Why did the British Government evacuate children from Britain's major cities in the early years of World War 2?

Assignment 1 Question 1

Why did the British Government evacuate children from Britain’s major cities in the early years of World War 2?

There are many reasons why women and children were evacuated in 1939. Evacuation is a situation in which a lot of people are removed from a place where they are thought to be in danger, to a place where they will be safe. This happened in Britain when the British government thought that the threat from the Germans was real enough to put evacuation into practice. The main reason that the British government evacuated children from Britain’s major cities in the early years of World War 2 is that they feared an airborne attack from the Germans.

There are long and short-term causes as to why evacuation took place. The long-term causes are that during World War 1 the government did not fear an attack from the air due to the lack of development of planes, they simply were not advanced enough to launch a bombing raid on Britain. However, plane warfare was much more advanced by the 1930’s so there was reason to believe that Britain could be bombed if war broke out. The government was also worried because Hitler was rearming and in 1935 he had developed the Luftwaffe, the German airforce which was a major threat to Britain. Also, the Munich crisis in 1938 caused people to build trenches in London. This would have greatly influenced Britain’s leaders to put evacuation into practice because there was such a fear of bombing.

In 1936, a civil war broke out in Spain between Communist and right wing rebels. Hitler saw this as an excuse to fight Communism and as a chance to exercise his new armed forces. In 1937 German aircraft made devastating bombing raids on civilian populations in various Spanish cities. The destruction at Geurnica was particularly terrible; this was a powerful message to Britain, which then meant that panic set in. The British government now knew that if war broke out, German bombs would target civilians, which they evidently didn’t want. This was probably one of the main reasons that women ...

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By 1939 Hitler was threatening war. He had taken the rest of Czechoslovakia by March and his intentions were clear. This worried the British government who now thought it was time to finalise plans for evacuation, because they wanted to protect children and keep morale up through evacuation. The government made an effort to reassure people, stating that they had strong defences but also that some planes would undoubtedly get through.

The children would be evacuated from ‘evacuable’ areas to safer places called ‘reception’ areas. Operation Pied Piper would take place on September 1st 1939 where nearly 3,000,000 people were transported away from major industrial cities. Also, the Battle of Britain in 1940 persuaded many more mothers to evacuate their children, as did the ‘Blitz’ that began in London on September 7th 1940.

There were also shot-term causes as to why evacuation took place. The British government was expecting an immediate German attack but for the first few months of the war there was no bombing, this then became known as the ‘Phoney War’. Nine out of ten women and children returned home to the major cities thinking they were safe. When the Battle of Britain broke out in 1940 they were soon evacuated again. Also, in 1939 Poland was invaded and Britain thought that the Germans would attack as soon as war was declared. This was another reason for the British government to put evacuation into practice.

Manchester was bombed because there were a lot of arms being built in places like Trafford Park. Because Manchester was bombed local schools had to be evacuated such as Manchester Grammar and Levenshulme High.

In conclusion I think that the aims of evacuation were to preserve the future generation, maintain morale and to stop panic. I think that many children were saved from the bombs without causing panic which, in effect, kept morale fairly high. The British government had reason to fear attack from Hitler because he was rearming and his new arms that included the Luftwaffe had shown how devastating they could be (Geurnica).