Escaping the Blitz
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Operation Pied Piper was the name of the plan designed to evacuate children from areas at risk from bombing and invasion.
On 31st August 1939, three days before war broke out, an evacuation order was given for the next day and what followed was a massive logistical operation to move people to areas of safety. In the following three days an estimated 1.5 million people were moved on trains, buses and boats.
The initial idea was to establish camps for children run by teachers but the government decided instead to use private homes as billets to host the evacuees. It was compulsory to receive evacuees and hosts would receive a weekly payment for taking children. Hosts were assessed on the basis of accommodation rather than suitability to look after children. It tended to be children from poor families who went to strangers as wealthier families were more likely to have friends and family in safe zones with whom their children could stay for the duration of the war. Evacuees also included young people aged 14-15 who became known as "Bevan boys and girls" who worked on the land and in coalmines.
Evacuation was not compulsory but there was a huge government public information campaign to encourage those within designated areas to move to safety. Families did not wish to separate but the desire to keep loved ones close was countered by a desire to keep them safe.
This documentary film is part of a wider Oral History Project made by Furzedown and St Thomas's Primary Schools with digital:works.
You can listen to the full interviews on the project website:
www.londonevacuees.org.uk
www.digital-works.co.uk
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This is genuinely close to my heart my grandad and his siblings was evacuated and all split up in September 1939. he told me some really horrible stories about being in Leicester and being beaten everyday by older boys in the place where he was 🙁 very sad but eye opening documentary! Rest in paradise grandad aka grandude x
Thanks for telling his story.
I am glad to be part of this project, I can't believe i got to meet these people. The stories where amazing and how incredibly nice they where. Truely shows the things they saw.
I was part of all this. I am 92. Back then I was 10 yrs old. I lived in, and went t school in, Liverpool. Liverpool was top of Hitler's choice targets. We we were beginning to undergo incredible Air Raids. Mum and I went to a meeting. They were promoting this 'Send your kid out of town and "be safe" stuff, etc.' I asked my Mum if I would be going? ( She had recently received notice that My Dad's ship had been torpedoed (at night), and that all the crew had died etc, So She was sad ). She looked at me and said, "We stay here together, and face this Bastard. We live here, or die here together." And so we went home. Eventually,...We both survived.... All I eventually got, was a blown out right eardrum (A local Land Mine job)... but that's another story...
Your mother was amazing and brave, and so were you, going through that as a child. Thank you for telling us.
So glad you made it through together ❤
Thanks for telling your story.
Amazing you are here in RUclips comments at 92!!!
Really!!!
My dad was born in '34 in Chicago US.
He rejected TV and RUclips was something he didn't ever understand at all!!
Thanks for your comment!!!
Excellent documentary. Congratulations.
Thank you, I so miss my grandparents….I wish I’d asked more questions, before they passed!
My Grandad told me a lot when I was young about his time in the Desert Rats at the time I couldn't understand it all , but now I do , the way many covered up the horror was outstanding
Aww how wonderful this film was . Filled with every emotion . ❤
Thank you for sharing this film should be shown to every person in the free world
The man who lost 8 immediate family members at one time hit home as I mentally put the names and faces of my family to that situation. The imagined loss was inconceivable.
I can’t wrap my head around it either:
How these people suffered. I have such respect for the tenacity and inner strength demonstrated by all who were subject to conditions unimaginable and loss beyond words. The human spirit is incredibly resilient but that doesn’t mean they didn’t remain traumatized and deeply effected throughout the rest of their lives.
Massive respect to all.
@@tundrawomansays5067 well they can thank Churchill for the loss. If he had not started ww2 there would have never been a single bomb dropped on England or France. The British goverment declared war on Germany and started ww2.
My grandma is 98 and she was in the Blitz and I love to listen to her about it. And this video is really interesting
Love your comment!
I was 4 yrs old first evacuation with my 12 yr old sister, returned to London and 2nd time evacuated with mother and sister to Sandiacre Derbyshire in late 1940 and never returned to London. We boarded with an old lady until mum found a job and a rental house. Mum worked at Chilwell ordnance depot and we went to school ,otherwise we were about to return to London.
Amazing!
Such a beautifully made and deeply moving film. Well done to all involved.
I don’t know whether the evacuations worked in the way the government hoped, all to often you hear of the horrendous stories from evacuees being maltreated by the host families and the local children that didn’t appreciate them coming into their environment, but, and there is always a but, it did free up some people to do war work who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to, it would be nice to hear some of the happier events that the evacuees experienced. The tv 📺 drama “goodnight Mr Tom”, whilst probably nowhere near the reality of the situation, is a fantastic drama about the era and the emotions that the children had to experience.
Thanks for sharing this interesting and informative documentary, it makes me think how lucky I was having an almost idilic childhood. Thanks again. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
And to hear the other side...the host families....what did they think?
They were treated good AND bad.
Were the ones who mistreated these hapless kids ashamed?
Thank you so much for this amazing well put together film. This is one of the best documentaries that I have seen for a long time. All the characters in this programme are so warm and lovely. Fabulous!
Awesome! Thank you so much. My grandmother was one of those children in Liverpool. However, she didn't like to talk about the experience.
This is fascinating. Thank you for sharing. These people look amazing given that many must be in their 80s and 90s.
Thank you so much for this program. It was certainly informative and very well done. Much appreciated!
Wow, this was amazing. Thank you very much for putting this film together. I enjoyed it so much that it went by so quick.
Love your icon!
When Britain was still Great.
A school project! Great job kids. Shows you how well kids adapt to the technology and come out winners.
My mum wrote an article in ger evacuation she went to a big camp in Hampshire sheepcote it was built for deprived children my nan and grandad visted and became good friends with the head gardener and his and stayed in contact and visited them and in fact kept in contact until my nans death at 96 years old..
Thank you for your comment.
My brothers and sister evacuated with their school. My younger brother and I went with my mother to Wales from London she hated leaving her kids . Went back again to London we were in a bombing then back to Wales again together except for the two eldest. We all survive.
Thank you for your comment.
I remember being evacuated,I cried every night for the first 2weeks,I prayed every night for my parents in London.when me and my Brother went home after 6 months,I was so happy,I didn,t care about the fact that flying bombs were still falling
That's terribly sad.
One of those flying bombs put me in Hospital before I was three years old.
Some children get sent abroad to Australia and never got seen again by their parents or family. Really sad.
Thankyou so much, I’m writing a story for school and I thought I would set it during ww2 in Poland, this was very helpful
Thank You,
We shared this special film yesterday with our 800+ members at our 'Virtual Open Day' on our Facebook group page and it received many comments.
Thanks Deborah! All good comments I hope!
@@digitalworks51 there were a lot of horror stories about what happened to some children who were evacuated. Quite a lot of them were told that their parents had been killed in the blitz and were sent to homes in canada and america. They searched for years to find out their family name and what part of england they were born. And some of the people who took in the children treated them badly. The children wrote in their once a week letter home how bad they were being treated, and some mothers took them back home. The people taking in the children were paid by the government so why did they treat some badly and not feed them properly?
@@misssparky5574 There are some people who should *never* have children, whether their own or anyone else’s.
I was an only child of 6. So my parents decided that if we were bombed we would all go together. I was in London for the whole of the war.
Oh, the stories you could tell of your experiences, Mr. Barton. I can not imagine how terrifying that must have been for you as a child-after all, it traumatized the adults.
Can you even imagine!
And this was better than if you were a Jewish child in Germany, Northern France or God forbid Poland.
My boss was 7 when his parents put him and his sister into the hands of strangers.
His mother taught him to say a prayer when he missed her.
Good-bye...see you again soon son.
Off they went NEVER EVER to see their parents again.
It took them almost 2 years to get to Gibraltar,
then on to NYC in a big boat...where a family took him in.
He never was able to bond with them.
He was already too traumatized to bond with anyone.
My boss (the man I worked for in NYC) was completely traumatized for the rest of his life.
His mother was gassed and his father shot trying to escape.
He also lived through Crystal Night as a 6 year old.
His father had fought on the German side in WW1...so his home wasn't smashed up when they saw his dad's medals.
This was a farming family in Alsace.
My boss joined the American army and went back to his home town in Alsace, as a G.I.in the 1950's
Everyone left who remembered him and his family felt so bad and were kind to him, fed him and the girls there kissed him.
It was too late...parents were dead....what COULD they say or do to make up for any of it?
Such a brilliantly informative and moving film. Thank you.
I was 'evacuated' twice ! Once to a large house (Bletchingly , Surrey) with about 8 other children, (for about 6 months or so, the second time to a camp (Horsley Green camp Bucks) which had 6 wooden huts, dormitories they were called. (boys only of course). Boys were allocated their hut according to their age. I was there for several years.
Some of the 'carers' were also rather unpleasant to the boys. The cane 'ruled' !! Many of the boys at this camp, had some sort of physical disability (as did I). Some ran away, trying to get back home, but they were usually 'caught', by the police, as there was little chance of any form of transport.
Some form of punishment followed you can be sure !!
But there was a 'war on' remember !
After the war ended, the camp was used by a number of schools etc as a holiday venue etc.
Thank you for your comment.
I was 7 when the war started and I wasn’t evacuated.
We went to the street shelters during the first bombing raids but later stayed in bed and listened to the German bombers droning overhead.
After awhile we recognise the difference between the “crump” of a bomb explosion and the sound of antiaircraft fire.
The Buzzbombs “V1s” were different again.
Bevin Boys were NOT 14-15 year olds, they were approx10% of the 18-25 year olds who were unfortunately sent into the coal mines as a form of military service. My brother was one of them.
Thanks for the clarification Jean. It seems they were chosen by ballot and conscripted to the mines instead of any other active service.
6:00 Little known fact. Many foodstuffs were heavily rationed during WW2 but meat from Cetaceans was plentiful. That's why Vera Lyn sang the song "Whale meat again."
How horrible, the families who said I've had enough and returned to London were right. The way many were treated by people as such as the maid making the children's polish silverware were having double suffering , those people were not helpful to the war effort . I didn't realize how disorganised this area of the war effort was
It is wonderful to hear these stories of separation and for some fun adventure especially when the child adapted so well to the countryside. Having grown up in a housing tract surrounded by hills and fields I can understand how entertaining what that might be like. It was the place that we could ne naughty without getting punished for breaking bottles and such mischief. Now a days you do that especially in the less economically advantaged neighborhoods you get noticed by the police and then forever are on their radar whenever the least of troubles start.
Couple of points by one who experienced it 1) the gentleman who claims the evacuation scheme was not to save the children but rather to free mothers to work in factories is totally wrong. 2) In the town to which I was sent, everyone who took in an evacuee did so on a voluntary basis. 3) most children in Manchester were evacuated on Friday, Sept. 1st , three days before war was declared
Not all of us were evacuated, as a young child my mother (my father was in the army) decided that if we were to die, we would die together. We stayed in London throughout the war and I never went to school.
Sad that you never went to school. I was in London in the war but too young for school.
@@user-se2xm5yp6u I was very pleased that I never went to school in my early days, I always hated school.
Life was so different back then and so similar at the same time!!!
My great grandma took on 2 evacuees during the war. They didn’t stay long as they were a bit dirty and not house trained. My grandma said that she remembers they gave her nits and were not particularly nice to play with (a bit into rough housing)
Not....house trained? That is a strange way to speak about children. Just because they were obviously impoverished. Did she think they were just animals?
Are you for real? Or a bot.
@@patricias5122 I admit my grandma may have held a negative view on them but given they were older than my grandma (she was 5) and didn't know basic self care - ie how to use a toilet or the importance of baths along with a lack of table manners you could say they lacked in many ways (probably due to neglect but my great grandma had to work and had 3 children of her own so didn't have the time to help them) - oh and my grandma grew up in a council house too so poverty is not the cause.
@@patricias5122 d
This is the craziest thing in the world.
watchin this in da english class :0000000
❤
A Tragic Time!
So sad that war changes little personalities.
How old is this documentary?
It was completed in 2020.
My mother was evcuated but she run back to London.
Hate to say it but it looks like war again 🌍
WW2 1939-1945.
The Blitz was in response to the RAF bombing cities and towns in Germany.
Which happened after the Blitz. England was bombed by Hitler hoping that Great Britain would surrender.
Anyone else here because their teacher made you watch this? Same
Tripe 🤢🤮
Pip Pip Cheerio
Bob’s your Uncle
Bruh
Hmm?
Excuse me?
@@isabelmanoj5129 what is the context of you using the word ‘bruh’?
@@major.badman9153 well, considering that this is a sad story of loss I found it, personally disrespectful. And it is ok to have that opinion. :p
@@isabelmanoj5129 Well, The word bruh seems not so respectful in this context, Maybe something like ‘Respect to the families effected by this.’ Would be more suitable
My grandmother told me the story about how she was about ten years old and had to leave London while her parents stayed and worked because of the bombings.
They lived in the country with their uncle and aunty (which could of been what she was told) but lived there long enough until her mother my great grandmother (Nana) to me and her husband saved enough money to get the kids out to Australia. They left England during the war and moved to Australia. When the war ended Nana my great grandmother celebrated by going to the Newton pub almost every day until she died in the plate 90s early 2000s.
She danced every night and outlived 3 of her husband's. My grandmother remembers the ship ride from England and in some area's they were terrified because the war was in full swing. I understand now watching these old vids what they had gone through. And alot had to go right for me to be here today. I respect the sacrifices my previous generations have made