The War Illustrated, Volume 1, No. 1, Page 10, September 16, 1939.

Among Britain’s emergency preparations was the evacuation of large numbers of children, mothers, and sick and infirm folk from the overcrowded cities. These pictures illustrate the great move proceeding "according to plan."

Long before the state of emergency was declared, plans for the evacuation of urban children had been framed with the most careful precision. When "zero hour" came school-teachers marched with their classes to the trains, buses, coaches and steamers that had been provided for their transport, and without a hitch the vast exodus was carried through to a triumphant conclusion. By Saturday evening, the first day of the move, hundreds of thousands of boys and girls were settling down in their new homes in country villages and towns far removed from the danger zones in the congested cities.