The New Year began much as the old one ended, with the only actual fighting on land being the “Winter War”, as the heavily outnumbered Finnish forces strove to hold back the invading Soviet armies. So far they had been spectacularly successful, winning a number of victories on the frozen Karelian Isthmus; but for how much longer could they hold on?
The war at sea continued, and the U-boat blockade tightened. In these first months of the war it was the sailors and merchant seamen of Caithness who were in the front line. Increasingly the John O’Groat Journal printed notices of serving men lost at sea in naval actions or when their merchant ships were sunk.
Attention now turned to mainland Europe: where would Germany strike next after conquering Poland last September – north into Scandinavia, or west into France and the Low Countries? And when would the long-awaited campaign of terror bombing from the air finally begin?
It was an anxious time. The John O’Groat Journal reported that the New Year’s celebrations in Wick were unusually muted. The traditional bonfire (“around which thousands of people from the town and surrounding districts were wont to gather”) had to be cancelled owing to the Blackout – despite a number of ingenious ideas, including “enough dark blind cloth to make an effective blackout”, and using “black combustibles” so the flames wouldn’t be seen at night!
It is interesting to see how recruitment to the Services targeted skilled workers as well as the general population. Cameron Sutherland, the former County Surveyor, was now a major with the Royal Engineers. He was actively recruiting “tradesmen and roadmen from Caithness” for a company from Scotland to serve overseas.
Finally, food rationing was due to start the following week – sugar, butter, bacon and ham, with butcher’s meet to follow “before long”. Although the national press was broadly opposed to rationing, the John O’Groat Journal took a supportive line, so long as “the standard of nutrition” was not reduced (“it is interesting to speculate how much of abnormal German psychology in recent years has been due to an underfeeding”).
Ration books were graded by colour. Most adults and children were issued with a buff ration book, but green ones were also issued to pregnant women, ensuring access to milk and first choice of fruit. People had to register with a supplier, and could only exchange their ration coupons thereafter with that supplier.
As the war continued, more and more things would be affected by rationing – including meat and clothing (petrol and other fuel had already been rationed the previous year). No one could have imagined back in January 1940 that rationing would last another 14 years, finally being abolished in July 1954.
