Put That Light Out!: Britain's Civil Defence Services at War 1939-1945

by Mike Brown

Civil Defence was a grouping of civilian emergency services that included the National Fire Service, the police and a whole range of support services that were part of Air Raid Precautions (more commonly referred to as the ARP). Collectively they played a vital role in providing a controlled response to the effects of German bombing raids on British cities. The ARP was managed by report and control staff, incident officers and messenger services. Casualties were dealt with by the Medical Officer of Health staff via casualty clearing zones and depots. The ARP services that were actually on the front line down among the exploding bombs and collapsing buildings included the wardens, rescue services, first aid and stretcher parties, gas identification and decontamination services, roof spotters, fire watchers and fire guards. This study of Britain's wartime Civil Defence services includes details of who did what, how, where and when, interspersed with some personal accounts from fo civil defenders.

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 1999

About the author

NOTE: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Mike^^Brown
This is the author of wartime histories of Britain.


The author of How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming Is here

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overview of the various ARP services during the war - the wardens, the rescue service, first aid and stretcher parties, gas identification and decontamination services, roof spotters, fire watchers and fire guards. It was a little soulless for me. It's often personal stories which make these kind of books compelling and there weren't enough of these. That said it did evoke a vivid picture of what life was like in Britain under the bombs. It contains many photos.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains an overview of Britain’s Civil Defence Services during World War Two.

The book contained lots of interesting facts, but just felt a little lifeless to me. I would have preferred more interviews or comments from first party witnesses.

But otherwise an informative read.