Outbreak and the early days

This country is at war Evacuation Rationing Send this story to a friend Printer-friendly version

Evacuation

Preparations for the defence of Britain had begun before the Second World War was declared with Germany.  These plans included the possible evacuation of children, expectant mothers and the elderly from key areas that were identified as possible German bombing targets. In 1938 Sir John Anderson MP was the man in charge of Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) and at the outbreak of war the national programme of evacuation was put into motion.  The country had been split into three areas for the purposes of organising and executing the evacuations.  First catagory included those key industrial cities and areas that were expected to be hit, evacuation would be mainly from these.  The second catagory was the neutral areas, suburban districts that weren't identifyied as potential targets and therefore would neither evacuate or receive evacuees.  And thirdly were the reception areas, these were mainly rural areas and the majority of evacuees would be sent to these.  

Evacuation was a voluntary programme and neither those parents sending their children away or the people taking evacuees into their homes were required to do it.  The Government urged parents to protect their children by sending them out of the cities and for those willing to take evacuees there was some financial support given with allowances paid. For one child it was 10s 6d (approx £27) for any more children taken it was a further 8s 6d per child (approx £21 today). A mother and child together would bring in 8s. However welcome the allowance was, the amount often wasn't enough to support the extra children in the house and many evacuees experienced hardships during evacuation.  

The number of people who took up the initial early evacuation was much less than anticipated.  Many were unenthusiastic about leaving their homes and when the expected bombing didn’t occur, during the 'phoney war', evacuees began to return their homes. It was estimated that by January 1940 one million evacuees had gone home.  

The second wave of evacuation began when Germany established airbases along the French coast, after the invasion of France in May 1940,  where they could launch air attacks on Britain. Hitler’s orders for the Luftwaffe were to target the large cities as well as military and naval targets. The objective was to destroy British morale.  Over two hundred thousand children left the large industrial cities for the countryside in July 1940 and by December 1941 this number had risen to a million and a quarter.  

As well as evacuation to rural areas there was also an evacuation department coordinating overseas evacuation.  The scheme was popular and over 200,000 children had been registered. The Children’s Overseas Reception Board (C.O.R.B) stopped the programme in September 1940 when a German submarine sank the ship ‘City of Benares’.  Seventy-three children lost their lives. 

Southampton's evacuation programme began at the start of the war as the town was identified as a key target due to the port and the growing aircraft industry located in Southampton.  The city was directly in the frontline, in easy range of the German bombers located on the French coast. 

In 1939 letters regarding evacuation were sent to parents from Southampton’s education office and leaflets explaining the benefits from moving their children out of crowded areas into the countryside were produced by the Government to encourage parents to register their children for the scheme.  Meetings were held at the schools for parents to discuss the possibilities with the head teachers; who became the local coordinators of the evacuation.  Advice was given on what each child should be provided with in their evacuation luggage

Children from Southampton were mainly sent to areas in Dorset and North Hampshire, 14,000 children went  from the town at the start of the scheme.  The evacuations were coordinated from the schools and whole classes were evacuated at a time, together with their teachers and any other adult helpers, it was hoped that their schooling would be carried on as much as possible. The school playgrounds provided the assembly points for the departures and a strict timetable was imposed to ensure that evacuation days went smoothly. Where possible brothers and sisters were evacuated from the same school so that even if they were not housed together they would be placed near each other. Although attempts were made to keep children together many accounts describe not knowing anyone else where they went, feeling lonely and unwanted and unhappy at being split from friends or brothers and sisters.  However, most children adapted quickly to their new surroundings and grew to love it, enjoying the space and fresh air, a change from the cramped and often poor living conditions in the terraced houses at home.  

The evacuees were met with some hostility from the local children but this was generally short lived as everyone got to know each other and any rivalry became a ritual and an excuse for a good fight.   For the few who’s lives were made miserable by harsh billeters, those who had only taken the children in to get the money or the work of an extra pair of hands, letters were written home pleading to leave and be allowed to return home. 

This country is at war Evacuation Rationing Send this story to a friend Printer-friendly version