Another reason evacuation was introduced was because of Britain’s fears about bombing. This was because Britain were worried by the power of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, because when the French Prime Minister went to visit the German Air Force, Hitler tricked him because they went to where the planes were at and while the French Prime Minister was driven to the other base Hitler had his Air Force fly from one to the other so it would look like the Germans had a bigger Air Force which would scare the British and French. Also, during the Spanish civil war, Hitler backed the nationalists and used the Luftwaffe to bomb the town of Guernica, where it was market day and the casualties were higher. The casualties of the bombing of Guernica made the British evacuate children because they were so worried because 70% of the town was destroyed and 1,600 people (1/3 of the population) were killed, and as Britain had a bigger population they expected 600,000 people would be killed and 250,000 injured if they were bombed and also the high casualties would cause problems such as it would shatter morale so it would be better for the children to be evacuated away.
Women and their contribution to the war effort was also a reason why evacuation was introduced. This was because if the children had been evacuated the women would have free time to do more war work. This would help the war effort because they would have more time to work in the munitions factories and make more weapons and provide the men with more equipment, in the Land Army to farm etc and in the Armed Forces where they would do mechanic and carpenting work and also work as pilots. Women were a reason why children were evacuated because they would have more free time to be able to help more and make more equipment for the men which would make Britain’s army stronger.
Other reasons why evacuation was introduced was because at the beginning of the war there was not many shelters so the children could not be protected very well. The casualties would be a drain of resources and if the children got injured the hospitals would not be able to treat the people who had been injured in the war so if they were in the countryside where the Nazis didn’t know they would not get hurt because the countryside was less likely to be attacked. Also the children were important to morale and if they were killed it would shatter morale because there fathers, uncles etc would want to give up fighting because they had nothing to fight for, it would make Britain weaker because they would think there was no hope left for them if their families had been killed and also it would affect future generations because they could not carry on the family name if the had been killed during the war. These reasons were why children were evacuated was because it was safer for them to live in the countryside because it was less likely to be attacked than cities because they had a lower population and the attack would do much damage.
In conclusion to this, the children were evacuated due to a combination of factors, such as the immediate threat of war because war was about to begin and it would be safer to get them out of cities, fears about bombing because the government were worried about the high casualties and if the children were evacuated they would not be as many casualties. Also women and their contribution to the war effort was a reason why the children were evacuated because they would have more free time to work in the munitions factories and provide the men with more weapons. The children were also evacuated because there were not many shelters at the beginning of the war and the hospitals would not be able to treat people injured in the war if they were looking after children and they needed to be somewhere where they would be safe and away from the bombings so they didn’t get hurt, and it would also shatter morale because the children had been killed and fathers would not want to carry on fighting.
