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I am puzzled by this cartoon. It obviously relates to the difficulty of getting about in the dark. Is the driver pretending that he can’t see whereas he really can? That would account for his confident tone. I can’t think of another plausible explanation.
1940: Don’t expect that it is going to be glamorous
The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was the organisation which enabled women to work in support of the British army. In no way were they ever expected to be involved in hand to hand fighting but there were many support roles available.
This certainly including driving but as the cartoonist observed women drivers could not expect to be surrounded by outrageously handsome young officers. Nor could they ever expect to see German soldiers eager to surrender when they saw this glamorous apparition. If an ATS driver drove a staff car it would contain a gnarled Colonel or above aged at least 40.
She hasn’t experienced the real thing. If she had she would know which was the alert and which was the all clear. I can still recognise them 78 years later.
I don’t remember sleeping in the shelter. Being there at all tended to be cold and damp. We went into it at the beginning of a raid and got out after the ‘all clear’ was sounded. This cartoon seems to have been drawn before there were any air raids.
This sort of ignorance clearly relates to a time before there were any serious air raids. The bucket would have contained sand so that it could be immediately used to put out the fire caused by an incendiary bomb.
All the other children have placed their gasmasks on the desk in front of them. This small girl tells the teacher that she is safe from poison gas because she has no sense of smell. Just as well then there were no gas attacks on Britain during World War Two.
During World War Two the British government felt the need to ensure that that the population would have enough to eat. By sinking UK bound ships the German U-Boat campaign was designed to ensure that they would not. Strong efforts were made to reduce the need for external supplies by growing more food at home.
The Women’s Land Army was formed to help farmers to do this in spite of their workers having been conscripted. It was formed from all classes of society. This cartoon should not be taken too seriously. The young woman doing the ploughing would not really be accompanied by her rather grand mother. But the mother, conditioned by a Victorian upbringing would really be worrying about the way her daughter was now living. Many such situations were going to occur before the war’s end.