In the run up to the Second World War, the government feared high civilian casualties as result of German air raids. Mass Evacuation of Children Children from Myrdle School in Hackney, London, walk along the street 1 September 1939 carrying suitcases and gas mask boxes on their way to be evacuated to places of safety © IWM D1939A It was a time framed by fear and bewilderment, but also often one of freedom, excitement and new experiences. Evacuation, air raids, deaths of family members, playmates and neighbours, the destruction of homes and familiar landscapes, disruption to schooling, fear of gas attacks, shortages, fathers away fighting and mothers working, homelessness and emergency accommodation – 34 million changes of address took place during the six years of the war – affected their lives.Ĭhildren were as much in the front line as adults. Seven children from the O’Rourke family sleeping with their mother in an air raid shelter under the railway arches in Bermondsey, London, November 1940 © IWM D1614ĭuring the war years, their lives were turned upside-down. In 1939, in England and Wales, the majority were very young – nearly 6 million were under 10 years old. The facepiece was red and the breathing section blue and green in an attempt to make them more friendly © IWM D5894 A young boy wears a ‘Mickey Mouse’ gas mask produced for children aged between two and five. The experience of children in Britain – forced to interact with the adult realities of the Second World War (September 1939 -September 1945) – is a largely untold story.
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