Women of the World Wars Worked

In general, the roles of women were the same in both World War I and World War II. Many went off to work so as to fill in spots vacated by men, while some remained at home and took care of the family.

Women in both World Wars served mainly in factories, where large numbers of men had previously worked. They also took on such jobs as nursing and care.

In World War II however, women took on an even larger variety of jobs that were originally "men-only". Some, especially in the Soviet Union, joined front-line-combat divisions of the military, while others did skilled labor in the factories (as opposed to being barred from operating the more complex machinery).

In summary, the role of women in World War II was similar in that women took jobs to replace the men, and that some left once the men (who survived...) returned. However, their roles between World War I and II differ in that women in World War II had a much larger variety of jobs and were allowed to take on the more traditionally male jobs. This led eventually to women's suffrage.

Total war is just as the name suggests. It is a war that totally involves the nation (that sentence sounded very "surfer-brah"-like. Ugh.) and relies on everyone to help support the war efforts. Total war's pull was powerful enough to break down the previously male-dominated structure of society- if only temporarily.

Rosie the Riveter

The role of women in both WWI and WWII are fundamentally the same. However, the role of women in WWII has more significance to modern America, which can be attributed to such figures as Rosie the Riveter. Ultimately, Rosie was an icon that sparked awareness of female roles in the war throughout America. At this point in history (especially during total war), it was expected that women partake in the highly critical and valiantly patriotic war industry. Yet we see that as female roles increased, they were able to form their own sub-category of prominence in the war and American society; something we certainly did not see during or after WWI. It is even fair to say that WWII jump started the female role in working American society, an issue that became prevalent after women realized their value and potential in the work force. And for the first time in American History, women were portrayed through propaganda and nationalism as symbols of patriotism and dedication through work. Although these working contributions seemed to be an afterthought following WWII, it was enough to upstart a civil movement.

Rosie the Riveter

Although the image of Rosie the Riveter has gained international fame for symbolizing the beginning of the introduction of women to the workplace, this, in fact, was not a novelty at the time. Back in World War I, millions of women served as nurses, worked in munitions factories, or even sewed clothes for soldiers.

During World War II, women filled the same jobs as in World War I, but also a few new ones, due to the time, and progress in women's rights, that took place in between the wars. For example, women were even allowed to fight in World War II in special battalions. To me, that can be considered a point in history when they truly acquired the social status of women. Also, because the USA was much more involved in WWII than WWI, by the middle of WWII, it was said that 89% of all jobs were open and accessible to women, whereas at the beginning of the war, only 25% of all jobs were accessible to them.

Not only is this statistic interesting, but its circumstances are. Only when we, as a country, are faced with a common enemy (in WWII, Germany) do we allow gender equality in the workplace out of convenience. Later on, when international troubles are gone, and we're back to dealing with domestic issues, women are discouraged from working in factories. This says that total war really affects the home front to a point that all social norms are momentarily forgotten: total war can effectively change a nation.

Clearly, then, during WWII, great progress was made in terms of women's independence and rights in the workplace. This was spurred on by popular images such as that of Rosie the Riveter that encouraged - and normalized - women working in such places that were traditionally considered manly as factories.

Movies/Books: WWII

Books:

The Book Thief- story about a young girl in Germany amidst Nazi regime and british air raids in Munich

Movies:

Atonement: Love story about a couple in England ripped apart by a lie and ultimately the War

Pearl Harbor: Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck deliver stud performances set in Hawaii during the very attack on Pearl Harbor. They also take part in a secret retaliation mission

Band Of Brothers: HBO miniseries about Easy Company and their incredible heroism throughout WWII

The Pianist: Adrian Brody plays a polish piano player who escapes Jewish extermination and struggles to survive during Nazi reign

Downfall: A German film about Hitler's final days lodged underground in Berlin. A profound piece of analysis upon the Fuhrer as he faced imminent defeat.

Life is Beautiful: Story of an Italian Jew who shields his young son from the atrocities of the Holocaust by playing a game to distract him.

Saving Private Ryan: Tom Hanks leads a mission to retrieve and discharge a young man from the war in order to spare his mother the grief of losing 4 sons

The Thin red Line: Movie detailing the war in the pacific, as marines fight the Japanese

The Longest Day: Old movie centering around a platoon during the assault on D-Day

Woman in World War I and II

During World War I, women did not have a huge place in their country's involvement in the war. Women did have many contributing factors on the war, but society limited their involvement. They were not part of the military but instead worked as nurses. They also filled in many jobs left open at home, as the men went to war. The amount of physical labour that women did increased, but these jobs proved to be temporary. In 1917 they were authorized to be in the Navy, but they couldn't advance in the field as much as men.

At the beginning of World War II, the same mindset of women being too feminine to participate in the military. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this mindset began to deteriorate as more and more manpower was needed. IN 1942, the WAAC bill passed allowing the establishment of Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. The WAAC could cover parts of the military allowing men to go to combat. Shortly after the Navy passed acts creating different sects of the Navy attributed to women. The lack of manpower forced people to let go of their reserves concerning women to participating in the military. Yet, women still didn't get paid as much or have the full military benefits as men. In 1943, The WAAC or the new version of the Women's Army Corps, was passed and gained women full military status. 

Between the two wars, the involvement of women was greatly increased. Even though initially it was because of a lack of manpower, woman became a vital part of the military forces. The involvement of women unified the US even more and helped every effort of winning the war. Woman were a crucial part of every country during both wars from the home front to the military.

World War II in Popular Culture

In the past few years, I have seen many a movie set in the battlefields of World War II. Most, if not all of them, were quite good from a historical, videographical, or other point of view.

A few of movies that have made an impression on me are as follows:

Saving Private Ryan (1998): Saving Private Ryan has a relatively straightforward plot, but is well-written, well-filmed, and powerfully acted. To put it simply, a specially-formed group of Rangers is assigned to rescue a Private (James Ryan) from behind enemy lines in Normandy. Awesomeness ensues.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006): Flags of Our Fathers follows the behind-the-scenes political action behind the soldiers who raised the American flag on Mt. Suribachi on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima (this is a famous picture, you should probably have seen it before). It questions propaganda and the twisting of truth for the purposes of converting the public to the government's side. Philosophically interesting, but not nearly as exciting to watch as the other movies that are listed here.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006): Perhaps one of the most touching and unique WWII movies I have seen, Letters from Iwo Jima follows the action of the American landing and assault of the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima, but from the Japanese persective. It allows the viewers a peek into the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers of the Japanese army, painting them as people and not the crazy kamikaze-bombers and suicide-committers that they are often oversimplified as. If you have the time, you should watch this movie above all of the other movies that are listed here- it's just that beautiful.

Valkyrie (2008): This movie is yet another one about an alternative perspective of World War II- specifically that of a group of German soldiers who attempted to assassinate Hitler, take over the German government, and surrender to the Allies to avoid further destruction. It is very action-packed, and (I would say) it has more of a focus on the action than on making any subtle philosophical point. But it's awesome. Very awesome.

All of these are worth watching (although I'm not so much a fan of Flags of Our Fathers, but it's still good stuff).

Books Set in WWII

Here's a list of books (all of which I recommend) that I read, and that deal with WWII:

- Night, by Elie Wiesel

- I Have Lived A Thousand Years, by Ellen Bitten-Jackson

- The Journal of Ben Uchida, Citizen 33541, Mirror Lake Camp

- Torn Thread (Holocaust story)

- Maus

- The Sunflower

- My Name was Keoko (not really set in WWII; but rather in Korea during the Japanese occupation)

- Many AVI novels that I have either lost or thrown away or sold

- Horrible Histories, Woeful World War II (graphic novel that describes different events in history)

- A Seperate Peace

A few movies:

- The Sound of Music

- La Grande Vadrouille (an interesting French movie about smuggling Jewish people out of occupied France)

- The Pianist

World War Two Media

After conducting an exhausting and scrupulous examination of the books and movies I have read and seen in the last five years, tho only relevant one I could find was "The Counterfeiters", a German film (originally titled "Die Fälscher") about a counterfeiting scheme run by the Nazis, which remains the largest in history. It is an excellent movie unless you feel like laughing or singing along, because there's none of that.

Others that I remembered after scanning previous blogs:
The Sunflower
A Separate Peace
"The Sound of Music"
Maus

"Das Boot"

Article found about Taliban in Afghanistan

With the violence in Afghanistan to reported to be the highest that it has been since 2001 when the United States invaded Afghanistan, the United States can get all of the help they can get. The New York Times reports that Pakistani military have supported the Taliban. If the report is correct, it would pose a huge problem for the United States because Pakistan was supposed to be be helping the US. Although the Pakistani leaders say that there isn't any support coming from the people higher up in the government, they believe that there may be some support from people in the middle. The support is claimed to only be there to help build strong relationships with the Taliban so that when the United States eventually leaves Afghanistan, there will be a relationship between the Taliban and Pakistan.

Movies and Books about World War II

Movies:

Valkyrie- Tells of the plots that Germans from the inside attempted to execute to kill Hitler

The Reader- Love story about an older woman and a teenage boy in Germany. The woman ends up being put on trial for mistreatment of Jews while she was a guard at concentration camps.

A League of Their Own- Story of women taking over Major League Baseball while all the men were at war.

Atonement- Love story about two childhood friends in England who are separated and the boy is forced to fight in the war.

The Sound of Music- A family grows up in Austria during the war.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- A man grows from older to younger and is forced to spend part of his life fighting in the war.

South Pacific (musical)- Musical about soldiers deployed to the South Pacific during the war.

Books:

Atonement

The Sunflower

The Diary of Anne Frank

World War I+II Role of Women

The role of women changed greatly from World War I to World War II. During War World II a group called the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) was created in 1941-1942 by a group or women pilots that had the desire to help out during the war. They fought for their spot in the war and soon enough they were allowed to participate in it as well. The WASPs relieved men pilots for combat duty, while they helped with the other flight-related programs.

During World War I, women were not allowed to participate in the war rather than on the home front. Women did, however, receive more rights when they started working on factories, replacing a lot of the jobs that men occupied before. Nevertheless, once the men returned from the war, women were stripped of some rights due to the jobs going back to the men who were away fighting.

Throughout World War II, women gained more respect and rights. Women were now thought of as almost equal in the things that they were able to do. This included serving the military and helping out with militaristic type missions or jobs.This change happened because the United States wanted to play a bigger role than they had in World War I. They wanted to deliver even more troops and machinery to fight there enemy. To do this, the U.S. needed all the help they could get and this included recruiting some women.

Women in War

The role of women changed greatly from world war one to the second. In 1914, women were not a part of the war, although they participated at the home front. When the men all went off to fight the wars in Europe, women were left to take their place in a factories and other local occupations. Their jobs were temporary and not directly on the battle field, but the labor force of women certainly increased during WWI. Army and Navy nurse corps had been established in earlier years and that was the biggest area of female participation. Not until after the bombing of Pearl Harbor was the potential value of women recognized and the WAAC (women auxiliary army corps) considered. People were hesitant to women becoming more active due to society's view of their role in the home and the masculinity/strength it took to fight. The demand for more people in the military defeated the resistance. At first, when women went oversea, performing Army jobs, they didn't have benefits equal to those "members" of the Army. WAAC volunteers got unequal pay, experienced a lack of military rank, and knew that the women in the NAVY had much more privilege. Women achieved full military status in 1943, with the passing of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) Bill. 

WWI was when women could fulfill more jobs in the home front and temporarily take on the place of men in society. During WWII, women didn't just take open jobs, but created a whole new work force; women fighting in the army. They paved a new path of women's rights and equality. 

[I used this website.]

First a Job, Now a Uniform and Gun!

Just from looking at what a single paragraph about the WACs as well as finding out what it stands for can tell you how there was a change in the role of women from WWI to WWII.  Members of the WACs or Women's Army Corps not only helped build ammo and guns but some (over 150,00) even fought in the war.  Although this was not thought of as "the best thing since sliced bread" and there was some difficulty in accepting women in the war, in the end it seemed as if the sheer increase/number of people fighting in the war was enough for them to accept it.  This tells us that this was such a big war that just getting more people into it, no matter who those people were was a very important thing.

WWI:  Was the revolution for more women getting jobs during the war.  Holding down the fort almost, and making supplies to send off.  People accepted this but they still thought that it was a temporary basis and when the war was over, the most men took their jobs back.

WWII:  Was the revolution for women fighting in the war.  As the women held down the morale back home, here they kept morale up by fighting in the war, receiving many thousands of letters (65,000 per shift).  They were good fighters as well as 657 WACs received metals and citations.  

Source: http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/wac/wac.htm

Other blogs talking about the WACs or the WAACs:  Molly Eliza Priyanka Rebecca

Movies+Books about WWII

Books I've Read:

A Separate Peace- The story about two friends named Gene and Finny and their troubles when World War II influences their lives.

Movies I've Watched:

Saving Private Ryan-A movie about a group of soldiers during the invasion of Normandy, France in 1944.

Pearl Harbor- A movie set during World War II. Two friends become involved in the war and get separated. Pearl Harbor happens and shakes America.

Modern (sort of) Media of/about WWII

Although off of the top of my head I couldn't think of very many movies that I had watched or books that I had read that took placer during WWII, I saw one that was already posted and that seemed to spark my memory about the subject:

Sound of Music:  Musical based during WWII about a nun who goes to help an Austrian family and ends up falling in love with the captain.  In it are huge references to the affects of the Hitler Youth, and of Nazi control, both in their flag and in the way they try to force the captain into a position in their army.

A Separate Peace: (Yes I know that most of us, if not all read it.)  Takes place in a boys military training/boarding school about the events that happen between Gene Forrester and Phineas at Devon school.

The Pianist: Just recently I watched part of this movie and it was a lot to handle.  There were some pretty stunning scenes in it and although I didn't see the entire thing, one part in particular, when the Nazis throw a person in a wheelchair because he/she can't stand up, is pretty gruesome, along with some of the other things that the Nazis make the Jewish people do.  You can also see the growth of power, similar to Maus, as the control that the Nazis have grows more and more.

Changing Views in Turbulent Times

From WWI to WWII, there was a vast shift in the role and view of women in US society. During WWI, women were encouraged to work in factories to fill the jobs of the men that had gone to war and ensure that the country still had the supplies it needed. This was a new role for women at the time, since before they were expected to stay home and raise their family, but it was never even thought of that the women could fight in the war as well. As one can see from the propaganda poster to the right, only men were expected to enlist, and women simply couldn't. But during WWII, this all changed. Many different organizations arose encouraging women to enlist in an armed service to support their country. One of these organizations was the WAC, or the Women's Army Corps. These women were the first to partake in the army as anything other than nurses. Over 150,000 women served in this division of the army. While at first, there were many negative views about this organization, but it was a necessity, and the women worked well. They were reported as being hard working and better disciplined than the male soldiers. But, they were never sent to forefront of the battles, and they often took over safer, more routine jobs to allow more men to fight in the war. Their uniforms were also not very practical, and they were required to carry make-up bags at all times. So even though they still weren't equal to men in terms of military standards, it was definitely a new role for them. The poster to the left exemplifies this by providing a stark contrast to the poster from WWI. They are not showing a picture of a woman wishing to fight to convince men to fight; instead they are encouraging women to fight. The faces of the women in the second poster are much more determined and serious that the innocent and joyful face of the woman in the first poster. Women were now being thought of as capable of more than just raising children.

The fact that the role of women in society changed vastly during both WWI and WWII shows that turbulent times lead to the reassessment of long held beliefs. We change our ideals depending on what it necessary at the time. This shows us that total wars and other important events not only affect the home front and the war front, but also the way we think; it causes a shift in intangible things as well as the tangible things. This change was important because it was a big step towards equality for all in the US, even though there was, and still is, a long way to go.

World War II Movies and Literature

Movies:
Saving Private Ryan- Saving Private Ryan tells the story of a squadron of 8 men who have been sent to recover one man whose whereabouts are unknown. It takes place during/just after the battle at Omaha beach, and it depicts not only the events of WWII, but also the families that were broken apart by it.
Pearl Harbor-This movie recounts the events that led to Pearl Harbor and the actions that the US took after it. It gives a lot of incite into the the lives and relationships of soldiers at the time.
The Sound of Music- This movie takes place in Austria just before WWII. It is the story of a family of seven children, their father, and their nanny. The father is a captain of the Austrian navy. Throughout the film, we watch as the children grow up and the father and nanny fall in love, but the power of the Nazis in Austria increases too. In the end, the family is forced to flee since the father refuses to join Hitler's army.
Books:
The Sunflower: The Sunflower is a memoir about a Jewish man who was asked for forgiveness by a dying SS man. The book explores the struggles he had to face in the concentration camps and in figuring out whether to forgive the man or not.

Women's Roles During Times of War

In desperate times there are inevitably going to be temporary changes in how people think. This was evident in WWI, where women were encouraged to do the work usually given to men in order to help the war effort. A similar thing happened in WWII, only to a slightly greater extent. In WWI, women took the jobs vacated by men who left for war; they primarily stayed on the home front. In WWII, gender roles were partially disregarded, and women were allowed to fly. WASP were the Women Airforce Service Pilots. These women recognized the opportunity total war provided them with--a chance to back away from the traditional role of a women (to stay at home and tend to the family) and take advantage of their once-in-a-lifetime chance to follow their passion: flying. In both the cases of WWI and WWII, women's roles were dramatically broadened from their traditional boundaries. Also in both cases, unfortunately, this broadening was temporary, lasting only as long as the war. Women did gain some respect from these instances. They proved that they were capable of "men's work" and this undoubtedly helped to start to get away from the super traditional women-at-home mentality. However, it was still a very long way from upturning gender roles in society.

This is obvious in today's society, where--although women soldiers are much more common--it is thought of largely as a man's job (or in some cases--depending on the propaganda being used--a man's duty). Also, certain jobs haven't lost their traditional gender associations. Secretatries and nurses, for example, are thought of as jobs more common for a woman than a man. And vice versa, men are thought to frequent more physically demanding jobs (firefighters, construction workers, etc.) with women being few and rare in such fields. While women continually prove female stereotypes wrong, gender discrimination still thrives, possibly because large groups of women have never been allowed to hold their higher statuses (or "more difficult" jobs) for long periods of time (as it was with their temporary jobs in WWI and WWII).

WWII in Literature and Film

Films:
Pearl Harbor -- Two friends join the Army Air Corps and experience the horror of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
U-571 -- An American submarine is disguised as German aid in order to capture a highly sophisticated cipher machine that they could use to crack Nazi war codes.
Letters From Iwo Jima -- The story of the battle of Iwo Jima, told from the perspective of the Japanese.
Books:
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli -- The story of a Jewish orphan in Nazi-occupied Warsaw.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak -- A story about a young German girl in Nazi Germany who steals books from the book burnings and ends up befriending a Jewish man hiding in her basement through a shared love of literature.

Letters to Peace Lovers

The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) was an organization that campaigned for pacifism and against military conscription. World War II, the PPU attempted to get people to “boycott” the war. They campaigned publically holding open-air meetings and selling their personal newspaper called “The Peace News”. The PPU gained around 60,000 supporters during the war whom refused to join the army. Their campaign was mostly aimed at women between twenty to thirty years old. During 1939 Vera Brittain, one of the PPU’s most famous members, began writing “Letters to Peace Lovers”. In this newsletter she wrote about her personal views on the war, however she was an outspoken pacifist. Many people spoke out against her because she criticized certain acts of the government, such as bombing civilian areas in Germany. Her newsletter campaigned against military conscription, and for the building of air raid protection in the form of bunkers. Vera also tried to make Europe aware that if Hitler were ever brought down that Germany would be, in a sense, in Civil War. She tried to encourage the other European powers and democracies in the world to take action to try to prevent or negate this inevitable event.

Crime and Punishment

During the war there were multiple kinds of crimes that increased because of certain events. During the beginning of the war one of the crimes that increased was the involvement in teenage blackout gangs. This included violence and simple robbery (pick pockets). As the war continued and the London Blitz (air raid on London) happened, looting became a very popular crime as well. It was so popular that many well off men left their jobs because looting was more remunerative. Another crime increase due to the Blitz was fraud. The government started to pay compensation for people that were bombed out of their home and many people took advantage of these and claimed that they had been bombed out even if they hadn’t. Since there were so many people that were in similar situations the government had neither the time nor the people to investigate whether people or not people were lying. But they soon realized that they were paying more money then they should and hired extra staff to put some control to this matter. Another fraud began when the government decided to evacuate children out of the big cities. The billetors (people that took the children in) were given money for the children and many asked for the money without having taken in children or after the children left their home. The final crime big crime that went up dramatically due to the Blitz was murder. Some people took advantage of the bombing to kill people and bury them near a bomb cite to claim that they were killed during the bombing. One other important crime that went up during the war was the use of the black market. Many people traded goods in violation of the official regulations for survival or profit and it was a lot easier because the government was focused on other things. The final crime that went up was the breaking into the Home Guard. Raids on Home Guard increased tremendously because people (mostly teenagers) wanted guns and ammunition for themselves and to sell. In many of these cases the government increased their staff (which would cost money) to control many of these crimes and I believe that it was the one of the only ways they could have dealt with this. Another method would have to increase the punishment, so that people could fear it more and not commit the crime. However, overall I think the government did the best they could under the circumstances. I think their focus during the war was elsewhere and giving too much attention to these matters could have caused dramatic differences in the war results.

WWII Movies/Books

1. "Saving Private Ryan" is a movie that is based on D-day

2. "Maus" is a book about the life of a Jewish Holocaust survivor

3. "Death to Smoochie" is a movie about a tv actor who is brought down by being set up to perform at a Nazi rally.

4. "Cabaret" is a movie about the Nazi's rise to power

Rationing

As the second world war started, the British Government imported about 55 million tons of food per year. As Germany grew stronger, it had its battleships and subs sink the vessels bound for Britain with all of their food aboard. The British started the rationing with bacon, butter, and sugar in January of 1940. A more wide spread rationing followed which was very heavily supported by the population. However as time went on this plan started becoming less popular with the people, some grocers went to the country and bought there food directly from the growers. These sort of short cuts or loop holes were becoming more commonplace. Then the government created a natural advisory committee to help the war committee with strategies and suggestions on what to do on the home front. I think that this was an excellent idea because it really helped the people running the country a better idea of what to do and what the side effects may or may not have been. Ration books started being stolen and with the help of undercover cops and spy's the government got a handle on it and soon there after created a law that made the wasting of food a punishable offense. The rationing proved to be a good way for people to eat healthily and at the same time the health of the nation grew ten fold.

http://menlomwh.blogspot.com/2009/03/black-market-and-its-many-wonders.html

Gas Masks

Britain decided to issue gas masks to everyone living in britain, because they feared that poison gas was going to be used on their people. Luckily though, there were never any poisonous gasses used in WWII. Babies were given different gas masks then Adults. In efforts to help detect if their was a gas attack, the tops of mailboxes were painted a special coat of paint to help detect if there were any gasses. The government also created gas identification squads. The squads would consist of chemists, and they were to identify what gas was used if there was an attack. People were instructed  by the government to carry their gas masks everywhere. If there was an air raid attack, people outside were told to put their gas masks on immediately. They were afraid that the Germans were going to drop blister gas or mustard gas. Blister gas cause severe burning of the skin. Mustard gas is similar. There were also decontamination squads formed to help treat victims in a poisonous gas attack. 

We will never really know how effective their system was, because there never was a gas attack.

Desertion in the Armed Forces

During the Second World War, soldiers in the British Army, Navy, and Air Force frequently deserted their respective forces.  This was mostly because of a draft that Parliament created.  In 1939, Parliament passed the Military Training Act, which required men aged 20-21 to undertake six months' of military training.  When WWII broke out, Parliament passed the National Service act, making all men aged 18-41 eligible to be drafted.  There were, however, many ways to get out of this service.  Objection to military service because of moral grounds was used by 22 out of 1000 people.  These men had to stand trial though, and as many as 41% of them were required to serve.  A second way to avoid the draft was to ignore the summons to register for National Service, because there was a shortage of people to enforce attendance.  A third way was to have a man that failed his physical to take it for you in your name.  Finally, buying forged medical discharge certificates was another way to avoid service.  All of these ways came with consequences, however, and if one was found out to have used an illegal method, they were subject to Government punishment.

The Royal Forces also suffered from desertion.  Many soldiers who were drafted unwillingly or learned of their future service abroad simply deserted.  Roughly 36,000 men deserted before and shortly after D-Day, 10,000 of whom were charged.  Many of those who deserted were forced to lead a life of crime because they had no identity cards.  Therefore, looting was often seen after the bombing of cities.

If I was to fix the problem of avoiding conscription, I would using photo id's to verify everyones correct identity, thus solving the problem of fake physicals.  I would also make the discharge cards special in some way, either on the paper they were printed, or in a special color.  Lastly, i would devote more people to enforce attendance to register with the National Service.  I would round up deserters from the armed forces by cracking down on all crime.  I would raid Red Light Districts, Gambling Halls, and other illegal fronts.  I would start arresting immediately too.  Deserters would be subject to penalties as high as 25 years in prison.  Death seems to be too high a price to pay; also Britain is far more civilized than Nazi Germany.  With me in control, there would be no rogues who don't serve

War Economy

During WWII Britain's attempts to strengthen militarily only led to a neglection of its home front.  Everything from prices to taxes was changed to meet the high demands of the military.  For example in order to collect the equivalent of half a trillion dollars, the government doubled taxes, sending all of it towards the war effort.  The very highest tax rate was a shocking 98.5%.  With out the necessary money, people were unable to afford many things.  This made a major impact on the economy, slowing it down greatly.  Industries for luxury goods were cut back and even banned by the government.  The bare minimum, food and clothes, were available though rations.  This sparked the need for more, causing the Black Market and other crimes to emerge.  Although the government was trying to look out for the best interest of Britain, it took a large toll on the country itself.  Unemployment rates began to rise, impovrishing the streets of Britain.