On Christmas Eve 1942, the Manchester Guardian recalled that the first world war had only lasted four Christmases. Now, Hitler’s war also had “four to its discredit, each one more austere than its predecessor”. Christmas 1942 would be a sadly pared-back affair. Cards were tiny and printed on thin card. Wrapping paper was not available. Festive food and drink was in desperately short supply.
Nevertheless, hope was abundant. In the course of my research into how the British press reported the second world war, I’ve unearthed from the newspaper archives plenty of examples (sadly mostly behind paywalls) of how the home front coped with the privations of total war. And in the midst of the glum reflections on a wartime Yuletide, there was also a great deal of optimism in December 1942.
