Why were gas masks supplied?

The students might be asked to consider what it would be like wearing such a mask – the eye-pieces were known to mist up, voices became blurred and the masks smelled of rubber. 

There is a slight fall of snow in the photograph – they might be asked to consider what it would be like wearing such a mask in hot weather.

There is a lot of reading in the Metropolitan Police Orders for the 4th and 18th September 1939 and with many classes it may be easier to highlight passages and ask the students:

• Why, they suppose, the police were advised to take care when sounding the sirens?
• Why, they suppose, drivers of petrol lorries were asked to be careful where they parked during an air-raid?

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