It was estimated that for very tonne of explosives dropped, there would be fifty casualties, a third of which would be fatal. In 1937 the Imperial Defence Committee forecast 1.8 million casualties, 600,000 of which would occur in the first two months. Insanity on a huge scale was also forecast, out-numbering physical casualties 3:1. In actuality, the bombing claimed 60,595 lives during the entire war; making the figure nearer to one than fifty casualties per tonne of explosives dropped.
Another concern for the government to account would be the effects on civilian morale; the quote below from J.F.C Fuller speaking in 1923 provides the context in which evacuation evolved, and the mood in which the British government made the decision to evacuate children from major British cities.
“Picture if you will what the results will be, London for a few days will be one vast raving bedlam, the hospitals will be stormed, traffic will cease, the city will be pandemonium. What of the government in Westminster? It will be swept away by an avalanche of terror. The enemy will dictate his terms which will be grasped by a straw, like a drowning man.” - The Darkest hour by B. Hilton
In 1939 a Civil Defence Act was passed which granted emergency powers to local governments in wartime. Their responsibilities included the organisation of evacuees, from procedure, to their respective carers.
Civilians had now become legitimate targets, so the government felt a responsibility to evacuate those vulnerable in society, i.e. the poor inner city civilians. Targeted by the government for three main reasons:
- They lived in areas most likely to be bombed
- They would be less able to evacuate themselves
- Concerns over public order and the sanctity of property, led by the government to view this “class” of people as a serious threat to the maintenance of public order and war effort.
As one of the sub-committees over seeing Air Raid Precautions put in the 1930’s the most likely to panic would be the “less stable in character of foreign elements living within London as well as the very poor living in East and southern London. It was
claimed that these would be the most classes of person “most likely to be driven mad with fright.”
As such the British government saw them as deterring to the war effort, undermining morale; as such making the country difficult to control and in maintaining their loyalty to the war effort.
On September 1st 1939, children all over Britain assembled in their playgrounds while the parents were told to wait outside. The children would then be led out by a “marked man” who carried a placard with the name and the reference number of the school to the local railway station.
According to N. Longmate the first wave of evacuation was of “model efficiency.” Just fewer than 1.5 million children were evacuated in the first three days of the war, although the government had hoped to evacuate 3.5 million.
During the “phoney war” many of the evacuees drifted back to their respective cities. A second wave of evacuation took place during the “blitz” from September 1940, onwards.
Evacuees weren’t accustomed o rural living. The city and country values clashed. Many evacuees came from the slums of the inner cities. They often found themselves in much wealthier homes and had to cope with different standards of behaviour.
Evacuees were separated from their families. Some evacuee children were badly abused or exploited.
Some avoided the responsibility of taking in evacuees. A report by the Association of Headmasters and Head Mistresses in July 1941 criticised many better off people for “shirking their responsibilities.”
Evacuation saved many lives, but it had other important effects. It freed up mothers to take part in vital war work. Evacuation was also a powerful social force. Youngsters from the poor inner cities saw the country side, often for the first time. Taken in by the wealthy and the privileged, evacuees were exposed to a life they had never dreamed of. At the same time the upper classes, were shown the harsh realities for poorer people of society. After the war it gave people a chance to reconsider issues, and brought the country together after the ordeal.