Protecting the Home Front

While Vermont was far away from the battlefields during World War II, the War was very much a part of people’s lives. Springfield and Windsor, Vermont, with their precision manufacturing factories, were believed to be two of the main targets that enemy bombers might attack because of the importance of these factories to the United States’ military supply chain. Therefore, many of the nearby towns took the threat of air raids very seriously. Even in Woodstock, people prepared for potential air attacks by setting up rooms for “blackouts” and by organizing a plane spotting station.

Blackout periods were determined by the War Department and were ordered if there were indications of hostile aircraft in the region. The point of a blackout was to prevent any light from being emitted that would assist the enemy in locating a target during a nighttime attack.

To prepare for blackouts, people either painted their windows or put up heavy curtains. If driving during a blackout period, people were instructed to cover their automobile’s headlights, except for a slit. Air raid wardens would go through the village and check each home to ensure compliance with the blackout mandates.

In addition to blackouts, another precaution taken to prevent enemy air raids was the establishment of a spotting station. Roy Bates, who grew up in Woodstock, remembers Woodstock’s spotting station, which was located on Vail Field near where the swings are currently situated. To date, the Woodstock History Center has been unable to locate any photos of this structure. However, Roy remembers it as being a small, two-story building with a narrow catwalk around the second floor perimeter that enabled spotters to check the sky from all directions.

Plane spotters had to be ever vigilant. The instructions given to them stated “Everything depends on you. Your report is instantly used by the Army to direct its forces and by the Civil Air Raid Warning System to signal alerts to the civilian population. Your reports must not be delayed. SPEED IS VITAL! The ‘Flash Message Form’ must be followed. Memorize it.”

In addition to learning the various steps for placing a “Flash Message,” volunteers also had to learn the profiles of numerous planes, both friend and foe, so that they could correctly identify the aircraft at a moment’s notice.  Posters were available that showed basic plane profiles.

Poster showing the profiles of both “friend” and “foe” planes.

Some communities also had training posters that would show two very similar planes with the prompt “Which one would you shoot?” After making a guess, the trainee could lift the flap at the bottom of the poster to reveal which plane was a “friend” and which was a “foe.”

Information under the flap of the poster. The “Thunderbolt” was used by the Allied forces. The “Zeke” was used by the Japanese.

The Woodstock History Center is fortunate to have in its collection a number of pieces of ephemera that were issued around 1943, including an air raid warden instruction manual. This manual provided information on such things as how to prepare for a gas attack. The manual notes:

“War gases hug the ground, flow into cellars and basements. Upper floors of a dwelling are away from dangerous concentrations. If all openings and cracks are closed, a room three stories from the ground will offer good protection against war gases.”

“To stop cracks and small openings, tape of various kinds may be used. A mush made by soaking newspapers in water or patching plaster may be used for caulking larger openings. A piece of wall board, nails and caulking material may be kept handy to cover a window broken by the blast of high explosives.”

“One door may be used as an entrance by fastening over it a blanket in such a way as to seal it tightly when no one is going in or out. If soaked in oil to close the air spaces, the blanket is more effective.”

No large-scale attacks on the U.S. mainland occurred during WWII; however, for the people living through the early 1940s, the threat was always present. World War I was not so distant in the past but that people could recall the horrors of gas warfare. It is no wonder that people were so joyous at the conclusion of the war.

The Woodstock History Center’s upcoming exhibit Contributions and Sacrifice provides additional information on the Home Front and the efforts to protect it during World War II. This exhibit will be opening on a limited basis in September.

This illustration, from the air raid warden booklet, shows where to fill cracks to protect against a gas attack.