World War II - Evacuation

1. The first official evacuation took place September 1st 1939, called Operation Pied Piper.

2. British cities were in danger from air attack so the government planned to evacuate people to the countryside.

3. These included schoolchildren, teachers, mothers with children under five, pregnant women and the disabled.

4. Millions were evacuated at the beginning of the war, mostly by rail.

5. Special trains were put on for the evacuation.

6. Evacuees were allowed to take a small number of belongings which they carried in suitcases or carrier bags.

7. Every child had a label with their name and address on and the name of their school tied to them.

8. All evacuees carried gas masks and ration books.

9. Many evacuees had never been outside of their home town before.

10. When they arrived the evacuees were taken to the village hall and waited to be chosen by local people.

11. People were paid to take evacuees, 10s 6d for over tens, 8s 6d for under tens

12. For mothers and babies, they received 5s per adult and 3s per infant.

13. If people refused to take evacuees they could be taken to court and fined.

14. Many of the children were unhealthy when they arrived, with head lice, scabies and impetigo

15. Many were also lighter and smaller than the country children many evacuees remained in new homes for entire war

16. It was the first taste of the countryside for many evacuees

17. They learned new skills and different way of life

18. Some evacuees loved the change from polluted city to countryside

19. Some evacuees were very lonely and homesick.

20. Some families treated evacuees very badly and were unkind.

21. The evacuees communicated with home by letter.

22. Not all children evacuated some parents chose to keep their families together in the towns or cities.

23. Many of the children who stayed in the cities were killed.

24. By the end of the war around 3.5 million people had experienced evacuation.