The Evacuated Children Of The Second World War. Children and World War Two. Children were massively affected by World War Two.
Nearly two million children were evacuated from their homes at the start of World War Two; children had to endure rationing, gas mask lessons, living with strangers etc. Children accounted for one in ten of the deaths during the Blitz of London from 1940 to 1941. World War Two was the first war when Britain itself was the target of frequent attacks by the enemy. With the success of the Battle of Britain and the suspension of ‘Operation Sealion’, the only way Germany could get at mainland Britain was to bomb it. This occurred during the Blitz and seemed to reinforce the government’s decision to introduce evacuation (what the government of the time described as “the biggest exodus since Moses”) at the start of the war. The impact of evacuation on children depended to an extent on which social strata you were in at the time. ‘Operation Pied Piper’ was a huge undertaking. What damage did the war do to those children who survived it?
Children of the wartime evacuation. In January 1941, Sheila Shear and her sister were evacuated from east London to the Chilterns and billeted with a bachelor called Harry Mayo.
They came from very different backgrounds – the Shears were Jewish, he was Christian – but an affectionate bond developed between them. Weekly visits and holidays with Uncle Harry, as they came to know him, continued long after the war had ended. When Harry died, Sheila and her mother went to the funeral: "When we got to Chesham, we were treated like the closest members of his family. In fact, in the church – and this was the first Christian funeral my mother and I had ever been to – we were put to sit in the front row, in front of Uncle Harry's nieces and nephews. It was only then, I think, that I really appreciated how much our little family had meant to him – and had gone on meaning to him all his life.
"We returned to London in the knowledge that we would never go back to Chesham again. It was codenamed Operation Pied Piper. Two lives. Evacuation During World War Two. What was it like to be an evacuee?
Why was evacuation introduced by the Government? Why was it important for people to be evacuated? Who was evacuated? What did they pack in their suitcases? How were they evacuated? Where were they evacuated to? When were they first evacuated? When were they evacuated again? How many people were evacuated during the war? Letters sent by an evacuee Glossary of useful words The British government was worried that a new war might begin when Hitler came to power in 1933. Evacuation tried to ensure the safety of young children from the cities that were considered to be in danger of German bombing - London, Coventry, Birmingham, Portsmouth etc.
Schoolchildren (827,000) and their teachers Mothers with children under five (524,000) Pregnant women (12,000) Some disabled people. Recollections of WWII - Home Page. Primary History - World War 2 - Evacuation. History - World Wars: WW2 Movies: Evacuees. History - Evacuation (pictures, video, facts & news) The Second World War.