all things done in darkness will come to light

Police officers had to risk their lives to stand in the dark and direct the automobiles through round-a-bouts safely. Lanterns and lights had to be taken down, or dimmers had to be placed on them. Curbs had to be painted to make it easier for the cars to see at night. Living in the darkness meant adjustments had to be made. This went on for another 6 months until April of 1945. When they started to allow lights, the rule was that any light that was brighter than the moon could not be used after dark. It wasn’t until five years later, on September 1944 that the intensity of the blackout was reduced-that was five years of very dark nights. Two days before the war started, it wasn’t just London that went dark, but the whole country on Sept. Street lights were no longer lit and the only lights you could see were those on the front of cars or the eerie search light that scanned the sky for enemy aircraft. The bright Piccadilly Square lights were turned off. The government distributed Public Information Leaflets which called for a general blackout of all lights. They wanted all man-made light to be turned off. To protect the civilians of London, and all of England for that matter, the British government issued an edict to have all the lights turn out in London and eventually the whole land. The British Air Ministry had predicted that the United Kingdom would be bombed at night by German air forces, so they were preparing to hide in the dark-literally.

As things seemed to go from bad to worse, the small but powerful country of England knew they were putting their population at risk as they prepared to fight the angry giant of Germany under Hitler’s control. Before World War Two began, London was preparing the people to stand against Germany. If you hate being in the dark, then being in London in 1939 would not have been fun for you.

All things done in darkness will come to light