Source B is useful because it is a photo typical of the time. It shows evacuees walking to a train station in London in September 1939, which was very likely to have been happening. There is a slight possibility that the photo may have been staged as it was taken at the height of propaganda, however it is backed up by other images of evacuation, and there is no indication that it was produced by the government so we an assume that it is genuine.
The children look happy and content, however they may be smiling for the camera, as many other accounts of evacuation say the children were scared; ‘the children were too afraid to talk.’ Most of the children look to be under 10 which was probable because although all schoolchildren were given the option to be evacuated, many of the older ones chose to stay at home.
They are carrying their suitcases and boxes containing gas masks which everybody was advised by the government to do in case of a gas attack, and they are wearing name tags so they could be registered at the reception areas.
There are some adults present in the picture, predominantly women. These would have been teachers or mothers, which is a typical image as some mothers were evacuated with the children and many went to see them off, whilst the teachers helped to organise the children.
The source is limited as it only shows London evacuees and we only know this because we are told; the photo shows an urban background. It only shows younger evacuees and only shows us one moment in time, it doesn’t show what it was like at the train station for example.
Source C gives us the memory of a teacher remembering being evacuated with children from her school. It is useful because it tells us the children’s feelings; they were ‘too afraid to talk,’ and the mothers weren’t allowed to be evacuated but they came to see the children off. It ties in with source B in that the children were evacuated from a railway station. The teacher has no obvious reason to lie or be biased so we can assume she is telling the truth as she remembers it.
The source is limited as it is only giving a one sided, personal view of the situation and it is being told 49 years after the event, so it may not be completely accurate. All the details of the source tie in with source B, and other accounts from the time, however there is a lack of precise detail.
I think source B is more useful as it gives many details of the start of the evacuation process; what kind of transport was used, who went with them, what the children carried, their ages, whereas source C only gives the very basics and could be inaccurate as it is somebody’s memory of the event.
