The Decision to Evacuate British Children During World War II

The Decision to Evacuate British Children During World War II

During the first years of World War 2, two main evacuations took place

in Britain, in order to remove innocents, such as children, to rural

areas and out of target cities that were under threat from German

bombing and the Luftwaffe’s ‘Blitzkrieg’ tactics.

There were many reasons why the Government chose to evacuate. These

included, protection of civilians, fear of bombing and gas attacks and

the aspiration to avoid another major conflict. Two different

evacuations were held, one in September 1939 followed by the second in

September 1940. Sir John Anderson the Home Secretary, was responsible

for devising a plan to evacuate endangered civilians from major cities

and important areas, such as London, Liverpool and Middelsbourough.

London was a target due to Parliament and monarchy. Cities with ports

such as Liverpool were vital for trade. This worried people, as they

feared invasion from the sea so they were named target cities. Fear of

attack was high so an evacuation plan began to come together. The

country was separated into 3 evacuating regions. Around 3 million

people were re-located to safer places. There were short term and

long-term reasons for evacuation, including: Fear of bombing, fear of

gas attack, propaganda, the battle of Dunkirk and the Battle of

Britain.

The first, short-term reason for evacuation was the countries fear of

bombing. A ‘knock-out’ blow from Germany would cause total

destruction and the Government was determined to avoid it. The German

Luftwaffe (air force) had a new tactic-‘Blitzkrieg’. This meant

lightening war. It involved a massive, fast, direct air attack to

flatten enemy ground, and then during their attack on Poland Germany

stationed tanks on the border, which entered in groups called Panzers

after the blitzing. To asses the power of his new tactic Hitler

targeted a small Spanish town called Guernica. It took place during

the Spanish civil and, worked with devastating effects pleasing Hitler

and heightening the state of fear in Britain. Fear also steamed from