Ports At War
Civilian morale
Air raids aimed not just to stop the flow of vital imports by
damaging ships, cargoes and facilities. They also tried to
terrorise the population. However, morale did not suffer greatly,
even though there were many casualties. Indeed, the raids may well
have made people more determined to fight on. This was forgotten
when even heavier air raids were mounted on German ports and
cities. 
 Children being evacuated |
Children plus women and others who were not needed to work in
the port were strongly encouraged to leave for safer parts of the
country. In fact, this evacuation was successful at first. However,
people often moved back when the worst of the raids were over. Once
Germany attacked the USSR in 1941 its air force was too busy on the
Eastern Front to put much effort into bombing the UK. The danger
increased again in 1944 when
V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets were showered on London.
Although they caused damage, they could not be targeted precisely
enough to have any tactical value in destroying installations. They
were regarded as `revenge` weapons, and again the aim was to
terrorise the population.
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