life on the home front

• children had been evacuated from cities in 1940
• early success in Poland, France and Scandinavia made the Germans feel patriotic
• 1941 - 1941: 1.5 million fur items and 67 million woollen items were sent to Russia
• german citizens had to ration food, 500g of meat, 125g of butter and 1 egg.
• in 1942, german farmers struggles to keep people fed
• in 1943, the USA airforce bombed the Ruhr area, this had a disastrous effect on German war production. without the Ruhr, their income decreased, so they couldn't spend as much on military arms.
• July 1943: port of Hamburg bombed, killed 45,000 civilians and destroyed 10 square moles of the city. this caused 900,000 to flee. also had a disastrous effect on the german people because this meant that imports were decreased, less food.
• impact of Allied bombings

  • 800,000 civilians dead
  • 3.6 million homes destroyed
  • 7.5 million people made homeless
  • 2.5 million children evacuated.
  • Goebbels toured damaged cities to try and boost morale, and encouraged people to embrace Total War.
• february 1945: ciy of dresden bombed. 25,000 killed in one night.
• impact of defeat

  • leading nazis fled
  • hitler, his wife and goebbels took their lives on the 30th of April 1945.
  • thousands of germans died of hunger, exhaustion and disease.
  • 3.25 million german soldiers killed.
  • bridges and infrastructure destroyed.
  • millions lived in sub-standard living.
  • inflation and shortage of products and food.