Another reason into why the British government wanted to evacuate children from the major cities of Britain was the fact that due to the events during April-May 1940 (‘Blitzkrieg’ from Germany against major Western European countries), Britain expected war and like previous events, heavy aerial bombing from the German Luftwaffe. The reason as to why children were evacuated from the bigger, major cities was because these cities were where heavy bombing was expected due to their industrial entities. If these ‘factory-filled’ cities were bombed, the result would be catastrophic, with infliction upon production of weapons and other resources required by Britain - all this negativity and this was without the casualties of children had there been no evacuation. So, with these forecasted invasions the British government must have felt they had no choice but to evacuate the children from these cities.
Another factor toward the decision to evacuate the children of Britain was the fact that an essence of genuine fear and awareness of the power that the German air-force possessed was growing amongst the people and government of Britain. War was no longer the man-to-man combat it once was and it was acknowledged that a single bomb dropped by a plane would be enough to cause the destruction that many hated war for what it was in the first place – death, and much of it. This awareness came from events in Spain (1936) where a civil war had broken out and the Germans had got involved. What was to follow in Spain, more specifically Guernica (destruction particularly terrible) would haunt those who witnessed it for many years, both first-hand or in cinema. The scenes of this terrible destruction from German aircrafts was shown in cinemas throughout Britain, and the thought-provoking images of dead people or more specifically, children must have played a part in the decision to have children evacuated from Britain’s major cities.
Another reason was the fact that in the face of imminent warfare, the government was planning its utilization of the British adult population, to put it simply, how they could be of use. Now children were vulnerable, but mainly, useless in terms of contribution to the war effort and with men going to war for their country and women and young-adults working in factories/farms, children would only prove a hindrance to worried parents who would work with the knowledge of their child at ‘home’ alone. This aspect of sheer vulnerability must have played a part in the government’s decision to evacuate the children of Britain with the added concern that even if bombs did not land directly on houses containing children, many buildings would be weakened in their foundations and could have proven a danger (collapsed).
Another reason was the fact that there was a strong possibility that many of these non-evacuated children would be psychologically affected - seeing death and bombs crashing down on cities was not the sort of exposure a child needed and so the government probably felt it had to evacuate, for the sake of the children’s mental health. Also, the government must have been under pressure from worried parents to take action for naturally, they had to protect their children – the most obvious form of protection would have been evacuation. This form of evacuative ideology must have come from the first period of evacuation (‘Phoney War’), and this time with the threat real, the British government had to act.
Another reason as to why the British government evacuated children from major cities was the fact that, with children being of no use in terms of contribution towards the war effort, keeping children in these cities would have only left a bigger workload for the ambulances/emergency services and of course more casualties. Conclusively, the government felt that the children were better off out of the way.
Another reason, was the fact that the government wanted people to acknowledge how serious the situation. If the British government announced the German Luftwaffe were coming, many people would worry and take action however, many would dismiss this because in their eyes how could they be sure the government had this right when they had it wrong during the ‘Phoney War’ (1939-1940), and so the government announced a mass evacuation of children, to show and make the people of Britain realise, this threat was very real. There was also the aspect that the government was doing this to show and reassure the public that they were actually doing something in response to this potent German force.
Conclusively, it is evident from the above that the British government had more than enough reasons for the evacuation of children from its major cities with all of them forming to the same conclusion, however, they separate when it comes to the case of importance.
I think the least important reason for the evacuation of children is the fact that if the children were evacuated this would result in less demand for emergency services. The reason why I feel this is the least important is because this is actually not entirely true because as shown in World War I, people were willing to help with emergency services and contribute if a crisis such as that emerged and so even if children remained within the major cities of Britain, the people of Britain would respond to this problem and based on history, would be successful. Even then though, this reason had some importance in the government’s decision - they didn’t want to put too much stain on the public because they had other ‘war-helping’ duties.
I think the most important reason for the evacuation of children, from the government’s perspective, was the fact that they feared the consequences if children were not evacuated – and there were many consequences. This is a reason which has many links, or should it be put in the British government’s eyes many consequences, one being death, death of children in huge quantities, causing anger in the people (parents) of Britain. To see so many dead children would have left people questioning the government’s control of Britain under war. Also, mentally, the death of so many children would have lowered spirits and hopes of the possibility of victory over Germany. But the main link is the fact that they were children; the future of the country, the vulnerable, and the innocent - ultimately the government knew with all these reasons combined they all linked to the same thing, the children had to protected through the only way, evacuation.
In conclusion, there are of course many reasons into the evacuation of children from Britain’s major cities but overall more than enough to amount to what the British government felt was the right decision.
