Once war had begun the government had expected total war, meaning that as well as soldiers, civilians were now targets in war. Experts estimated that enemy bombers would kill ten thousand people every day. The aspect of total war had been demonstrated by the Luftwaffe in the sleepy market town of Guernica in Northern Spain during the Spanish Civil war. The bombings that took place by the Luftwaffe not only shocked the world but also allowed the British government to expect heavy bombing. The bombing was only the start, the government also expected that the Nazis would drop gas, resulting in the entire British population being issued with Gas masks of different shapes and sizes that had to be carried in a box attached to them at all times as it could not be predicted when the Nazis would drop the gas, with the most vulnerable being evacuated this stopped extreme disaster.
There were many reasons for this evacuation, but I believe the main reason was to protect the future generation, the Government wanted to settle the children in a safe environment before the war broke out. If the estimated amount of deaths by enemy bombers had become reality and the children had not been evacuated, Britain’s population would have decreased dramatically. Without any children, Britain would have hardly any future ahead of it, with a massive decrease in population. Not only did ‘Operation Pied Piper’ aim to protect the most vulnerable people in Britain, it also aimed to protect Government reputation, as they did not want to go down in history as the party that failed to protect the British people, so evacuation was just as much a selfish act by the government as it was an heroic act.
However the government came across a stumbling block. The period between September 1939 and May 1940 was known as ‘The Phoney War’ and during this time many mothers started to bring their children back from their evacuated destinations. This was because during this period, no bombing occurred and to some, it looked as though the war was not going to happen. Consequently the government had to launch another propaganda campaign to persuade mothers to evacuate their children. Because of the threat of Blitzkrieg (lightning war) the British government knew it was best to have the children away from it all. The Evacuation of Dunkirk in May/June 1940 showed Britain just how strong the Germans were as they had forced the British and French to retreat. Also the British forces were weakened because they did not have enough room on ships for weapons such as tanks and horses. The soldiers had to kill the horses and destroy the tanks so the Germans didn’t get an advantage in the war by the weapons left behind by the British.
The Blitz in May 1940 and the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 highlighted the real threat posed to civilians by enemy bombers and why evacuation had to take place. The Blitz claimed the lives of 43,000 civilians and injured over one million of them and the battle of Britain killed 27,450 British civilians and wounded 32,138. These numbers would have been higher if evacuation had not taken place, as well as this new technology that hadn’t been around in previous wars now posed a threat to everyone. Technology such as radar helped the British realize when enemy fighter planes where coming over to Britain. But technology such as air crafts, bombs, gas and the threat of an atomic bomb invasion where very dangerous. At this point the government knew they had done the right thing by evacuating the most vulnerable to safer areas.
Another reason for evacuation was, the Government had just recently started realising the poverty in cities. So by sending these children away from the cities it was sending them away from poverty improving their health. When poor children from the cities were evacuated they often couldn’t believe what they saw. Most of them were amazed by indoor toilets and the food put on the table. Some evacuees were so poor they couldn’t even afford a toothbrush. As much as the Evacuees were amazed at how rich the hosts were, the hosts were just as amazed at how poor the evacuees were. Not all evacuees were poor but most host families had a prejudice that all evacuees were poor. While children from the cities were out in the countryside their schools were being used as emergency canteens or shelters for the people left homeless by the war.
As you can see, evacuation was in everyone’s best interests, even if it was hard sending your children away to strangers. Evacuation sent the most vulnerable people away to protect them, also without evacuation there may have been a very small population of the future generation. Although one of the main reasons was to protect government reputation, Evacuation saved many lives of vulnerable civilians. So ultimately, that is why the Government decided to evacuate!