Figure 1.--Here are British children waving from the port holes of a line leaving Liverpool as part of CORB evacuation prgram. Pathe News |
|
The British Government developed plans for evacuating 1 million children to the United states and Canada and other overseas domminions. Aftr the fall of France, some this as one way of ensuring that Britain could survive even if invaded. After the German victory in France (June 1940) and the air assault on Britain began (July 1940), the Government began to see America, Canada and other Commonwealth nations as safer havens, nor only from the aerial bombardment, but also from a possible German invasion. The Germans evetually began the Blitz or bombing of British cities (September 1940). Some children were evacuated by ship to British Dominions, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. The first child evacuees, or "guest children" were of the wealthy classes, sometimes entire schools were sent through private arrangements to family or friends in Canada. The British public eventually demanded the government pay so that less privileged children were also eligible. The War situation changed by early 1941. A German invasion was no longer though eminent and the Luftwaffe was forced to wind down its bombing campaign. Two ships carrying child evacuees were torpedoed. One of these was the City of Benares an ocean line with 200 British and foreign civilian passangers and 93 British children with an escort of nurses, teachers, and a clergyman. The ship was torpedoed September 13, 1940. Only two life boatswere ever found, one 8 days after the sinking. Only 15 children survived. Churchill when he learned of the disaster moved to end the overseas evaucation scheme. One of the most moving account of these evacuationscomes from Martin Gilbert, an historian that HBC has drawn on extensively.
The British as it looked like war was coming over Czechoslovakia began developing a plan to evacuate the cities (summer 1938). The plan was prepared by the Anderson Committee. The Committee divided Britain into three zones (evacuation, neutral, and reception. The priority was to move evacuees from the major urban areas billeted in private housing in more rural counties. The three areas roughly divided the the population in thirds. s the Blitz developed, the Luftwaffe hit cities that had not been evacuated. The plan was not operational at the time of Munich (October 1938). While Britain did not go to war at that time, the planning for a future evacuation continued. Communities in the reception ares began preparing lists of possible billets for rge evacuees. The organizers found 4.8 million billets. The Goverment in addition constructed a few camps for additional evacuees. As it became increasingly clear that Prime Minister Chamberlain had not suceeded in apeasing Hitler and that there would be war, the Government began publicizing the evacuation plan through local authorities. The option of overseas evacuatins was broughtup. The Government received various offers from the Dominions. They were basically dismissed by authorities as necessary and inpractical.
The announcement of the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact (August 1939) made it clear that war was eminent. This time the NAZI target was Poland. But this time the British and Fremch would not back down. The Germans invaded Poland (September 1), but the British and French made diplomatic approached to convinced the Germans to withdraw. The Germans ignored the British and French iniatives. With no resonse from the NAZIs , Prime Minister Chaperlain announced with great reluctance that Britain was at war with Germany (September 3).
The British Government even before war was declared on Germany in September 1939 sought to safeguard the civilain population, especially children, from aerial bombardment. The
Government on August 31, 1939 ordered the evacuations to begin. Within a few weeks, 3 million Britains, mostly children had been evacuated from the cities. It was the most extensive movement of people in British history. Chaos insued as the children were tagged liked parcels and shipped out of the cities. The abrupt separtaion of many very young children from their parents was a traumatic experience. The British concern was especially deep because of the Luftwaffe atracks on civilian populations.
We note overseas evacuations from the very beiining of the War. We are not sure who organized the first evacuations. They appear to have been private undertakings. Some families had means. Others had relatives or friends abroad. There were university contacts. [Wllce] Doctors hd assocuates abrad. Fratenal orders like the Rotarians and churches offered to help.
World War II occurred before the avent of trans-Atlantic air travel. Liners were used to transport the children and this proved to be dangerous because of perhaps the key campaign of the War--the Battle of the Atlantic. If Britain's sea life lines coud be cut, the country could not continue the War. The Germans from the on-set of the War launched a commerce war against Britain. Both surface and ships and U-boats were involved, but it was the U-boats that quickly emerged as the greatest threat. And this put the evacuee childen trying to cross the Atlantic to saftey in danger. The evacuee children were among Britain's first civilian casualties of the War.
The first British civilian casualties of World War II occurred when a German U-boat sank the Cunard passenger liner Athenia chartered from the Anchor Donaldson Line (Srptember 3). It was sunk without warning west of Scotland by U-30 commanded by Oblt. Fritz-Julius Lemp. This was the day Britain entered the War. The U- Boat had been shadowing the liner and attacked when it recieved news that Britain and Germany were at war. Oblt. Lemp thought that the Athenia was an armed merchant cruiser. Athrenia was carrying evacuees from Liverpool to Canada. I do not know the number or the details concerning their evacuation. This was before CORB was set up. There were a total of 1,103 passengers in addition to the crew. Survivors were rescued by the British destroyers Electra, Escort and Fame as well as the merchantmen City of Flint and Southern Cross and the Norwegian tanker Knute Nelson. The survivors were brought to Galway in neutral Ireland. There were 118 passengers killed. There were 316 Americans onboard of which 28 were killed. With the outbreak of War, many Ameicans in Europe were trying to get home. Oblt. Lemp was not disiplined for the attack. Hitler immediately ordered that under no circumstances were further attacks to be made on passenger ships (September 4). Hitler's action was interesting. We know from German actins in Poland that he was not concerned with civilian casualties out of any moral scruples. His order here probably stemmed from two concerns. First, he was not particularly interested in a war with Britain. He hoped to evetually come to terms with Britain so he could persue the war he did want, a war in the East with the Soviet Union. Second, he knew that Germany's use of U-boats in World War I had brought America into the War. He did not want to make the same mistake as the Kaiser.
There are accounts by children of their ordeal. These are oral recordings made at the time by the child survivers and later by adults who remember the attack.
The fall of France was a disaster of immense proportions. In World war it was France that carried the bulk of the fighting on the Western Front. The defeat of the French Army and the BEF was so total and the Luftwaffe so overwealming that many doubted that Britain could survive. An invasion was widely expected. For many, it no longer seem that evacuating the city to the countryside.
The British Government developed plans for evacuating 1 million children to the United States and Canada and other overseas domminions. After the fall of France, some this as one way of ensuring that Britain could survive even if invaded. After the German victory in France (June 1940) and the air assault on Britain began (July 1940), the Government began to see America, Canada and other Commonwealth nations as safer havens, nor only from the aerial bombardment, but also from a possible German invasion. The desperation of the situation after the fall of France is seen with this plan. Only the possibility of an eminent NAZI invasion could have convinced British parents to send their children overseas.
The War news inspired private groups in America and the Dominions to offer a safe haven for British children. There were groups in Austrlia and New Zealand willing to take in chidren, but the distances involved meant that it the overseas evacuations would mostly be to America and Canada. The Government estblished the Childrens Overseas Reception Board (CORB) (May 1940). It ws assigned the responsibility of organise the overseas evacuation of children to the Dominions. [Wallace] It was at this time that the long anticipated Gernmen Western offensive was launched(May 10). Within weeks the BEF had to be evacuted from Dunkirk an France fell. It looked to mny as if Britain as next and the Panzers would be moving up Whitehall. Parents had submitted 210,000 applications by July when the scheme was closed.
I am not entirely sure how the children were selected for the CORB overseas evacuations. Many more applications were received then it was possible to move overseas. CORB had to close the applicatin process. Many people after the fall of France thought the war was lost. The CORB selections were not done on a first-come, first-served basis. CORB classified and priortized the children. [Wallace] It is not clear just how this was done. Charges soon appeared in the press that the well-to-do were being given priority. CORB arranged for the transportation. The Government paid the passages. Quite a number of children had already been evacuated. This tended to be children from affluent fmilies with money and overseas contacts.
Overseas evacuations were more complicated than the domestic effort. The process was slow. And sending a chld oversas was a major decession. The number actually evacuated overseas was not large, but the precise numbers are not known. We have seen various estimates. One source suggests that 2,664 children were evcuted overseas by the CORB. Another source estimated that about 3,300 children were evacuated to the Dominions. Parents with means or overseas managed to evacuate about 13,000 children on their own. We believe that most of the Ameican evacuees were arranged privately. Many of these children were evacuated beforethe CORN scheme was launched.
The destinsations varied. The major destinations were the United States and the Dominions (Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the Caribbean). At the time America was neutral, but the Dominios had joined Britain in the War. I believe that the largest numbers of chidren were sent to America and Canada, but do not yet have data on the various countris involved. The two most importabt were America and Canada, because of the relatively short distances of a trans-Atlantic pasage. America had strict immigration laws. I'm not sure how that was delt with. Canada as a Domminion which joined Britain in the War was mnore open.
The Germans evetually began the Blitz or bombing of British cities (September 1940). Some children were evacuated by ship to British Dominions, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. The first child evacuees, or "guest children" were of the wealthy classes, sometimes entire schools were sent through private arrangements to family or friends in Canada. The British public eventually demanded the government pay so that less privileged children were also eligible. The War situation changed by early 1941. A German invasion was no longer though eminent and the Luftwaffe was forced to wind down its bombing campaign.
Two ships carrying child evacuees were torpedoed. One was the Dutch liner Volendam. The Volendam was part of a 34-vessel convoy with only one destroyer as an escort. At this time in the War the Royal Navy was extremely short of escorts. Volendam carried 320 CORB children. The Rangitata had a smaller number. Volendam was torpeoped (August 30). Here the crew managed to get the life boats off and saved the children. They were returned to Glasgow. The other was the City of Benares. Here the children were not so lucky.
The City of Benares was an ocean lineer which left Liverpool with 200 British and foreign civilian passangers and 93 CORB children escorted by nurses, teachers, and a clergyman (September 13). It was destined for Canada. Another ship Diomed with 18 CORB boys and plane wings accompanied Benares. They were part of convoy OB213. (OB meaning outward bound.) The convoy was 600 miles on the way to Canada in the mid-Atlantic when the Admiralty peeled off three escorts to protect an incoming convoy. The weather was rough and deteriorating forecing the convoy to slow. This left OB213 vulnerable to U-boat attack. Benares had the lead position in the convoy which was sailing straight, taking no evasive mesures. U-48 was persuing the convoy. Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt fired two ships into the lead ship--Benares. He scored direct hits. U-48 then attacked other ships in the convoy. The crew attempted to launch the life boats as Benares began to sink. The rough weather made this difficult. And many of the passarngers in the life boats that were launched perished in the extreme conditions. HMS Hurricane searched forsurvivors, but found only bodies. Miracuolosly two girls clung to each other on an overtuned life boat. They were found just in time--15 year old Beth Wilder, and 14 year old Beth Cummings. Other rescue vessls picked up two life boat with 13 other CORB children, including one of the girls' little brother. One had been at sea for 8 days.
The trhreat of an aminent German invasion had abated after the British victory in the Battle of Britain (September 1940). Churchill when he learned of the Benares disaster moved to end the overseas evaucation scheme. [Gilbert, 20th Century, pp. 321-342.] He had never liked the CORB project and there is some suggestion that he was not aware that it had been activated. The Benares disaster was a public relations disater for both the CORB program and the Admiralty. The British public seemed more enraged at the admiralty than at the Germans. The fact that the escorts were peeled off, Benares was at the head of the convoy, and the convoy was not taking evasive action all feaured prominanly in the subsequet inquiry. There were only two more CORB sailings. One ship departted before news of the sinking were reported. The last group of CORB children were 29 children sailing on the Nova Scoti (September 21). The convoy was attacked by U-boats, but Nova Scotia delivered the children safely to Canada. [Fently, p. 146.]
When the Blitz began, there was some discussion of evacuating the Royal family from London or even overseas. The Royal Family, however, became a symbol of resistance to the NAZIs as they toured bombed out areas of the East End. Queen Elizabeth put a quick end to the speculation when she explained, "The Princesses will never leave without me, I will not leave without the King, and the King will never leave." She kept a revolver Winston Churchill gave her and practiced with it. When Buckingham Palace was hit by the Luftwaffe, she remaked, "Now I can look the people of the East End in the face." The Royal Family did not forget about the evacuees. The princess's made an overseas broadcast to the evacuee children.
One of the most moving account of these evacuationscomes from Martin Gilbert, an historian that HBC has drawn on extensively. His family was Jewish and as it looked that the NAZI's next step was an invasion, they were even more terrified than other Brits. Martin was sent to Canada as a very young boy of about 3 years. He was taken in by a loving Toranto family. He is still close to their young daughter. [Gilbert, Prsonal Story] The writer, Anthony Bailey has written a couple of good books about his experiences as an evacuee in Dayton, Ohio
The British decided to begin bringing the chidren home in 1944 after the tide of the war had changed. The U-boat menace had been broken (mid-1943). There was room on some of the troopships because so many Americans and Canadian soldiers had been sent over in 1942 and 43. A now 7 year old Martin Gilbert remembers returing to what was for him a new country. He was sent by rall to New York and thn sailed aboard the Mauritania. He was horrified to see the bombed out buildings when the ship arrived in Liverpool. One of his mot vivid memories of war-time Britain was the excitement of an upcoming vist to the cinema to see Tom Sawyer. That night the theater was hit by a V-1 buzz bomb. When he arrived in a crocodile of other childre, the theater was in rumble and a sign advertising "Tom Sawyer" was flapping in the wind. [Gilbert, Personal Story] A British reader tells us, "A big problem for these children was returning home to the United Kingdom. The family sent out children and and some were teenagers when they returned home--and teenagers with non-British outlooks. Accounts from parents describe missing their children growing up. The children speak about the difficulty of forming good relationships with their parents. Of course some had no difficulty coming back home."
Fethney, Michael. The Absurd and the Brave: CORB--The True Account of the British Government's World War II Evacuation of Children Overseas (Lewes: The Book Guild, 2000).
Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century Vol. 2 1933-54 (William Morrow and Company, Inc.: New York, 1998), 1050p.
Gilbert, Martin. In Search of Churchill: My Personal Story.
Horne, Alistair. Bundles from Britain (Macmillan, 1993).
Lively
Mann, Jessica. Out of Harm's Way. The Wartime Evacuation of Children from Britain (Headline Book Publishing, 2005).
Parker, Keith A. "British Evacuees in America During World War II," The Journal of American Culture (1994) Vol. 17 (4), pp. 33–40.
Wallace, Dr. R.C. Chairman of the National Committee for Children from Overseas, radio address, November 3, 1940.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main World War II British evacuation page]
[Return to Main World War II aerial campaign page]
[Return to Main U.S. World War II displaced person page]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]