Evacuation

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 * __A real life evacuee__**

Hazel Nora Smith was 9 years old when war broke out. She is my Granny. She lived in London with her parents and her younger brother and sister. All three of them were evacuated to Ifield, near Crawley, in Sussex. They lived with a very kind lady called Mrs Gillies and her mother came to visit them every two or three weeks.

When she was 11 the secondary school she went to, Mary Datchelor,was moved to Llanelli in Wales. Hazel moved to Wales while her younger brother and sister stayed in Ified. Hazel stayed in Wales until the end of the war. Although many people didn't like being evacuated she quite enjoyed it because it was a bit of an adventure.

Plans for the war had been made early. Because there was the most amount of children in London, most London schools were Evacuated on the 1st September. **__ The life of Evacuees __**  Between 1939 and 1945 nearly 3,000,000 children were evacuated from the city to the country, where they were either happy or never wanted or cared for. Some mothers kept their children hidden in the dangerous city where bombs fell down night after night. Evacuees would wear labelled and where evacuated by train, bus or boat. The journey lasted for days. They were allowed to take one toy only, but they still carried heavy bags. Children were sometimes devastated at where they lived and would give anything to go home to see a small amount of their family, whereas other lucky evacuees settled into their new homes and were happy to wave goodbye when their parents came to see them. Either way, lucky or unlucky, being evacuated ripped the children's lives apart and left them feeling very far away and unknown. Some children thought being evacuated was an adventure, others could n't stop crying.  __Evacuation__ Evacuation meant leaving your home if you lived near a place which was heavily bombed, for example London. Children used to evacuate to the country as it was considered safer than cities. The first official evacuation began on the first of September 1939, two days before the declaration of war. By January 1940 almost 60% had returned to their homes as it was considered safer for children to live in cities again. Evacuated children used to take their belongings in a box which had a tag with their names on it. They could not take much, but mainly they would take these: __Boys__ 2 vests 2 pairs of pants Pair of trousers 2 pairs of socks 6 handkerchiefs Pullover or jersey __Girls__ Pair of knickers Petticoat 2 pairs of stockings 6 handkerchiefs

Blouse Cardigan

How many clothes do you wear in a week? Would this be enough for you? Why are girls and boys kits different?

__Where did they go?__ They were sent to the countryside where it would be safe for them to stay, as there were no bombs and know soldiers to take them away. But not all the children were evacuated. Some mothers didn't want their children to be away from them.

It wasn't only children that were evacuated. 250,000 of the rare Romley Marsh sheep were evacuated so they wouldn't get killed during the bombing.

Usually the only contact to an evacuee's family was letters. How would you like it to only have contact from your mum and dad in pen and ink?

Evacuation even had a code name: OPERATION PIED PIPER. EVACUATION A propaganda poster of evacuation.

At the beginning of the war there only a few air raids, thinking that there was not going to be many bombs falling on the cities, the evacuated mothers and children returned home. The picture is representing the governments fears that the Nazis could bomb the cities at any time and felt that mothers and children should stay away. It shows a ghost figure of Hitler telling the mother to take her children home.

When the war started some parents thought that the countryside wasn't safe enough. Some children were even sent abroad, to places such as America, Canada and even Australia! But on the 17th of September 1940 the Germans sank a ship which was heading to Canada. Therefore the whole idea was dropped and no one else went. In some places people were more keen in having children evacuated. 75% of children were evacuated from Manchester and only 15% from Sheffield. In one week the Government moved one and a half million people. At the same time two million people arranged their or their child's evacuation. This was the largest mass movement ever seen in Britain.

__EVACUATION__

Evacuation was where children have to leave their parents because of the war, especially if they lived near london because it's a major city. They always wore name tags to say what they were called and where they were from.

__**The familys they went to**__ The children were evacuated to the countryside where it was safe from all the bombs and the destroying of there homes. Not all children were evacuated, some mothers didn't want there children to go to another family so they decided to keep them. Although we would think that it was scary and horrid, most of the children actually wanted to see cows and sheep and not have to measure the height of their bath water and have a decent meal. So really the evacuees liked being evacuated until they met the people that they were going to live with. Unluckily, some of the children got horrid people to stay with and were treated like slaves. Others got the easy way to live, they got the nice familys.

The evacuation process was thought up when Chamberlain thought that if we all died in the war we need something to keep our population alive. So he then decided to evacuate all the children, so there would be something to start up the popualtion again.
 * __Thats a good idea__**

About 16,000 children were evacuated overseas.

__ Evacuation __ Evacuation was when children, disabled people or pregnant women left their homes in the cities and moved to a safer place of the countryside. In WWII 1.5 million people were evacuated because of the air raids of major cities in Britain by the Luftwaffe. The Government introduced evacuation to save the children so the country could keep generations going. If you were under five you would be evacuated with your mother. People were evacuated by train or by road. Trains were more commonly used. They also used a vehicle called a charabanc, which was an early form of bus with hard, wooden benches. It was open topped. Each child would have some basic kit and labels attached to them and their belongings, stating who they were and where they had come from.
 * __Evacuation__**

Evacuation started two days after war was declared but unfortunately 60% of the children evacuated returned home. Some things that children packed (not including clothing) were, An overcoat or mackintosh A comb A pair of welly boots A towel Soap A face cloth A tooth brush Boots or shoes Plimsolls Sandwiches A packed of nuts or raisins Dry bicuits Barley suagar An a apple A seconed evacuation started after Germany took over most of France. It started from June the 13th to June the 18th 1940. Here is a letter that a girl sent to her mum. "Dear Mum, It was so sad to see you stay.The journey was awful, Alice wet herself and she was sick all over me,But we saw cows in a field,it was fascinating.We were taken to the village hall where we were picked by adults,luckily me and Alice stayed together in the same house.We were picked by Mr and Mrs Kinsman, they're really strict. At school Mr Kinsman's my teacher,I have to spend a whole day with him.Alices teacher is realy nice he's called Mr Clark.I ruined my shoes in the pigs' pen and when Mr Kinsman found out he went bonkers. We'll write back as soon as posible Edna" If you wrote a letter to your mum what would you put down? How would you feel if you were evacuated?
 * //__EVACUATION__//**

By the time the war was declared plans for evacuation were made. The plan involved relocation of children, teachers, pregnant women, mothers that had pre-school children and disabled people tothe safety of the countryside.