'Toddler's Donald Duck Mask', 1940 (c)

Photograph, World War Two, Home Front (1939-1945), 1940 (c).

All British military personnel and civilians were issued with gas masks on the outbreak of war. People were instructed to carry their gas masks at all times in case of attack. Although the Germans had large stockpiles of nerve gas they never used them, believing that the Allies had also developed nerve agents and would respond in kind to their use. Several models of childrens' masks were given nicknames such as 'Mickey Mouse' and 'Donald Duck'.