Evacuation During Ww2 Essay

How useful and reliable are these sources in explaining how people's lives were changes by evacuation during WW2?
Evacuation was introduced on the 1st of September 1939. This meant that children, mothers with children under 5, teachers and some disabled people were moved from the inner cities to the countryside. The aim of 'Operation Pied Piper' was to evacuate 3.5 million people in three days. Even though only 1.9 million people were evacuated during this time period, it was still seen as a remarkable achievement though some children stayed at home with their parents as evacuation was not compulsory. The inner cities of big cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham were expected to be heavily bombed during the war so to avoid the deaths of too many people, evacuation was introduced so that children could be safer in the countryside where bombing would be unlikely.
241,000 children were evacuated from London, 84,000 from Manchester and 80,000 from Merseyside. To transport the

huge numbers of people, 4,000 special trains and many extra buses were used. 71,000 children were evacuated to Lancashire, 68,000 to Sussex and 51,000 to Somerset. It was the biggest and most concentrated population movement in British history however many people returned after as early as a week later because there were no big bombing raids on Britain in the first months of the war. This was called the ‘Phoney War’ and by January 1940, 60% of all evacuees had returned home. They were evacuated again when heavy bombing raids started in the autumn of 1940 - The Blitz - and then again later, in 1944.
There were many impacts on people, big and small, caused by evacuation.

The whole physical movement was distressing and confusing for children and their mothers. Most of the children had no idea where they were going, what their hosts would be like, why they were being sent away and if they would ever return home. Some children had positive experiences with their host families and others not so much. Living conditions could be dreadful and the children could be treated like servants or in severe cases, abused, which had a lasting effect on them mentally and physically. Education was in chaos as children were constantly being moved around and if they went back into the city, most of the schools remained closed so kids were left with nothing to do all day. The government’s solution to adult and child problems was to ‘pull yourself together’ and have a ‘stiff upper lip’ as we wanted to give an impression that Britain had been vastly successful in the war and was enjoying the benefits of

it.