level, President Roosevelt created the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) in May 1941.

One of the more well-known branches of the OCD is that of the air raid wardens. Wardens oversaw the education of their assigned blocks and offered regular practice drills, which typically lasted for thirty minutes. When the siren sounded, wardens would spring to action, patrolling their streets to ensure no lights were visible. By 1943, nearly six million men and women had volunteered.

After the war, the sirens were used in the initial days of the Cold War, but since then, most have fallen silent, except those used to warn of impending tornadoes. It is unknown how many sirens still exist across the nation.

Do you live in an area that uses sirens?

__________________

Love and Chocolate: A Second Chance Romance

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ 

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. 

Whether you choose her books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. Follow the journeys of relatable characters whose faith is sorely tested, yet in the end, emerge triumphant. Be encouraged in your own faith-walk through stories of history and hope.

Photo Credits:

Bell: Pixabay/TooMuchCoffeeMan

All others property of the author

A Helmet for Every Job

Much has been written about air raid wardens and their role in ensuring blackout mandates were adhered to. However, the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) was significantly more.

With the realization that some sort of civilian defense similar to that in the UK was needed to coordinate state and federal measures to protect US citizens, President Roosevelt instituted the OCD in May 1941, more than six months prior to America’s entry into the war.

Headed initially by New York City Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia, the OCD was comprised of four divisions: Federal-State Cooperation, Protection Services, Protective Property, and Industrial Protection. Nine regional offices, each with a paid director coordinated the efforts of state directors, county and city directors and volunteer block leaders. A total of twenty-three branches (each with its own helmet insignia) included staff, bomb reconnaissance, air raid wardens, auxiliary police, auxiliary fireman, fire watchers, demolition and clearance, road repair, rescue, decontamination, medical, nurses’ aides, drivers, messengers, emergency food and housing, utility repair, instructors, Christian chaplains, Jewish chaplains, forest firefighters, civil air patrol, civilian defense auxiliary group, and civilian evacuation service.

In addition to helmets, armbands with each insignia were issued to volunteers. A 38-page handbook,

Author Photo

The United States Citizens Defense Corps, was published which explained the duties and responsibilities of the various positions. Qualifications for membership required “enrollment, physical and mental aptitude, recognition of obligation to study duties, take required training course, and subsequently attend periodical group practice.”

The manual went on to indicate who should join: “All able-bodied, responsible persons in the community – men and women, housewives, laborers, business and professional people – for the mutual protection of all. Boys and girls, and elderly people too, have work to do. The program is broad; the tasks are many; the time is now!”

In less than a year, more than five million volunteers made up 8,459 local civilian defense councils across the nation, mostly in cities and large metropolitan areas. By 1943, the organization had 14,000 local defense councils and more than eleven million volunteers. The federal Agriculture Extension Service helped develop a similar system for rural areas that included neighborhood leaders.

The American Legion worked in collaboration with the OCD to fill emergency-response gaps and help lead protection programs. National Commander Lynn Stambaugh offered Legion posts as training facilities for plane spotters and air-raid wardens. A short time later, the American Legion Citizens Defense Corps Training Program was established, and a 72-page textbook was created. Nearly 400,000 Legionnaires became wardens themselves.

Eleanor Roosevelt saw a need to expand the reach of the OCD to include public health and welfare, and increase citizens’ participation, however, two sources indicate that he felt that was “sissy stuff,” so he decided to hire the First Lady as assistant director. According to her papers and diaries, she was skeptical about taking a government position because she thought being the president’s wife would attract criticism to the OCD. She began working in September, 1941.

Unfortunately, her concerns proved to be real when her involvement became controversial. Accusations of frivolous spending and favoritism in appointments came to a head in early 1942, and she resigned her position in February.

Public Domain

OCD leadership changed four more times during the war. LaGuardia was replaced by Harvard Law School dean James Landis who had formerly served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as being chairman of the SEC. He reorganized the agency, recruited new personnel and transferred some departments to other government agencies. When there had been no air raids or threats by 1943, Landis resigned and suggested that the OCD be abolished.

Roosevelt didn’t agree and appointed Deputy Director John Martin as acting director. After he resigned in 1944, Lt. General William Haskell took over and remained in the position until the organization was terminated by executive order on June 4, 1945. The OCD officially shut down on June 30, 1945.

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The Widow & The War Correspondent

Are a new life and new love possible in a country devastated by war?

Barely married before she’s widowed after Pearl Harbor three years ago, journalist Cora Strealer travels to England where she’s assigned to work with United Press’s top reporter who thinks the last place for a woman is on the front lines. Can she change his opinion before D-Day? Or will she have to choose her job over her heart?

A sought-after journalist, Van Toppel deserves his pick of assignments, which is why he can’t determine the bureau chief’s motive for saddling him with a cub reporter. Unfortunately, the beautiful rookie is no puff piece. Can he get her off his beat without making headlines…or losing his heart?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/m2ZXZG

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves.

Whether you choose her books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. Follow the journeys of relatable characters whose faith is sorely tested, yet in the end, emerge triumphant. Be encouraged in your own faith-walk through stories of history and hope.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Author Photo

The howling wail of a siren evokes myriad emotions, especially when that sound is to warn of possible attacks. As early as 1907, novelist H.G. Wells prophesized threats from the sky in his book “War in the Air.” Four years later, Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti dropped grapefruit-sized bombs by hand from the open canopy of his aircraft during Italy’s fight against the Turkish Ottoman empire in Libya. In a letter to his father, Gavotti wrote, “It is the first time that we will try this and if I succeed, I will be really pleased to be the first person to do it.”

Three years later Britain experienced its first bombing on Christmas Eve during The Great War when a bomb fell in the vegetable garden of Tommy Terson in Dover. Days later, in January 1915, further attacks by the Germans in Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn. During the course of the war, zeppelins would drop bombs in numerous raids, fifty to London alone where more than 1,200 civilians would be killed.

However, the psychological impact was just as great as people experienced a new sort of war, one no longer restrained to the battlefield. Germany’s attacks on Liege, Antwerp, and Paris during the first World War exhibited that aerial bombardment came into its own as an integral strategy that would continue into the Second World War and beyond.

The question surfaced: how to warn the populace of the impending attack?

In ancient civilizations, drums were used for both music and as a way to deliver messages, including

Author Photo

messages about invading armies. Bells replaced drums. The earliest evidence of bells is found in 2000 B.C.E. China, but they would not make their way into Western civilization for another millennia and a half. The Middle Ages saw a rise in the use of bells, especially in churches where they were used as an early warning system and general messaging. Several sources indicate that in the mid-1600s, men responding to fires in New York would ring a bell as they approached to alert nearby residents of the danger.

Then came 1799.

First invented by Scottish physicist John Robison in 1799, French engineer Charles Cagniard de la Tour enhanced and named the siren (most scholars say he took the name from Greek mythology). His siren used a bellows apparatus to force air through its rotor. The pitch could be raised or lowered by increasing or decreasing the speed of the rotor. For the first time, scientists could create tones of specific frequencies. At some point, it was realized that sirens could be used to alert citizens of fires and tornadoes.

By the beginning of World War II, thousands of sirens were installed in cities across Europe to warn of air raids. Any other use was prohibited. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, authorities on America’s West Coast realized that Japan’s military capabilities could result in an air strike. Officials feared that chaos would ensue as a result of the air raids and issued strict instructions about what to do. The Air Raid Warden (who came under the Office of Civilian Defense) came into being. Wardens oversaw the education of their assigned blocks and offered regular practice drills which typically lasted for thirty minutes. When the siren sounded, wardens would spring to action, patrolling their streets to ensure no lights were visible. By 1943, nearly six million men and women had volunteered.

After the war, the sirens were used in the initial days of the Cold War, but since then, most have fallen silent with the exception of those to warn of impending tornadoes. It is unknown how many sirens still exist across the nation.

________________

The Mechanic & The MD

All’s fair in love and war. Or so they say.

High school and college were a nightmare for Doris Strealer and being an adult isn’t much better. Men won’t date a woman of her height, and they don’t understand her desire to repair car engines rather than work as a nurse or a teacher. When her father’s garage closes, and no one will hire a female mechanic, she joins the Red Cross Motor Corps, finally feeling at home. Until she comes face to face with her past in the form of Ronald McCann, the most popular boy in school.

On the brink of a successful career as a surgeon, Ron's plans crumble when he’s drafted and assigned to an evacuation hospital in England, the last place he expects to run into a former schoolmate. The gangly tomboy who was four years behind him in high school has transformed into a statuesque beauty, but a broken engagement in college leaves him with no desire to risk his heart ever again.

Will the hazards of war make or break a romance between this unlikely couple?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3RNpjY

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves.

Whether you choose her books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. Follow the journeys of relatable characters whose faith is sorely tested, yet in the end, emerge triumphant. Be encouraged in your own faith-walk through stories of history and hope.