1940: Who is the victim?
This looks like Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. The audience look anything but hysterical. It is the speaker himself who is open to that accusation.
1940: Who is the victim?
This looks like Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. The audience look anything but hysterical. It is the speaker himself who is open to that accusation.
A bit like some threads here MrMagoo
No names, of course!
1940: Ignoring the risk
This cartoon is one of a group which praises people who simply ignore the risk of becoming a victim of an air raid. This was unwise.
However, I do remember that as a 13 year old schoolboy I would not take shelter during air raids on the way home from school. Instead I would collect warm pieces of shrapnel. I didn’t tell my mother that. That was not the only time that I was very lucky. I didn’t tell my mother that.
1940: Insisting on finding humour in air raids
If this scenario is to be thought authentic is must have occurred far away from London or any big towns. The residents of those conurbations would learn the difference very quickly.
1940: The reality of air raids
For once we are confronted with what actually happens during air raids. The artist is trying hard to find humour in the face of massive destruction.
Personally, I think he succeeded
1940: A surreal attempt at humour
Military zones were declared to prevent secret installations being compromised. The artist here is presenting us with a fantastic impossibility.
1940: London bombing
This cartoon was literally true. Some buildings in the vicinity of St Paul’s Cathedral had indeed been wiped out affording a better view. As this is a cartoon I wonder whether we are meant to see this as a gross exaggeration. It wasn’t.
Amazing that St Paul’s was left standing, it must have become a prime target.
It was not a miracle. It was protected by a team of wardens on hand for just such a situation. There were enough of them to put out the many incendiary bombs that landed on the roof. In 1940 the incendiary bombs were quite small and could quite easily be extinguished if you got there quickly enough.
The surrounding buildings did not get that kind of cover. The cathedral was top priority.
As I understand it, St Paul’s was bombed. I think a bomb went through the dome and the altar was damaged.
Could have been much worse. A HE bomb could have destroyed much of the building.
An act of God?
1940: After the war…
The grim looking woman is not all pleased to be losing her wrought iron gate to be melted down and appears to believe that it can be reconstituted into its original shape. No chance of that happening.
1943: Infantry training
David Langdon exaggerates quite a bit. I like the touch of the barbed wire at the very top of this obstacle. The date of this cartoon suggests that preparations for D-Day are already in full swing. On that operation the ability to climb up sheer cliffs would indeed be required.
1941: Lady at the plough
A harmless fantasy is at work here. The Land Army woman would in reality have to keep both hands on the plough. Her knitting needles are sticking out of her pocket.
Ha! Love it
1943: The Navy’s here!
The large vessel is flying the red ensign (union jack in the top left hand corner.) This means that it is not the Royal, but the Merchant Navy. The really small arrival is flying the white ensign (union hack also in the top left hand corner). This is the Royal Navy, the fighting service. It isn’t going to be able to provide much help. The red duster ship is more heavily armed than the white duster ship – that is the ironic point of this cartoon.
The background to this cartoon is the long standing conflict between ships supplying Britain and the German U-boats determined to sink these ships. Britain’s ability to continue the fight depended on enough of these supplies getting through.
1941: Out of his league
The young soldier has hoped to achieve an amorous adventure but her glare convinces him that he was wrong.
1940: Checking up on those who do the checking up
The alarming woman in the car has just been asked to prove her identity. She has turned the tables on the Home Guard sentries and insisted that they prove their identity.
We all had to carry identity cards with us during the war. I can even remember my identity card number. Most of the modern numbers have not stayed in my mind.
1941: The Morrison Shelter
For a while I slept in a bedroom that was fitted with this cage like structure. It was called the Morrison Shelter named after Herbert Morrison who was Home Secretary in the war-time coalition. It had a metal roof to protect people from objects falling directly on top. The mesh was there to protect people from horizontal flying objects. During my time there it was never used as a shelter.
Here again this cartoon sought to make light of the real danger that people faced. A purpose built underground shelter offered much better protection.