Outbreak 1939

Seventy years after World War II began, the Imperial War Museum London looks back at how Britain prepared for war, from gas masks and identity cards to evacuation.

Outbreak 1939 at Imperial War Museum London

At 11.15am on 3 September 1939, Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain was at war with Germany. The news changed the lives of everyone in the country as preparations for war were put in place.

This free exhibition at Imperial War Museum London explores the tense build up and the first months of war.

Outbreak 1939 coincides with an ITV1 documentary of the same name, to be screened on 3 September.

Wedding Dresses and Weapons at Outbreak 1939

The new exhibition includes many important items and memories from that historic day, such as:

• King George VI's jacket, which he wore for his broadcast to the nation at 6pm
• A wedding dress worn on the 3 September for a wedding that was hurriedly rearranged when the outbreak of the war was thought to be imminent
• A purse and coin belonging to an 11-year-old boy who survived the sinking of the SS Athenia
• Personal stories of servicemen and journalists
• The medal awarded to Thomas Priday, the first British soldier to be killed in action during the war
• The story of Clare Hollingworth, a reporter for the Daily Telegraph who was the first journalist to break the news that Poland had been invaded
• The German machine gun taken as a souvenir by New Zealand fighter ace "Cobber" Kain from the first aircraft he shot down in 1939
• The conduct book belonging to Gunther Prien, one of Germany's first war heroes

Life On the Home Front Returns to London

As well as looking at military preparations, Outbreak 1939 explores the impact on those back home in Blighty.

The early days, for example, were known as the "Phoney War" as there wasn't much major war news and a sudden enemy invasion seemed unlikely.

Other domestic preparations and regulations covered in the exhibition include:

• The introduction of the nationwide blackout on the 1 September 1939
• Barrage balloons
• Air raid precautions
• The carrying of gas masks and identity cards
• Evacuation, begun on 31 August 1939, with toys and other possessions of some of the millions of children affected

Other Events Marking World War II's 70th anniversary

Outbreak 1939 is not the only event marking the 70th anniversary of the declaration of war on 3 September.

You can also catch a new display at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Undercover – Life in Churchill's Bunker focuses on the personal accounts of the men and women who worked there during the Second World War, when it was used as the operations hub.

You can find out more about how the Imperial War Museum is marking 3 September on its website.