Figure 1.--The British evacuations were massive, but they were not mandatory. Thus when the Blitz began there were still many childremn in the cities. And the children at school were well drilled as to how to react when the sireens sounded. The press caption here read, "Mysic Hath Charms: Children in Manchester schools who have percussion bands are encouraged to play in the shelter during an air raid alsrm. This helps to keep the children amused and to counteract the noise from the bombs and guns."

The British evacuation program was voluntary. Parents were not required to send their children away. Many parents could not bring to part with them. And the children after the 1939 experience knew more about what was happening. It was a terribly gut wrenching decision for the parents. The result was that there were still children in the cities even after the evacuations. There were also areas outside the inner city. These were areas not heavily targeted by the Luftwaffe but where bomb did fall. This left parents in more of a quandry. And at first the Germans did not target the cities except for the Channel ports. But this changed with a vengence when Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to target London -- this was the beginning of the Bltiz (September 7). It meant that city children were in real danger while in school. The schools had been drilling the children even before the War began how to react when the sireens sounded. The safest places in the school was identified. And the children learned how to quickly move to these places in an orderly way. And the teachers learned ways to occupy the chidren so the time was not totally lost and to get the children's minds off the danger. The daylight phase of the Blitz did not last long. The Luftwaffe had to come further north to bomb London and the indutrial Midlands. This reduced the level of fighter escort protection. And the RAF blasted the poorly protected bombers out of the skies during day time. Losses were so high that the Luftwaffe quickly shifted to nightime bombing. This reduced their losses, but it also meant that they could not effitevly bomb priority targets. It also meant that the childen were not in danger at school. Now they were in danger at home at night. Here the home bomb shelters became important. Other families moved to public shelters or took their chances at home.

Created: 3:43 AM 3/11/2019
Last updated: 3:43 AM 3/11/2019