During the Second World War, film cameras captured how people celebrated the festive season on both the home front and the fighting fronts. These seven clips from IWM’s film collection shows both civilians and members of the armed forces – even Santa makes an appearance. Some were purely informational - alerting people to extra Christmas rations for example – while others presented carefully crafted narratives of the war.
Christmas under fire
“Christmas here this year won’t perhaps be the Christmas children in America will be lucky enough to enjoy. England is fighting for her life and even the smallest child understands that. It will be a strange Christmas but, in many ways, it will be a very satisfactory one. England has much to be cheerful about. Her people, even the children, have shown in the past few months that they are equal to their destiny.”
"England is fighting for her life…and even the smallest child understands that.”
In Christmas Under Fire, a 1941 British short documentary film, American journalist Quentin Reynolds explored how English people were getting on with life and celebrating the festive season in the midst of the Second World War.
Christmas underground
Please note: This video contains instrumental sound of the hymn 'O Come, All Ye Faithful'.
The film ends with shots of a tube station platform, crowded with people – and a mother tucking her baby in for the night. The propaganda film intended for US audiences was nominated for an Academy Award in 1942.
Spitfires and snowballs
[Music]
“In Europe the wheels of war were rhymed with frost, but the skies were still seared with vapour trails and the fields were still trembling with bombs, to make this Christmas the last Christmas of the war. But on many airfields, flying and fighting became impossible and there we found time to remember that Christmas is still Christmas.”
[Music: ‘Jingle Bells’]
In December 1944, the RAF Film Production Unit captured snowy scenes of Spitfires on the ground. Although the war still raged, pilots found some time to enjoy a snowball fight and some tobogganing while grounded.
Rationing
“One and a half pounds of sugar, eight penny worth of meat, Walton’s fresh meat, Walton’s corned meat, half a pound of sweets for children and the over seventies. Yes, these are the extra Christmas rations. How to get them? All the details are in food facts in your paper this week.”
At Christmas, some extra rations were available.
A Food Flash short film was one way for the government to make sure people knew about their extra entitlement. Between March 1942 and November 1946, more than 200 Ministry of Food short Food Flash films were shown in British cinemas.
Post Early for Christmas!
Please note: This video contains instrumental sound only.
Getting cards and presents to their intended recipients was so important that the Ministry of Information produced several short films reminding people not to wait until the last minute to put their festive mail in the post. In this animation, Father Christmas is driven to tears and then forced to overload his sleigh to make his festive deliveries – with unfortunate results.
How Eighth Army spent Xmas
“The Christmas mail reached the desert on time. The result of lion-hearted efforts by the Army Post Office and the folks at home who posted early.
Libya isn’t the ideal Christmas resort but it’s the spirit that counts. The parcels helped by containing decorations. If there’d been any mistletoe, they don’t kiss the Sergeant major. The little garrison left behind of Tobruk went all-out to the nearest thing to a good old-fashioned Christmas.
No man is hero to his valet unless he valets himself, best while you wait. Just in time to look swell at the Christmas dinner. There was no turkey but otherwise it wasn’t a bit like the Christmas we had. However, everybody had brought a good appetite to the table, and everything went down well. The star attraction of the banquet was the Christmas pudding. It’s wonderful what good cooks have done this year with some carrots and a little potato flour.”
The Eighth Army was a British unit comprising troops from throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth. When some of these men found themselves celebrating Christmas in Tobruk, Libya, in 1943, they made the best of it.
This clip shows soldiers enjoying Christmas amongst the ruins.
Sharing a meal
Please note: This video contains no sound.
Members of the 1st/5th Battalion Welch Regiment spent Christmas 1944 with the civilian residents of Baexem, a village in the Netherlands. These clips shows the men enjoying beer, Christmas pudding and singing close to a windmill.
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