In 1938, a year before the first world war started, the government of Britain were already planning different methods to try and keep the country, and the people in it, safe from German bombers. Evacuation was the method that was focused on the most, but others such as ARP and the concept of using gas masks, were also used.
Britain was well prepared for a Second World War. Because of the death scale of the first world war, Britain had anticipated that there would be an even higher death rate in this war, partially because of the fact that technology had moved on since the first world war, and that there were more advanced weapons available. Because of this reason, the government estimated that at least one million people would die in air raids alone. The government had exactly one million coffins built and they then began to evacuate children from all major British towns and cites. Another reason why Britain was well prepared for the Second World War was the
All most immediately after war was declared, the British government began to evacuate children from the major cities and towns. When the war began, the British people expected the German airforce to start dropping bombs on Britain right away. This didn’t happen. There was a period of time were Britain was not bombed at all. This period of time was known as the phoney war. Many children were evacuated in this period of time and because there was no activity such as bombings and air raids, children were brought back home. Not only children were evacuated. Pregnant women and people with a disability were also evacuated. They were often evacuated to the countryside and foreign countries that were not taking part in the war, such as Canada.
Stanley Baldwin, who was the Prime Minister from 1935 to 1937, stated that ‘The Bomber will always get through’. He meant that there was no sufficient protection from German Bombers and it was there for decided that children should be evacuated. The government could not force children to be evacuated, it was a decision which was up to the children and their parents.
The government tried to keep the people of Britain as safe as possible from German bombers. They came up with the idea of air raid precautions, ARP for short. It became law, that air raid shelters had to be built and people to use gas masks as a form of protection in case gas bombs were dropped. A gas-mask was given to every person in the country and a law was passed that the gas mask would have to be carried at all times. Children would take the gas masks out to play and to school with them. Adults had to carry the gas masks as well The reason that this law was passed, was because people had seen and experienced gas in the first world war, and they knew the effects it could cause. By law people of all ages were taught how to use the gas masks properly so as to prevent illness from sudden gas attacks. As it happens, no gas bombs were dropped on Britain during World War two.
