Escaping the Blitz: A WW2 Evacuee Remembers

Warfare

Today's guest Kitty Baxter was aged just nine when World War II broke out in 1939. One of five children born to a road sweeper and a cleaner, Kitty joined thousands of children being evacuated to the countryside as German bombing raids loomed.

This would be the first of three times that she was rehoused far from home over the course of the war. Sometimes treated more like a servant than a small child, Kitty endured gruelling years cut off from her parents rather than a safe haven from war.

In this episode she regales James with her experiences living with strangers' families in environments radically different to working-class London, and how she navigated joyful moments as well as times of struggle & loss. One of the last generation of women from this era, Kitty's voice remains as whip-smart as her irrepressible nine-year-old self who triumphed over the adversity of a most unusual childhood.

Kitty's new book I'll Take That One: An Evacuee's Childhood is available here.

Edited and sound designed by Aidan Lonergan.

For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.