What would have happened if everyone stayed at home in WW2

[IsurviveonCoffeeandWinein2021]

So reading lots of different threads tonight arguing for and against lockdown. How it is not safe and the comparisons to WW2 has got me thinking?

What would have happened if at the start of national service everyone just said no? So instead of fighting they stayed home to protect everyone cause then maybe we would not get bombed? So the war was to protect our freedom and our rights. This virus vs lockdown is now very similar. Protect the NHS? Destroy your own life?

As far as I know CEV was not a thing then. National service was compulsory so how would that have worked? I understand some people got to opt out but where thought of very badly unless severely disabled.

Let's face it not one single person who entered that war or stayed behind was safe.

I wonder what happened with medics then as obviously this predates the NHS. People died. It was sad but we fought for our lives. None of that involved staying in our houses watching Netflix!

Medics, technicians all were conscripted. Where would we have been if everyone wanted to stay safe?

@HeddaGarbled

I hardly know where to start with this.

Leaving aside the confusion in your head between National Service, conscription and voluntary enlisting, I’m intrigued as to how soldiers not fighting abroad would have prevented the bombing of the U.K.

But I’m just quibbling really. I find your comparison of the two situations offensive in the extreme.

This. Thank you.

This has to be the most ridiculous thread ever.

Doctors were considered a critical national resource and were assigned their postings, which were not necessarily with the military. Done were, for example, ordered to stay in London during the Blitz, irrespective of where they wanted (or not) to serve. And the Blitz doctors then had to do National Service after the war (whereas demobbed doctors did not, even if they had been in considerably safer places than London during the war years)

I don't think the OP is ever coming back to the thread now.

@pinkearedcow

I don't think the OP is ever coming back to the thread now.

I hope not, but I have enjoyed some of the posts about our families war time experiences. Every cloud and all that.

knittingaddict yes indeed!

WW2 and now is comparing apples with oranges.

Thankfully we had competent ministers in WW2 and beforehand. If we had been led by the current incompetent lot the Nazis would have successfully invaded at least part of the UK.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Some schools had bombs land on them in the school day. A quick Google found a school where 38children and 6 staff were killed in 1943, in Catford.

And a village in Lancashire lost almost the entire infants (3 children survived) when a plane came down on the infant class. 61 people died in that disaster. Some of the children killed were evacuees.

A thought that just occurred to me...
My grandmother was one of six, the eldest born in WW1. The first sibling died during WW2,in the RAF. The last sibling died last summer, officially from Covid, but had been ill before that.

@MummyPigsKnickers

What would've happened? The unthinkable... I'm pretty sure we'd all be commenting on this thread in German too.

Hmm if the German army had really taken over the UK I think they would have been rather busy fighting the resistance , managing the country, food supplies etc.

I think we can safely say running evening classes in German would have been fairly low on the priority list. After all France was occupied and as far as I'm aware they still speak French there.

1dayatatime you misunderstand.

Had Hitler have succeeded, I'm sure that they would've implemented the German language throughout Europe.
Night classes

Strictly speaking, if EVERYONE had stayed at home during WWII then there would not have been a war at all.

Honestly, maybe use Netflix to learn something whilst you are stuck at home.

Sorry just realised that I am far from the first person to come up with this "brainwave" of everyone staying home, apologies.

This country really, really needs to get over comparing everything to WWII. Other history is available.

We're living at a time when tech makes it possible to stay at home more, thereby preventing many deaths. It's not a war, it's a pandemic.

But while we're at it, WWII was helped hugely by things people did by staying at home, like growing veg and making turnips taste vaguely palatable. It was boring crap for most people. No mass events like cinema because of bomb risk. No trips because no petrol or cars.

Also if Boris Johnson has been around in 1939, he would have written op-eds for and against the Nazis before deciding he was pro.

Also if Boris Johnson has been around in 1939, he would have written op-eds for and against the Nazis before deciding he was pro
Whilst ensuring that he gave as many contracts to his cronies regardless of whether they could deliver or not.

No mass events like cinema because of bomb risk.

Nope. The BFI says: When war was declared on Sunday 3 September 1939, all cinemas were immediately closed as a safety precaution. But most were back in business within a week as the authorities realised that the nation needed entertainment to keep up its spirits.

After bombing began, programmes were interrupted by managers appearing on stage to announce air raid warnings, but most patrons preferred to remain in their seats. Eventually a slide was flashed on the screen over the film without interrupting the performance. Cinemas came to be regarded as safe havens against all but a direct hit and patrons were usually clustered under the balcony for maximum protection. Basement cinemas like the Ritz Leicester Square were also particularly popular. A shortage of projectionists due to the call-up resulted in many women being trained to work in the 'box'.

In areas of heavy bombing, attendances were decimated for a while; but cinemas generally enjoyed a huge boom in attendances from 1941 onwards, many receiving additional patronage from servicemen stationed in their area. Audiences flocked particularly to morale-boosting films with a war theme, such as 49th Parallel (d. Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, 1941), and to Hollywood escapism in Technicolor.

@ThePlantsitter

It's not the same. You can't stop a virus by going out and shooting at it. You might be able to stop an invading army though.

If both sides had stayed at home then no way would have happened because a war is an invention that kills people. A virus isn't.

It's not a question of cowering at home. Cowering at home is the new signing up, i.e that's what we've been told to do. In a way people going to work are the exempt ones and mask refusers are the shamed conchies.

But really the comparison is a load of codswallop anyway.

This makes the most sense looking at it this way in my opinion.

Ooh, interesting gassp0de. I stand corrected!

But the point still stands that WWII was monotonous and boring for many people, more about keeping a house going and queuing for sausages than the kind of drama and heroics you see in films.

Yes, completely agree on that point, @DemolitionBarbie. A good many of the men and younger women who went into the forces or munitions factories were doing mundane work. My FIL was conscripted into the RAF. There was a point in the middle of the war when it was decided that some of the airmen would be better employed in the aircraft factory down the road, so he did that for a bit. Then in the aftermath of D day he ended up over in Europe, but as a mechanic he wasn't in horrific danger like some of his colleagues.

Of course, some people got an opportunity to get out to work or doing voluntary work which greatly improved their quality of life - women especially. There are equivalents here during the last year.

Why would there be bombing if everyone was at home. Would there have been a war?

I agree that WWII was probably monotonous but in a different way to this pandemic.

People need some sort of connection with others. Whilst there was a lot of tragedy and fear there were also people around to give you a hug or a chat with a cup of tea over the kitchen table.
Children were going to school and could play out and be close to one another and not have to isolate in their houses with only their parents for company for months on end.

Completely different scenarios.