All countries introduced a blackout as soon as war was declared in 1939. The concept was a simple one; in order to disrupt the potential for the enemy to effectively target the civilian population, no lights were permitted at night.
Blackout curtain.
The principles were laid out as early as July 1939 in the UK in ARP publication No2. This included the sealing up of all buildings, thus preventing the escape of any light (achieved by hanging heavy blackout curtains and blinds over windows), street lights being switched off and all vehicles to be fitted with the means to reduce the amount of light they produced, either by the addition of a filter fitted over the headlamps or by specialist blackout lamps (see below). pedestrians went to extreme lengths in order to make sure they could be seen in the reduced light and kerbs and other road features were painted white to further enhance their visibility. One of the obvious effects of these measures was an increase in traffic accidents, be they simple crashes or more tragically, involving pedestrians.
Blackout curtain.
The principles were laid out as early as July 1939 in the UK in ARP publication No2. This included the sealing up of all buildings, thus preventing the escape of any light (achieved by hanging heavy blackout curtains and blinds over windows), street lights being switched off and all vehicles to be fitted with the means to reduce the amount of light they produced, either by the addition of a filter fitted over the headlamps or by specialist blackout lamps (see below). pedestrians went to extreme lengths in order to make sure they could be seen in the reduced light and kerbs and other road features were painted white to further enhance their visibility. One of the obvious effects of these measures was an increase in traffic accidents, be they simple crashes or more tragically, involving pedestrians.
French blackout bulb light for use in cars.
Another issue was that many industrial units featured large volumes of glass in their roofs and this meant a permanent solution was required, thus rendering the natural light during the daytime being severely reduced. Failure to comply with the blackout regulations was punishable by severe penalties.
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