One important reason was to save their lives from the war and battles taking place. Europe was given a warning in 1936 when the Nazi Party tested their new technology. This meant that cities could be bombed from above–another major point to save children’s lives. Each child was issued with a Gas Mask from the government to prevent them breathing in the poisonous gas from the gas bombs as the poisonous gas would have caused severe effects and even death.
Apart from a gas mask, children were expected to pack spare shoes, underwear, socks, a warm coat, toothbrush, toothpaste, pyjamas, towel, soap and a hairbrush and comb. They were also told to pack spare food to last them for the day. Gas Masks were known to have an unpleasant smell and were quite frightening to wear for children. ‘Mickey Mouse’ masks were then issued which were coloured orange and blue to make them look more colourful and which helped attract children and for them to be less afraid to use them.
School was a major issue during the war; children’s education was very important but unfortunately suffered and was disrupted due to evacuation.
By the year of 1943 almost 47,000 mansions had been used as schools and hostels. Many schools had to move together to help children and their education problems. These schools were known to be the best for pupils where they did their best at which made it very useful. Although some schools were empty and unused, so they were put to use as hospitals, canteens and enrolment centres.
Many evacuees had to start at local schools, most of them where only small resulting in no rooms or space for new students. So schools were then divided into 2, some pupils had to attend school in the morning and some attended in the afternoon.
The places which were at most risk were cities. The main cities were London, Manchester, Southampton and Liverpool. London was the city which evacuation was taken place the most. This is why children were advised to be evacuated away from the dangerous cities and to the safe countryside.
Besides children, young mothers, pregnant women and teachers, the sick and the elderly were also evacuated. But without a doubt, school children were the largest group travelling to be evacuated. Many of the children did not even know where they were going and what was going on. So for them, it was a ‘Journey into the Unknown’. The aim of evacuation was to keep people away from danger. By getting more people involved and persuade them to look after as many children as possible, the British government decided to produce posters using propaganda to convince them to change their minds about fostering young children. Many children would arrive to a happy and loving family. As they came from poor houses to rich houses, it became as if a luxury to them. But for many, it became a nightmare. Many foster parents would treat the evacuees as slaves, treat them horribly, bully them and even beat them up. The children would feel abused, alone and tremendously upset.
Another important reason why the government evacuated children was to protect the future generation. Such as soldiers, builders, doctors etc. They needed the people of Britain to carry on with important jobs so Britain remains a better and rich country. Especially the builders as they needed people to help rebuild the country after the war. During the year of 1939, not many bombings occurred so people were wondering whether the war was as serious as they expected it would be. By April 1940, 1.2 million Mothers and their children had decided to return home into the city. Then In the summer of 1940, because of the amount of mothers and their children returning home, the death rates had critically increased around towns in major cities and ports. This meant Hitler’s plan had gone well as he wanted as many people to return home. The Royal Air Force dropped propaganda leaflets were instead of bombs on Germany. Each side waited for each other to make a move, but consequently nothing happened. This period was known as the ‘Phoney War’.
In conclusion, I believe the strongest and main reason why the British Government evacuated children during the Second World War was to save young lives as they wanted children out of harm’s way throughout the attacks.
So children were transported from the cities into the countryside where it was safe. Especially as children were the future question of Britain such as future soldiers, builders, doctors etc. and they wanted to protect that by evacuating them to the countryside away from the danger in the cities. Evacuation was known to keep them safe and most importantly; alive.
