Evacuation

Evacuation plans had been in preparation well before the outbreak of war.

Small scale evacuations of women and children were carried out at the height of the Munich Crisis in September 1938 but the real evacuation began on 1 September 1939.

In May 1939 every householder had received a pamphlet providing details of the evacuation scheme for the London area.

The government had planned to evacuate about 3 500 000 people but in fact only 1 500 000 made use of the official scheme. By road, rail and even sea, with gas masks, identity labels and holiday baggage, the children set off for what to them was a great adventure. Almost all had been evacuated from the danger areas to the reception areas by the evening of 3 September, a few hours after the official declaration of war.

Some children adapted happily to country life, but almost all missed their home surroundings. The pleas of unhappy evacuated children and the absence of bombing raids meant that by April 1940 some 700 000 evacuees had returned to their homes.

Some children had been sent to Canada and other places, until the sinking of an evacuee ship brought a tragic ending to overseas evacuation.