Assessment of the British Evacuation of Children During World War II

Assessment of the British Evacuation of Children During World War II

The main aim of evacuation was to protect Britain’s children form the

threat of a German Blitz. Between the 1st and 3rd of September 1939

over 1.5 children, pregnant women and disabled people were evacuated

to rural areas in mainland Britain. In my essay I am going to

determine weather or not this objective was met and look at many

different sources to see if there is any conflict in opinion.

Whether evacuation was or was not a success is a controversial issue.

There are four main viewpoints to this argument which all have to be

considered. The first is The Government; it was their idea for

evacuation to take place and it was them who organised a great deal or

it. Obviously any sources written by the government at that time would

be bias because they would want people to believe that they were

successful.

The government were very keen to get as many children evacuated as

quickly as possible. They wanted to do this for the safety of the

children, propaganda and morale. To convince parents to let their

children go they put up posters and made parents feel guilty if they

didn’t.

Another major side of the argument is from the parent, some were very

keen for their children to be evacuated and thought that it was the

safest thing to do. Other parents were reluctant to let their children

go because they didn’t think that the ‘Blitz’ was coming. They also

didn’t want their children to go because they would miss them and they

didn’t have a clue where they were going or who they would be stopping

with. Source E shows the viewpoint of a parent reluctant to let her

son get evacuated. She feels that he would not get treated properly in

Wales and is worried that if she died then her son would be stranded

out their. Whereas if he was not evacuated and she died then he could

go and live with local friends and families.