Children and the London Blitz

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/children_and_world_war_two.htm

                                                                
Overview: This site discusses what the children had went through during the London Blitz.

Many people were effected during the London Blitz of World War II, but the ones who were most effected would be the children. Before evacuation, the children had to learn how to use gas masks, handle living on rations, and live with strangers among many other possible difficult incidents that may happen.

            The government attempted to plan many different evacuations; of course this would depend on the social status of the families. If a family was wealthy, they were able to plan their own evacuation with their children, assuring they would not be split up. Middle class, or children who attended private schools, were sent to be sheltered in large homes; this would depend on where you would live. Other children, who were not able to afford much, were sent to be sheltered in rail stations. The children who were sent to rail stations, had a significant chance in being split up from the rest of their siblings; about 1.9 million children were split from their families.

            The government also had a plan called, “Operation Pied Piper”. The government situated over 1,500 points for children to meet. Once the children were at their meeting points, they were given postcards which informed their parents where they would be staying. The operation had a plan set to evacuate 3.5 million children in a short period of time. Of the large amount of children, 1.9 million children were evacuated; some were able to continue living with their parents since evacuation was not necessary in their area. While the children were sheltered, they were crammed in churches, pubs and any other space that had enough space to help gather students so they can continue their education.

            When some families believed the bomb threats were not significant enough to separate themselves, they sent for their children to come back; some of the children that went back home shown social problem. The children who were sent back home had fathers who were fighting in the war, and mothers who were working at factories. Since they were not able to be taken care of by their parents, they were sent to city shelters; many of the city shelters were bombed during the war causing many deaths.

Argument: This argues that children suffered a great deal during the London Blitz because of the bombings of the Germans, it states that many children died, infact a ration was for every ten people, one child was killed.

Source: The souce does seem reliable, I have used this site for other sources. I believe it is reliable even though it does not show a publisher since the url shows it is from the uk, this makes me believe it is from someone or a group who feel strongly about the London Blitz.

How the Blitz effected Civilians

London Blitz and Civilians

Overview: This article talks about how London was effected by the Blitz. It wasn't a surprise when the site stated that London suffered the most during the Blitz, considering other sites stated the same thing. This site gave information that will be very useful in my paper. It stated that 1,200,000 people were left homeless during the Blitz, which was 60% of the total people who were left homeless because of the Blitz. This site also gave me important and historical places that were damaged during the Blitz: St. Paul's Cathedral, The City Library in London, The British Museum, Houses of Parliament, and St. Jame's Palace.

Food rationing was already limited to the people of London. They were only limited to 6oz of meat, 1 egg, 4oz of butter, and 2oz of tea per week. Many people do not realize how little that is nowadays since everyone is used to getting what the need to be satisfied just in one day. There were two things that were not rationed though, beer and tobacco. Beer and tobacco were not rationed because they considered it to be a "necessary for morale". This low rationing of food continued after the war.

There were two main benefits to the Blitz. One benefit was for women. The women gained a great deal of respect after the war since they helped keep the country runnying by running the factories while the men were at war. The other benefit was for the economy. During the war, almost all factories were used to help with the war effort, which would be an increase to help make all the supplies needed. Not only did it increase during the war, but the economy continued increasing after the war. The factories were then used to help make goods for the economy which helped boos the rate of production causing the production rate to hit record high.

Argument: There really was not much of an argument, but one can say this site helps show London was not left in the dust after the war. The war only increased the economy for them and the respect for women, which many can say would be a great move towards modern days, showing women can handle work also.

Source: The source seems to be from some sort of organization because the url is .org.