The fear of German air raids targeting cities during World War II prompted the British government to initiate Operation Pied Piper which was intended to evacuate children, pregnant women, women with children under five years of age and other vulnerable groups out of the urban areas. There were several waves of evacuation, the first wave began on 1st September 1939 and officially relocated 1.5 million people in just a few days. 1st September 2024 marks the 85th anniversary of the first evacuation.
In the first three days of official evacuation, 1.5 million people were moved: 827,000 children of school age; 524,000 mothers and young children under five; 13,000 pregnant women; 7,000 disabled people and over 103,000 teachers and other to the British countryside and other parts of the British Empire, for example, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and North America. In total, almost 3.75 million people were evacuated and re-evacuated with around a third of the entire population experiencing some effects of the evacuation.
When bombings did not occur as expected many parents chose to bring their children back home. The first wave of evacuation coincided with the “Phoney War”, the time after declaration of war where limited military operations and bombings occurred. Further evacuations took place in June 1940 and following the Blitz of September 1940. Children were the primary focus of the evacuation, and they were evacuated from cities across Britain. Parents were issued with a list detailing what their children should take with them when evacuated. These items included a gas mask, a change of underclothes, night clothes, plimsolls (or slippers), spare stockings or socks, toothbrush, comb, towel, soap, face cloth, handkerchiefs and a warm coat.[1]
The official goal of the government’s evacuation scheme was to ensure the survival of an entire generation, ensuring the country could rebuild and move forward once peace was restored. Evacuation was voluntary, however, the government mobilized intensely to persuade parents to let their children be evacuated. The government provided several reasons issued in an official pamphlet about the evacuation scheme. It aimed to protect and ensure children’s safety, health and education. For example, in London, only a few schools were kept open and possibilities for transportation to and from schools were scarce.
The evacuation scheme conveyed a message that it was the duty of parents and especially mothers to let their children go so that the remaining resources such as food, fuel and shelter could benefit the ones who had to remain in the cities to keep things going (the workforce). The government was worried that having children and people unable to work remain in the cities would put unnecessary strain on the community and thus weaken the morale.
The government`s evacuation scheme raised many concerns and questions. Many questioned if and how the government could guarantee children`s safety while living far away from their homes, in a community they didn’t know and with strangers. Several more had concerns about the psychological effects the situation would have on their children and wondered if they would be better off taking the risk and having the children stay with their parents.
Many women demanded to know why they were being pushed into handing over their children only to be freed for war work, complaining that they were losing their children in order to make weapons to kill other women and children. This controversial view did not receive a lot of coverage at the time as it would have been seen as bad for morale The evacuation order deliberately played on the parent’s feelings of patriotism, ensuring they understood the sacrifice of sending their children to the country was their duty and was part of the war effort for King and country.
Some made private arrangements to have the children staying with relatives or family friends. Some made the decision not to evacuate, and since there was a fee to be paid for the evacuation, some families could not afford to evacuate their children even if they had wanted to.
The book “Migration to Maldon; The story of the evacuees and others who came to Maldon district during World War II” published in 1995 described the local experience of evacuees in Maldon. Several thousands of evacuees were sent to stay in Essex, and of those thousands, several hundreds were sent to Maldon for a time.
The small community experienced a sudden rise in population during the evacuation and many preparations had been made to accommodate the new arrivals. An Emergency Census was carried out in the Borough of Maldon to find out how many households would be able to take in evacuees and homeless people. Every household in the district was required to fill in the Census Return. The census looked at who lived in each property, how many rooms it had, and the numbers of spare mattresses, blankets and sheets available.
The evacuees shared school with the locals, stretching the resources and in some cases, this meant that some groups had lessons in the morning and others in the afternoon. Because the children came from districts similar culture wise the children mixed well with the locals. Some evacuees experienced a bit of teasing from the local school children in the beginning, but all in all it seemed that the recollections from evacuees staying in Maldon had memories of friendliness and kindness from the local people during their stay.[2]
Although evacuees in Maldon described their experience as good for the most part, safety was not always guaranteed. In the early morning nearing the end of May 1942 German air raiders dropped four bombs which landed on Fambridge Road and Washington Road injuring 15 people of which 8 died, 3 of whom were a mother, father and child evacuee family. Fourteen houses were either completely or partly demolished but were rebuilt after the war.[3]
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. Although the evacuation scheme was not always seen as a positive experience, the amount of people and mainly children evacuated in a span of just a few days tells the stories of many people who made sacrifices to ensure the safety and health of children and other vulnerable groups of society during wartime.
By Linda Yvonne Engelstad, 21.07.2024
[1] Imperial war museum, “The Evacuated Children Of The Second World War”: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war
[2] Migration to Maldon; The story of the evacuees and others who came to Maldon district during World War 11 edited by Margaret Rooke-Matthew 1995, page 9, 12, 19 and 21.
[3] Roll of honour, Maldon bob raid 29 May 1942: https://www.roll-of-honour.com/Essex/MaldonBombRaid.html
