When the Second World War began in 1939 many people were afraid that German aeroplanes dropping bombs on Britain's major cities would kill thousands of civilians.

Scott McHugh Evacuation Coursework Miss Bass

Question 1

When the Second World War began in 1939 many people were afraid that German aeroplanes dropping bombs on Britain’s major cities would kill thousands of civilians. The fear from World War One was a main factor for people to be evacuated during World War Two. During World War One there were 1413 people killed by the German air raids, this suggests that this could happen again.

In 1930 the planes and bombers were much bigger and more advanced, so, they could cause more damage to people and the country. The British government was expecting that 600,000 people were to be killed in the first few days of war. Over the years between World War One and World War Two there had been many technological advances and this made the British government worry even more as the new technology could cause far worse damage than in the previous world war.

Gas was suspected to be used at the start of the war. This sparked even more reasons to evacuated people, as gas could cause damage beyond repair. In case of a gas attack, children and adults had to carry around a gas mask. But gas wasn’t used.

As war became more and more likely the evacuation plan was put into action. This happened on the first of September 1939. Over a period of four days about one and a half million children, pregnant women, disabled people and mothers with children under five years old were evacuated to the countryside using buses and four thousand special trains. But, the parents who had money sometimes made their own arrangements for their children to be evacuated to another country, USA, Canada, or even Australia.

The German bombers went for the main cities in Britain. This is because the main cities had a good industry and if the bombs could prevent the cities from producing goods that could help Britain in the war, then this would put Germany at an advantage in the war. So, as a result of the major cities being bombed the people had to be evacuated from these cities. Also, because people lived near the factories this made it more likely that these people could die as a result of bombing. The factories were a target to prevent ships, planes, munitions and weapons from being produced.

It was especially important to move the children so that their parents could concentrate on the war. However some parents couldn’t concentrate because they were worried about the welfare of their children. But the other parents were left to concentrate on fighting, making munitions, food, planes and ships for the war effort. The children of that time were the future of Britain, so they had to be safe and to do this they evacuated them to the country, this was very important.

Germany had many aims at the start of the Second World War. These were bombing the main transport links to prevent goods and troops from being moved and also to stop the flow of industry by bombing them. They also wanted to damage British morale to make us feel bad about our country and people.

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Many things effected evacuation. One of these was propaganda. There were many posters and pictures at that time showing the children happy and having a good time, this wasn’t always the case. These were meant to make the parents feel at ease and wouldn’t bring their children back to the cities were their lives could be in danger. The first evacuation was on September 1939. But, the people were evacuated far too early because bombs weren’t actually dropped on London for another eleven months. By the end of the year family brought nearly sixty per cent of the evacuees home. The Blitz in autumn 1940 brought a second evacuation. A third evacuation on June 1944, because of flying bombs made one million people to be evacuated. People drifted home quite quickly. But evacuation did save many lives of innocent people. But not all countries evacuated in time. Some of these were Holland and Finland.

Question 2

During the Second World War there were many reasons to evacuating, some of these were outrageous and unbelievable. Also evacuating meant a clash of the classes. For example, many of the people that were evacuated were often poor and they’d go to live with richer people. The rich people were often shocked and appalled at the lack of self-hygiene of these evacuees. But sometimes the rich had to change to the poor way of life. But the children often treated these homes of the foster parents with little or no respect.

The parents often were very worried about sending their children into the unknown countryside to an unknown location because they may never see their children again. Many children were brought home early, or didn’t even go at all because of their worried parents. There was a mixed reaction between the children. Some had the time of their lives while others hated it and wanted to return home. The reaction between the parents, foster parents and the children were very different.

For some children it was the time of their lives being evacuated, however, for others it was an absolute nightmare. Therefore there were positive and negative reactions. An example of a positive reaction by an evacuee was safe from the bombing in the major cities. The lifestyle change was hard to get used to and was very different to green hills instead of rows of houses. We know this from a London evacuee who said, “ It was entirely different to see rolling green hills, cows and sheep instead of the grimy bricks and mortar that was London.” This evacuee was obviously happy about leaving the streets of London for a fresher greener view.

A lot of evacuees were happy about being evacuated. Here is a few quotes from a five year old boy called Jim Woods, “ At first, it was quite frightening being separated from your mother”, “ after a few days we settled down and quite enjoyed being in Wales”, “ we had fun exploring the slag heaps”, “ I got on very well with Mr and Mrs Reece” and “ Mr Reece came to London and asked my mother if he could adopt us”. These children got on very well with their foster parents. They got on that well that they wanted to adopt the children. This was very rare that it lead to adoption. There were many good points but for each good point there were many bad points. These were well fed, good food, safe from the bombing, new friends and clean and better hygiene. We know this because of this of this quote “ Everything was so clean. We were given face flannel and toothbrushes” and “And hot water came from the tap: and there was a lavatory upstairs. And carpets. And clean sheets.” However, this source was written in 1973, so is this source biased or influenced by propaganda?

However this wasn’t always the case, sometimes the children hated their foster homes and foster families. Sometimes the foster parents used to beat them if they did anything that they disapproved of. “ I can remember getting severely beaten for reading”. This was a working class girl called Cynthia Gillett. Many rich people disapproved of working class people reading, so to punish them for this they were beaten. Although they had hot water, clean sheets and a toilet they didn’t always like it they found it “odd” and “ didn’t like it”.

Another reason for the children’s negative reactions was the lifestyle change. This was too much for some children and they didn’t want to get used to it. Other reasons for the children disliking the evacuation was the countryside sometimes got bombed by mistake, family, friends and pets were missed daily, treatment of foster parents, worried about their own parents and the worst part was being picked out like at a “ salve auction”.

However it wasn’t just the children who had a negative reaction to the policy of evacuation, the parents did too. Parents often got very worried about sending their children. This partly was because the destination was unknown and the worry that they may never see their children again. Evacuation scared many parents and didn’t like the idea. There were four million expected evacuees but only one and a half million were sent. But the other two and a half million didn’t go because their parents didn’t let them go. This shows that the parents were protective and would do anything to not loose their children.

The policy of evacuation changed during the war. Parents started to worry in the early month so they brought their children home when the expected bombing raids didn’t happen. Approximately one million children came back to their homes by January 1940. When the Blitz started, many people were evacuated again. Parents through out the war were worried very much. This is an evacuee’s mother account of what happened, “ The day arrived and early in the morning I said goodbye to my too little daughters, dressed in their little kilts and yellow jerseys and clutching their big dolls. I lay in bed and cried all day”. As you can see parents got worried about their children. But a good thing for the parents was the almost certain guarantee that their children would be safe from all the bombing raids. This had to be one of the few positives for the parents, as this was generally a miserable time for them.

There were also positive and negative reactions for the foster parents. It wasn’t easy for the foster parents either. After a long train journey evacuees had to line up and wait for a host family to choose and collect them. Waiting was often the worst part about being evacuated. Many reasons for families taking evacuees were because they received an allowance. Some people didn’t take evacuees because they didn’t need the money. This was often the upper class. The foster parents were often shocked and disgusted at the lack of the basic hygiene rules.

Another reason for people taking evacuees was the possibility of having maid and labourers to work in the farm or in the house. Evacuation brought a view for country folk to get a view of the real poverty of the major cities. Often the children had a little or no decent clothes, shoes, or underwear because their parents had no money to buy them. Many children had to use baths and toilets, which many of them had never used previously.

Shocking reports published by the Women’s Institute brought a true feel of what the foster families had to put up with. For example one boy aged thirteen refused to eat cereal and milk saying, “ I want some bloody beer and chips”. They had to put up with swearing, demands and impolite comments. This phase also tell us what sort of life he is used to and what they normally eat and drink. One man, named Oliver Lyltelton took ten evacuees and this is what he said about them, “ I got a shock. I had little dreamt that English children could be so completely ignorant of the simplest rules of hygiene, and that they would regard floor sand carpets as a place to relieve themselves”. This quote reflects just how and what they are normally used to. This must have been hell for the hosts.

It wasn’t all-bad. Sometimes the foster parents made friend with the evacuees. They also received free labour, if they were to use it and an allowance for each evacuee they took. This suggests that there were different reactions to the policy of evacuation depending upon their expectations of the evacuees.

The policy of evacuation had many different reactions. The children had differing reactions. Some loved being evacuated and others couldn’t wait to get back home. However for the parents it was mostly bad and the only good point of the policy of evacuation was that their children would be safe from the bombing raids. But the foster parents were often treated poorly, ignored and had to put up with the children. Sometimes the hosts made friends and in some cases wanted to adopt the children they were fostering. The policy of evacuation brought a range of reactions and feelings.

Grade given for this first piece of history coursework

24/25 A*