The Spade As Mighty As the Sword: The Story of World War Two's Dig for Victory Campaign

by Daniel Smith

After food rationing was introduced in 1940, and German U-boats began threatening merchant shipping bringing in essential foodstuffs, the Ministry of Agriculture decided something had to be done to make the kitchens of Britain more self-sufficient. The result was one of Britain’s most successful propaganda campaigns—Dig for Victory—encouraging every man and woman to turn their garden, or even the grass verge in their street, over to cultivating vegetables. By 1942 half the population were taking part, and even the Royal Family had sacrificed their rose beds for growing onions. Now Dan Smith tells the full story of this remarkable wartime episode when spades, forks, and bean canes became weapons the ordinary citizen could take up against the enemy. It had tangible benefits for the war effort in that shipping could be reallocated for munitions instead of food imports, as well as for the health of the nation in encouraging a diet of fresh fruit and veg. The campaign threw up unexpected celebrities like C.H. Middleton, whose wartime BBC radio talks on gardening reached a vast audience, and it even sowed the seeds for the modern allotment movement. Ultimately it is a war story without fighting or killing, one that shows how even The Little Man with the Spade, in the words of the Minister for Agriculture at the time, did his bit for Victory.

Genres: Nonfiction, World War II, Gardening, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Careless Talk Costs Lives, Let us Go Forward Together and Dig for Victory are some of the most well known poster campaigns of Britain's Second World War.

This short but highly readable book provides the story on how Dig for Victory came into being and the impact it had on both people and the war.

I say short and readable as it is a mere 250 pages including index and bibliography when compared to the four weighty and often very dry volumes of official history that provide some commentary on this subject (three on Food and one on Agriculture).

That said it would be wrong of me to suggest that this is just a rewriting of those histories because it is not. Daniel Smith ably weaves the politics and bureaucracy with people's experiences and memories.

The campaign got off to a wobbly start - under a different title - and became a programme that had allotments and little vegetable plots springing up across the country in places as diverse as royal parks, railway embankments, verges alongside roads and bombed out sites where houses once stood.

The book covers all things from how Dig for Victory was organised centrally and across the country with the voluntary and other organisations involved. Aside from the advertising campaign in posters Dig for Victory sprouted (poor pun sorry) radio shows, films, demonstrations, talks and shows and household name presenters. There is mention of subjects as diverse as diets, nutrition and calorie counts to yields, pests and selling; pilfering, trespass and vandalism to recipes, Potato Pete, Doctor Carrot and merchant shipping.

Variety and receipes may have been rather uninspriring, despite great efforts to create new or mock dishes, but the vegetables grown in their thousands of tons by both commercial and "Dig for Victory" growers helped ensure the general population was healthier than at anytime in history.
Among some eye opening facts and statistics that are well placed throughout the book, I found it surprising that whilst infant mortality rose during World War One during the Second World War it actually fell to its lowest rate to that point.

Did Dig for Victory help win the war?

On the evidence portrayed so enjoyably in Daniel Smith's excellent book it certainly helped.

[Lettice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cheerful little book telling the story of Britain's Dig for Victory campaign which encouraged everyone to grow their own vegetables during and after WWII. Lots of lovely stories and anecdotes about the planning of the scheme, the experiences of individual gardeners, the campaign marketing, and rumours that based on their behaviour Britain's rabbits might be supporting the nazis.

[Ed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Depending on how generous you're feeling, this ranks somewhere on the scale between amateur historian weekend project and GCSE coursework. There's no narrative, no structure, no insight or commentary, it's basically just a dump of information from various sources with some slight attempt to organise it all (doesn't feel like much pruning has gone on though) - perhaps 'extended wikipedia page' is the best description. It's just so dull... which is a shame because it feels like a topic that could be really interesting (indeed, I don't make a habit of buying books I expect to be boring).

It approaches the subject very much from the perspective of government - at times feeling like a list of people who worked for various government ministries, with nothing more to say on each person than when/where they were born and where they went to school. With the occasional underwhelming statistic thrown in for good measure. There is precious little said about the actual vegetable growing side of things, meaning if - like me - you were attracted to the book because you're interested in growing veg, you'll definitely be disappointed.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and insightful read, it shed light on the dig for victory campaign and the struggles for the nation to produce and grow their own food.

It was an interesting book from the start although I did have a prior interest before picking this book up which influenced my decision to read it so I realise that this book might not be everyone’s cup of tea! It’s quite a niche book in its topic but if you’re interested in life and times during the war, the home front or good old fashioned British spirit in the face of adversity, it’s a book you’ll enjoy.

It was written well but could be a little heavy / yawn inducing for those who didn’t have an existing interest. I enjoyed it and find I learnt quite a lot throughout its pages so I’m certainly happy I picked this one up and gave it a read.

[Abbie Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book detailing what many people in Britain worked on, hard to believe what is now the most famous home front campaign faltered at the start and almost didn't achieve what it did. Almost makes you want to grow your own now too!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely worth reading, and enjoyable. I hadn't realised there had been a campaign during the First World War. What a shame that at the end of both wars, the lessons learned were allowed to slip away. It seems to require a major crisis for us to act in a way that would benefit us throughout our lives, both gardening and eating. I learnt a lot, and will re-read from time to time.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never dull, always interesting and very well written.

[Frances]

Readable account of the Dig for Victory campaign with some interesting historical snippets thrown in.