Civil Defence in Britain, 1938-1945: Friendship during Wartime and the Formation of a Work-based Identity

Abstract

This article challenges historians' concentration on national, class, and gender identities in wartime. It argues that those civilians recruited to work in air raids, as Air Raid Wardens and in the Auxiliary Fire Service, developed an intimacy within each group born of conflict, training, socializing, discussing, and experiencing danger together in a confined and identifiable space. They enjoyed a close bond of friendship that helped create a particular identity within the group and with the wider public and the geographical space in which they worked. Analysing the ways in which this identity was formed is crucial for an understanding of the relationships between air raids, work, and identity.