Dundee Dundee and the Second World War

1939 and the Evacuation of Children out of Dundee

The evacuation of some three million people to rural locations beyond the reach of German air attacks deeply affected the nation. This was the first time an official evacuation had ever been deemed necessary and the experience of mass evacuation - the biggest and most concentrated movement of people in British history - remains uppermost in the minds of those who lived through the war. The majority of people who were evacuated were children, and for that reason the operation was codenamed Pied Piper.

The scheme had already been planned before the outbreak of war. A committee led by Sir John Anderson was set up and met for three months from May 1938, consulting railway officials, teachers and the police. Local billeting officers were appointed to find suitable homes for evacuees and they set about interviewing possible hosts. Following selection, a host was compelled to take an evacuee; those who refused faced the threat of a fine. In return, hosts could expect to receive payment via the post office.

The organisation required to undertake the task of moving three million people around the country was phenomenal. For four days the country's major train stations provided a route out of cities. Operations were coordinated by teachers and volunteers. Children were tagged and allowed to carry a stipulated amount of luggage (their parents had received an official government list) along with their gas masks. They did not have an allocated foster family to meet them, but were hand-selected on arrival, which led to the agonising experience for some of being chosen last.

Evacuation didn't just take place from major cities, nor did all evacuees stay in the UK; some travelled further distances. Britain feared invasion from the sea and the eastern and south eastern coasts were particularly vulnerable. One memoirist recalls how the Norfolk townspeople of Wisbech debated options as war broke out:

The evacuation from the City of Dundee to the Angus towns and villages

1) The evacuation of the various schools into Angus Towns

2) A brief pdf sheet of the Itinery and Stations

Iain D. McIntosh, Friends of Dundee City Archives

Iain D. McIntosh, 2020