BRITAIN'S HOMEFRONT
During WW2 Britain had to withstand the onslaught of Hitler's Luftwaffe, V1's, V2's, rationing, the separation from loved ones, friends and family, and still keep the wheels of commerce, industry operating, along with the needs of daily life. Housewives, old soldiers, young men and women awaiting call up, experts and necessary personnel in reserved occupations fought alongside each other to keep Britain going, long before the USA entered the war the UK was struggling just for survival as the U boat packs sank thousands of tons of shipping. That Britain was ready, armed and 'carrying on' when the US entered the war in 1941 was a credit to the civilians who had weathered the storm, and it was as much their victory as anyone elses when in 1945 first the Germans and then the Japanese surrendered. For this reason Homefront collecting is very popular in the UK (including Ian Durrant, whose mother, father and grandmother all served in the ARP in some way (see article 'An ARP Warden in the Family' in the 'Timeline' section')). The struggle by ordinary people to overcome seemingly impossible odds and come out triumphant with goodwill, humour and a natural instinct to help ones neighbour, will probably never be seen again. While Militaria collecting is the study of the trained fighting man at war, the Homefront is the story of an unarmed people fighting back with stubbornness and stoicity during the times of boredom and weariness that years of war could bring, and also, when the time called as the jaws of hell opened and released it's fiery breath, with the 'courage of lions'.................
During the bombing raids and the attacks by V1 & V2, the organised civilian services such as the police, ARP, fire brigades, medical services and volunteer welfare organisations were the first line of defence in the process of saving life and property. For this reason we stock as many items as possible relating to these units
	The Womens Land Army, and its associated organisation, the Womens Timber Corps, ploughed the fields, looked after cattle, sheep and poultry, caught rats, undertook the hazardous job of lumberjack and learned efficiently hundreds of other trades, largely unrecognised since the end of WW2 (they were not demobbed at the end of the war because the food situation was still critical, and in fact carried on up to around 1950, when rationing began to ease), they probably were one of the key reasons the UK survived the food and raw materials shortages (bones for example are used to make explosives). We stock what WLA items we can find, and thankfully today, although again ignored by government during anniversary parades, many women and girls can be seen in their distinctive uniform at shows and dances around the UK and even in the USA!