"Evacuation was a great success". Do you agree with this statement? Use your own knowledge and the sources provided

The actual transportation of the children was very well organised; the children were all registered in advance and were put onto the trains efficiently. Source A depicts evacuees walking to the station in London. This suggests that evacuation was well-ordered as all the children are walking in an orderly fashion; they are all smiling and a few are waving. This shows that the children were content in being evacuated. However one must take into account the fact that the source is a photograph hence it could have been staged. Source B contradicts this and suggests that evacuation was a nerve-racking experience for the children involved as they were “too afraid to talk”. The source also states that the children didn’t know where they were going; this is a negative factor as it would cause angst amongst the children and suggests disorganisation.

As well as simply the organisation and official objectives behind evacuation; there are other aspects which one must consider. Many children gained a lot of new experiences and there were many long-term benefits. Some long-term benefits include broadened horizons of the children, increased understanding between classes and a raised awareness of urban poverty. Many country dwellers did not know how city children lived and evacuation was an opportunity for them to find out. Source C, an extract from ‘Carrie’s War’ by Nina Bowden highlights a misconception about evacuees as the child in the novel says “ she thinks we’re poor children, too poor to afford slippers”. However this source is not really a primary source, as although it is based on reality, it is a fictitious novel. A lot of evacuees had positive experiences such as enjoying healthier, safer surroundings than the cities as well as developing a life-long love of the countryside. On the other hand some children were just treated like servants by their foster families or made to feel very unwelcome. These children experienced some of the negative factors of country life. Many of the foster families had negative experiences such as bad-mannered children or children with poor personal hygiene. These experiences are both positive and negative; although they were unpleasant, they resulted in raised awareness of urban children’s welfare. This raised awareness of poverty resulted in the introduction of the Welfare State Shortly after W.W.II.

Many foster families and evacuees enjoyed the experience of evacuation and treasured memories of it for many years. The evacuees were predominantly grateful, Source D, a government advertisement suggests that the foster families were “doing a real service for the nation”; this evokes patriotism and causes people to come together and help each other, which is another positive outcome of evacuation. This advertisement encouraged people to take in evacuees thus making the arrangements easier and more orderly, increasing the successfulness of evacuation.

When looking at all the evidence available to us it is clear that although evacuation was not a “great” success as there were a great deal of setbacks, such as the children who did not go and children who returned home it was quite successful as the government did secure the objective of reducing civilian casualties. Many other benefits were as a result of evacuation and it was an enlightening experience for all those concerned. There were a few negative effects for certain individuals but as a whole, this nation benefited from evacuation.