War Crisis, 1939. Air Raid precautions Second World War began, and evacuees, like these in this picture, began to pour out of London for safety of the countryside. Carrying gas-mask cases, luggage labels identifying them, fixed to their clothing, it was for some of them a Great Adventure, for many of them had never left home, or even London before. Schoolchildren from Middlesex Street waiting for transport. 9 September 1939