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=What Were the Results of the Second World War?=

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=**Evacuation**= "We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. War's are not won by evacuations."
 * Winston Churchill** - To Parliament - 4th June 1940

The government had planned for around two million to be evacuated from London alone. Around 3,500 children who were orphans, in council nurseries and physically or mentally handicapped were temporarily evacuated from London. The government had over-estimated the demand for evacuation, only half of all school-aged children //(see photo below)// were evacuated from urban areas instead of the 80% expected. Upon the first evacuation efforts around 3.75 million people were moved. In the first three days of evacuation almost 1.5 million people were moved. The more wealthy individuals (around two million) moved abroad or to hotels.

The second evacuation (upon the [|fall of France]) around 200,000 children were moved or relocated from previous evacuation areas. About 30,000 people arrived from continental Europe. The majority moved southwards, to coastal resorts and care homes (in [|Sidcup]). Many chose the way of Suicide as they had difficulty dealing with the anxiety of what was to come. There were moved to private housing in more rural counties. On the first evacuation efforts, which began on September 1st, evacuees were grouped and put onto the first available trains, regardless of where the train was headed. School and family groups were separated upon the transfer of mainline trains to local transport. Reception areas were overwhelmed with evacuees. People had to live with the fact that returning to London was not officially approved until June 1945. People also had to face (38,000 people) living without homes. There were two evacuations. The country was classified into zones, there were three groups, evacuation, neutral and reception. The priority evacuees were from major cities and urban areas. They found space for 4.8 million people in safer, more rural areas. Camps were also constructed for a few thousand more spaces.

=**Rationing**= Bacon, butter, sugar, meat, tea, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, milk and canned fruit. Although as the war continued, most kinds of food ended up being rationed as well as clothing and petrol. They had coupons for food, these would tell the shopkeeper how much each customer had had already. The client also had to pay as the coupons were merely an indicator of how much they were allowed. Each person could do what the please with their coupons, although once gone, weren’t allowed a new booklet. There were exceptions though, pregnant women and nursing mothers; pregnant women had more food tokens and nursing mothers had more milk. [|Rationing] continued long after the war, in fact, it became worse after the war. Bread was being rationed afterwards when during the war it wasn’t. This was mainly to do with feeding the population of European areas which were coming under allied control. These European areas were struggling due to the devastation of the fighting. Rationing began in January of 1940 (4 months after the war had began) and didn’t end until 1954. Many shops only opened for two or three days a week due to the lack of food. Quote from a schoolgirl during the war: (taken from the [|BBC Website])

//“I remember my uncle fetching back some bananas when he came home on leave. He gave me one and I took it to school. Everyone crowded around me and my teacher showed it to the whole class. It seemed like a priceless treasure. I was a very popular girl that day. Everyone wanted me to open it and eat it, but I wouldn't. I took it back home with me and left it till it went black, but it still smelled so good. Even now I can't smell ripe bananas without evoking that memory.”//

55 million tons of food per year was imported from overseas - this was barely enough for people to survive on. They posted many propoganda posters perusading the public to sign up for rationing //(see picture above)// and of course everyone did.

The system was, that each person would receive a ration book containing coupons once registered with their local shops. The shopkeeper was given enough food for his or her registered customers. Upon purchasing goods, the client would hand over the coupon as well as the money for the purchase. //Wikipedia Statement:// //Each coupon was worth so man points and each item was worth different points. Examples - 2 points for a pair of knickers, 5 points for a man's shirt, 5 points for a pair of shoes, 7 points for a dress and 26 points for a man's suit//

=**The Blitz**= [|The blitz] was the non-stop bombing in the UK by Nazi Germany. It happened between 7th September 1940 and ended 10 May 1941. The blitz hit many towns around the UK but began by bombing London for 57 nights in a row.

England had recently encountered a raid on Thames Haven (24th August 1940) from the Germans. They dropped bombs in the Eastern and North-Eastern parts of London. This, of course, caused England to retaliate by bombing Berlin the next night. It was said that Hitler was furious from this retaliation and he issued the order, //“for disruptive attacks on the population and air defences of major British cities, including London, by day and night.”// The Luftwaffe concentrated on London for the attacks, more than one million houses were destroyed or damaged. By the End of May 1941 there were over 43,000 civilian deaths. The deaths took their toll on the public //(see picture right)//, they were close to breaking point. The first air raids were intended mainly for the [|Port of London] in the East end; this cause severe damage. Many of the bombs aimed at the docks hit near-by residential areas, this killed 436 Londoners and injured 1,600. During the first phase of attacks, taking place day and night, there were between 100 and 200 bombers that raided London every night but one between the middle of September to the middle of November. Birmingham and Bristol were attacked, this was recorded as one of the worst attacks; more than 400 bombers, lasted six hours. By the time of mid-November, more than 13,000 tons of high explosive had been dropped by Germans. There were also more than one million incendiary bombs dropped. The Germans had a combat loss of a mere 1%. Underground tube stations housed around 177,000 people during the time of the bombings.