By June 1944 almost a third of the male population of working age were in the services.

6.5% of British homes were destroyed as a result of air attacks.

400,000 pets mainly cats were put down in the first few days of the war.

By September 1944 one million tons of iron railings from parks and private gardens were collected for smelting.

Nearly two million Britons joined the Home Guard. Initially known as the Local Defence Volunteers the Home Guard was finally stood down on 14^th November 1944, when the threat of invasion had finally disappeared.

By 6^th September 1940, 2,300 Anderson shelters had been erected in the UK many remain on allotments to this day.

Food rationing began in January 1940. Rationed products included staples such as ham, butter, cheese, tea and jam. Rationing did not finally end until 1954.

About a quarter of the civil defence workers were women 7.5 million women conscripted in to war work. Half a Million women joined the forces in the countryside 90,000 women joined the Women's Land Army, doing farm work.

Bombing displaced millions from their homes. There were over 60 million changes of addresses in the war years. Several million of these were the result of mass evacuation, which began on the 1^st September 1939.

Another two million made their own arrangements by staying with relatives and friends. Added to this number were millions of fluctuating refugees known as "trekkers" who worked in London but fled the capital each evening for the comparative safety of the surrounding countryside.