THE THREAT OF GERMAN BOMBING Fear that German bombing would cause civilian deaths prompted the government to evacuate children, mothers with infants and the infirm from British towns and cities during the Second World War. Evacuation took place in several waves.
The government's voluntary evacuation scheme saw millions of children in Britain sent to places of safety for fear of German bombing. Many families made their own arrangements to evacuate their children to friends and family in the country or overseas.
On the 3 September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. Two days' earlier, on 1 September, the government had initiated Operation Pied Piper, which would see the evacuation of over 1.5 million people from urban 'target' areas, of whom 800,000 were children.
Overseas evacuation
The Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) approved 24,000 children for evacuation overseas. Between March and September 1940, 1,532 children were evacuated to Canada, mainly through the Pier 21 immigration terminal; 577 to Australia; 353 to South Africa and 202 to New Zealand.
Called Operation Pied Piper, millions of people, most of them children, were shipped to rural areas in Britain as well as overseas to Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Around the world during World War II, children were evacuated (moved away) to protect them from danger. This often meant being separated from their families. British children from cities that were threatened by German bombers were sent to live with foster families in the countryside or overseas.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin, said later that under the oversea [sic] children's scheme, 577 British children were evacuated to Australia in 1940.
The term "war child" is most commonly used for children born during World War II and its aftermath, particularly in relation to children born to fathers in German occupying forces in northern Europe. In Norway, there were also Lebensborn children.
The CORB evacuated 2,664 British children from England to escape enemy bombing during July and September 1940. The children were sent mainly to the four Dominion countries, Canada 1,532, Australia 577, New Zealand 202 and South Africa 353.
The Second World War was a time of major upheaval for children in Britain. Over a million were evacuated from towns and cities and had to adjust to separation from family and friends. Many of those who stayed, endured bombing raids and were injured or made homeless.
Evacuation Process
Each child carried a gas mask and wore a label giving the name of the place they were traveling to in case they got lost. Within three days, more than one million children and adults had been moved, including 600,000 from London.
Sandwiches (egg or cheese). Packet of nuts and seedless raisins. Dry biscuits (with small packets of cheese). Barley sugar (rather than chocolate).
Before the outbreak of war, the Government had decided that children, expectant mothers, mothers with children under 5 years old, blind persons, and the aged should be evacuated from London to the countryside.
This meant uneventful months passed, giving a false sense of safety, so many children began to come back. Despite warnings by the Minister of Health, nearly half of all evacuees had returned to their homes by Christmas.
United States. In World War II, the US only allowed men and women 18 years or older to be drafted or enlisted into the armed forces, although 17-year-olds were allowed to enlist with parental consent, and women were not allowed in armed conflict.
Children lived in fear from the constant threat of air raids. They spent some nights living in air raid shelters just in case German planes dropped bombs on their houses. Their fears came true during the blitz. One in ten of the deaths during the Blitz of London from 1940 to 1941 were children.
There were two aims to the child migrant programme: to ease the burden on UK orphanages; and to boost the populations of the colonies.
The age requirements changed as the war progresses, and Australia needed to widen their pool of available recruits. 1940 the maximum age was raised to 40, and the minimum lowered to 19 during 1941, and 18 in 1943.
As a labour source
In the 18th century, labour shortages in the overseas colonies also encouraged the transportation of children for work in the Americas, and large numbers of children were forced to migrate, most of them from Scotland.
The GI Generation and many of the Silent Generation gave birth to the Baby Boomers, who were born between 1945 and 1964. They were also called “War Babies,” because the men returning from WWII really missed their wives and sweethearts. The Boomer birth peak came in 1957 with 4.3 million live births.
A combination of factors produced this baby boom: soldiers returning home from the war were weary of adventure and wished to settle down into family life with their sweethearts, and GI Bill benefits promised the decent pay, access to good jobs, and affordable housing that made raising a family possible.
Scientists have known for a long time that an increased number of boys are born during and after major wars. The phenomenon was first noticed in 1954 with regard to white children born during World War II in the United States. It has since been replicated for most of the belligerent nations in both World Wars.
Being 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. Children had labels attached to them, as though they were parcels.
The victims of this misguided scheme have sometimes been described as 'orphans of the empire' but few were actually orphans. They were more often just trapped in poverty or been stranded by broken homes. About 10,000 British children were sent to 26 child migrant centres in six Australian states.
From 1947 to 1965, eight approved organisations migrated a total of 3,170 children to Australia. The peak years for child migration to Australia were 1947 and 1950 to 1955. Around 400 children in total were sent by local authorities, a small percentage of the total number of children in local authority care.