Another reason for the evacuation is the massive rearmament of the German army including the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe bombed Guernica in September 1937. The city was bombed to the ground by German planes. Some people believe that the Luftwaffe bombed the city as an experiment to measure the damage to the city and the loss of civilian life. The Luftwaffe confirmed their findings by bombing Shanghai. These events highlighted to the British government the damage that large scale ‘blanket bombing’ could have on any major British city.
Evacuation was also considered essential as the Germans were likely to target key Cities, major industrial areas, ports and shipbuilding cities. It was thought that the Germans would try to disrupt major industrial production of weapons and supplies, areas producing equipment which was considered at risk were densely populated, and any air raid would target high numbers of children and families, these areas were considered ‘high risk’ and the government considered evacuation the only safe option.
There was also the belief that once war was declared it would be swiftly followed by mass air raids and targeted bombings. The government feared that large loss of children’s’ life on a regular basis would seriously damage the country’s morale and support for the war effort would quickly be lost by the population. Without the populations support the government feared that the war would be ‘lost’, with no men willing to join the fighting and that they may have to pull out of the war.
Another major reason was the collapse of France, Germany was now occupying France, which meant that they were nearer to England and were able to attack more easily and frequently as they were in closer range. Again, the government felt that the Germans were much more inclined to carry out large scale bombings on the major industrial areas of Britain, resulting in the threat to children’s’ lives.
All of the above reasons contributed to the decision to evacuate children from cities to rural areas, which were considered a safer option. I feel that the reason which contributed most to the final decision of child evacuation was the confirmation that the Germans would bomb innocent children as a result of huge scale city destruction caused by air raids, as verified by the bombings in Guernica.
