A further two million or so more wealthy individuals evacuated 'privately', some settling in hotels for the duration and several thousands travelling to Canada, the United States, South Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. The mass exodus of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to protect people – especially children – from aerial bombing, by moving them to areas thought to be less at risk. In the summer of 1939, more than 3 million children were evacuated from London and other cities in ‘Operation Pied Piper’, while most parents stayed behind to work and help out with the war effort.

Some Saturdays we would go the Whitby on the bus and have a look around the shops. At Christmas I had some nail varnish and I wrote to Santa asking him for a new dress because IBeing an evacuee must have been scary and exciting at the same time. The children had to leave their families and homes behind and try to fit in with host families in the country. 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. Within the next three days, 1.5 million evacuees were sent from cities and towns into rural areas considered safe, and over the course of the war around 4 million people left their homes. It was a huge logistical exercise that required tens of thousands of volunteer helpers. Million children, pregnant women and other vulnerable people such as the disabled, evacuated to safer countryside locations in just two days. Alan Jeffreys: “One of the quite important legacies of evacuation and definitely goes on to affect government legislation even during the war but certainly in the Labour government after 1945 was that evacuation drew attention to the economic and social deprivation that really existed in inner cities in the 1930s, and this really came to the fore through evacuation.”

These extracts from letters sent by a mum to a girl called Delia, who was evacuated from London to the country. Interviewer: “I was going to ask if you had ever thought whether had you children they would be evacuated? You've seen it as a child, what would it be like as a parent?” When we lived at the castle it was very cold and we didn’t like it, after about six weeks we came home. Evacuation to Parents Important Notice1939-1945, Central Office of Information, catalogue reference INF 13/171 (4) The government recommended that in addition to their gas mask and identity card the evacuees had the following items:To smaller towns and villages in the countryside. Some children were sent to stay with relatives outside in the countryside, but others were sent to live with complete strangers. How was life in the country different to life in the city? e.g. fresh air, animals, peaceful, less traffic Billeting officers were responsible for helping to find homes for the evacuees. Householders in the country who billeted (housed) city children were given money by the government. Across the country throughout the war and particularly in three separate waves of 1939, 1940 and 1944, children, mothers and vulnerable citizens left their homes, not knowing where they would end up, who with, or for how long. Luggage had to be limited. Parents were issued with a list detailing what their children should take with them when evacuated. Though the list was short for such a journey, in fact many families struggled even to provide their children with all the items listed.

The fear of bombing, the closure of many urban schools, and the organised transportation of school groups helped persuade families to send their children away to live with strangers. There was also a propaganda campaign encouraging citizens to take part. The children who were evacuated to the country were evacuees. Their letters tell us a lot about what life was like for them. Ronald McGill: “Now only that morning were we told it was Reading. So, we marched in there we waved goodbye and the parents stayed on one side of the road and they all cried our eyes out, it was terrible. Although we were all happy and joking by then, we'd had our apple, we said our goodbyes, banged our gas masks on and we were off.” At last the train stopped and we all got out and got into coaches, which took us to a big hall, where we shouted our names out then you went to your teacher in the corner of the room. As we were all leaving we were given 2 carriers of food to give to the landlady whose house we were going to live in. A few days after the announcement of war Ronald McGill boarded his own train along with 500 other pupils from his school headed for Reading. The school had been preparing for evacuation for a few weeks and some schools had already started leaving the cities.

Girls' Short Styles

The children at Compton Primary School in Plymouth have written letters summing up perfectly how evacuees must have felt. Evacuation on this scale had never been attempted by the government before but it was their task to safely transport millions across the country. So, how was this mammoth task accomplished?

We set off for the railway station and met all our school friends and teachers, it was exciting because you had to be rich to go on holiday, so not many people went. For some children the end of the war brought an end to a prolonged period of fear confusion and separation. For others it brought considerable upheaval as they returned to cities and families they barely remembered or homes that were no longer there. Despite the huge undertaking that evacuation was and the emotional distress to the citizens, by 1945 the impact of the air raids on cities across the country had been devastating.On Sunday September 3rd 1939 I was sitting on the settee with my Mam and Dad listening to the radio, the Prime Minister came on to tell us that England was at war with Germany. Now before this I had asked my Mam if I could be evacuated with our Olive who was 6½ years old and she said Yes, because it meant you went on holiday with your school friends and Teacher. Interviewer: “There must have been some little children who hadn't even been to the country as much as you had?” Our school was 1½ miles away up a steep hill and sometimes this lady who had a three wheeler car used to give 6 of use a lift to school. We all used to wonder how the car got us all up the banks with all our weight. It was just a small village school and we had 2 classes in the hall. One class facing one way and the other facing the other way. We didn’t like it there you had to get in the bath with someone else. Our Olive and me used to get in together, then on Sunday we used to go to the teachers bedroom and have a cocoa and a piece of toast for our supper.