” If this country were ever at war the target of the enemy`s bombers would be the staunchness of the people at home. We all hope & work to prevent war but, while there is risk of it, we cannot afford to neglect the duty of preparing ourselves & the country for such an emergency”.
- Samuel Hoare, March 1938. During the late 1930s it was finally realised that war with Hitler`s Germany was a major possibility. As the armed forces began their re-arming, the Home Front was not neglected. In the intervening twenty years since the end of the First World War, war had changed for the worst. Aircraft had progressed & had become potent fighting machines, capable of flying huge distances with large payloads of bombs. The realities of ` Total War` & of the ` Blitz` were almost upon Britain & ” Air Raid Precautions” was sent out to almost every home in the l&. Filled with useful advice, much of which was to become second nature to those in our industrial heartland & large cities, ” Air Raid Precautions” became a classic of wartime reading, so much so that Britain`s ” Air Raid Precautions” was printed in its entirety, with no changes, for the American, New Zealand & Australian householder too.