Evacuation wouldn’t happen now would it?

Laughing at those saying they'd go to Cornwall/Scotland.........

Millions of people would have the same idea.
Roads would be utterly gridlocked.

All properties far away from major cities would be seized and occupied by people nearest. First Come First Served as it were. Not just unoccupied properties of course - desperate people would attack those living there to get themselves in. Waving the Deeds at them won't get you anywhere. 999 would be engaged.

If you think you could load up your car and pootle off you're dreaming.

DS (7) asked me about this a few weeks ago, not sure what made him think about it. I just said I'd do pretty much anything to keep us safe, whether that's moving back to Cornwall or leaving the UK. Thankfully my qualifications would make it fairly simple to live in Aus or NZ, so long as bombs weren't dropping there and we didn't leave it so late that there were no flights. DS then got upset because we wouldn't be able to take all his friends.

All my grandparents were adults in WWII so weren't evacuated. My mum's family lived in London and worked in munitions factories, my grandpa on my dad's side fought in north Africa and was taken POW then transported to Italy. He didn't like talking about it, I know from my dad that he saw some truly awful things and was forced to labour in the POW camp. He didn't like all the pomp of remembrance things and sold his medals to buy a camera. I won't wear red poppies because he didn't.

My Dad was evacuated overseas to Canada from the UK. He didn't see his parents for the duration of the war.

Evacuation to where?

Go where? Where has space for entire families to go, with home offices?

Threads was shown to yr6 at British forces schools in Germany in the 80s. 10 and 11 yr olds. 😳

I don't think it was compulsory in WW2 anyway. My dad's family refused to go though I think they went to dad's nan for a bit (tiny house so not sure how that worked), and my mum went to stay with her extended family in Scotland (and got lashed when she came back for "talking like a heathen").

It’s a null point, the nuclear war would start and country sides would be killed too. If anything you would want to be closer to the bombs for a quick death vs a long painful radiation poisoning.

Safest option would be highlands for UK

Why is everyone so sure that another world war would involve us being nuked?

Russia hasn't nuked Ukraine.
Israel hasn't nuked Gaza.
India hasn't nuked Pakistan.
They all seem to be using fairly conventional weapons.

Using nuclear weapons is a bit of a high-risk strategy, for obvious reasons. We have MAD policies, and anyway the prevailing wind blows from the west so presumably parts of Russia would be contaminated by plumes of radioactivity. So wouldn't they be more likely to use conventional weapons instead?

Evacuation was a choice, not everyone did it. It was encouraged in order to save children but many parents wouldn't have wanted their children to be parted from them, or else mum would evacuate with the child if they could afford it.

I think in this country we have no idea of what people are willing to do for the sake of actual survival.

No one made the parents send their kids away. I think people nowadays looking back make assumptions. Although the evacuation was highly planned and involved huge numbers of people and actually happened before the Germans dropped any bombs, it wasn't compulsory.
My dad was evacuated, my gran stayed in London for war work. Like everyone else she said. My grandad was KIA in 1939.
I always feel emotional watching the start of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe because that shows clearly why children were moved from the cities. Although those kids should not have been there many were there after the bombing started. The British government and pretty much the whole adult population knew that the children needed to survive for our country to have a future. Just like the men had to fight and the women had to work. Gran said she remembered clearly that everyone knew they had a job and did it.
And it was a nazi government that started the war, a hard right party, which is where the threat still comes from in my opinion.

"social historian Juliet Gardiner stated “10 to 15 per cent of evacuees were abused physically, sexually or emotionally, and the NSPCC did bring a number of prosecutions for cruelty""

booksandideas.net/Operation-Pied-Piper-Britain-s-Forgotten-War-Children

Oh Threads......that will stay with my until my last breath.

That and When the Wind Blows.

Both utterly traumatising for different reasons, but both felt true.

I watched Threads and in this situation I'd rather be killed in the initial blast to be honest.

yes, pretty much the same thing.

Mum was evacuated , she gained more aunties

My granny and grandad were working class, living in london along the the river ( what was Wandsworth ). Grandad was a protected worker so had to stay, granny was a HW, they did what they felt was right - protect their children. Seeing as I was born in 64 and still remember bomb sites, I feel they did the right thing

Us in the UK, living in cities, sent our children to the country - away from industry which was being bombed. When for the most, the rules of war fare were followed ...... ( choke )

Those parents in Europe were fighting to get their children on trains to us

Our next war , just say goodbye and go out and kiss your arse goodbye , who wants to survive a nuclear war?

And I dont think Im being dramatic. There's no national pride , we dont fight for what we believe in, we have lost sight of that, being so ready to apologise for centuries of history. We allow ourselves to to be tied into deals around the world - they will come back to bite us

I do believe there will be a nuclear war. Because the generations that have come behind me, do not understand the horror of war . Ive been to Auschwitz and seen those 40 ish and below taking bloody selfies FGS . Its become a TIK Tok must go to for photo opportunities , not a place of remembrance of the atrocities of war

This was the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Very few veterans left to tell us, and we seem to have decided to forget

I think the veterans who were present at the D-Day landings and can talk about it are very brave because I, personally, have trouble just hearing about that day and the preceding day and days after. But, it's important to learn what happened, no matter how horrible so that someday, perhaps, we will learn to do better.

None of my family (uncles and father) ever would talk about it. All I ever knew is one uncle was in the Army and marched through Africa, one was Air Force and my Dad was Navy in the Pacific.

Its funny you should say that, Grandad was very anti BL. He understood that it did help veterans but he hated the way it (in his opinion) glorified it all. He hated the heroification of all veterans.

So I dont buy a poppy, and I dont do Remembrance Day or the silences. I do (or rather, do not do) that for him.

My paternal grandmother took in refugees in rural Gloucestershire while my grandfather was at war. My Dad remembered it really clearly, these kids came from London and were somewhat taken aback at a quiet life in the countryside but Nan stayed in touch with the families for decades after and went to London to visit them. The women were so grateful, they were friends for life.

Wouldn't happen nowadays. Life is too different.

I remember an old man in our village when I was little. He had been evacuated there and his family had all been killed back in the city. He had nothing to go back to so he stayed and married a local girl.

How? Where?

This assumes that you have the money and resources to do that, which most people dont have.

That the transport you would need would be available, it almost certainly wouldnt be if it got to the "Oh shit, we need to leave" stage.

That the remote Scottish community would want you and everyone else that would be fleeing there. That they would have the accomodation and infrastructure to support a massive leap in population. And which country would you flee to given that global war now would really mean global. There is no where on Earth that would be safe anymore.

I know that for the Ukrainian men, staying to fight was/is a point of pride. I have made friends with a lesbian couple who were living in Ukraine at the outbreak. One is Ukrainian, the other is Russian. They couldnt safely live in either country. They came here and live with my friend under the UK scheme. All the male Ukranian relatives chose to stay despite being allowed to leave if they wanted to. They want to fight for their country.

I always figured the next attack would be an EMP. That would slowly destroy most of the civilization without destroying it all.

My father wouldn't say much either. He wouldn't join the British Legion or take part in any of the Rememberance day stuff although he never tried to stop us. Just went very quiet. He had obvs told my mother things because she understood and helped him at those times. He died before the Silence was reinstated. He was in Europe in various areas.

And I have a big bundle of letters from my grandad to my nan written during the war. In one exchange they are considering where is best for my Nan and infant Mum to stay to have the lowest risk of being bombed. They lived in the centre of Birmingham and had relatives on the coast in Essex. It really hit home to me, reading those words that they were real choices people had to make to try to best guess where they would be safest. Something I cannot imagine.