The Evacuation of Children During The Second World War
What was Evacuation?
During The Second World War many children were moved away from their homes because they were at risk from bombing. The children would have to leave their parents to go and live with complete strangers in areas that were not at risk. These areas were usually small towns in the countryside. The most common areas were Devon, Cornwall and Wales. This process was called Evacuation.
The allocation of evacuees’ placement was completely random. Some of the carers were nice and some were horrible. How did it begin?
The first children were evacuated on the 1st September 1939 which was the day that Germany invaded Poland. Nearly 800,000 children were evacuated to the countryside. They had been told that they would be home by Christmas.
At the start of the war children were issued with identity labels and gas masks which were hung around their necks in a cardboard box. The children had to carry them everywhere. The children were transported by trains which were usually in a bad condition from transporting so many people. They would often be dirty and smelly. The children were packed together. Most of the children were not used to being transported by train. When they arrived they were sent to the village hall or church hall to be sorted into their new homes.
|