Magic at War

Suitcase and teddy bear in hand, wearing labels with their name and age, thousands of British children were taken from their homes and evacuated to the homes of strangers during World War Two.  Civilian  casualties are tragic, but the death of innocent children was considered unacceptable.  Away from the risks of air raids and gas attacks in the cities, millions of kids lived out the war in the relative safety of the country.  Operation Pied Piper, launched in September 1939, was the biggest and most concentrated mass movement of people in Britain’s history. After the fears of bombing weren’t realised, many of the evacuees were returned home, until France fell to Germany in 1940, and bombing campaigns started with a vengeance in Britain. The evacuation plan started again. Some children returned home in the summer of 1941, after the Battle of Britain was won. When V1 rockets began falling on London in June 1944, the evacuee programme kicked in for a third time. Evacuees in Montgomeryshi

Great to see a new (short) book about 'magicians at war'. I'm not going to review it here, but here's the blurb from Amazon (April 2020, 96 pages):   "In Magicians at War , H. Wayne Capps, a professional magician and military officer, takes an in-depth look at magicians of past who have used their skill of deceit and misdirection to serve the nation they love. Was Houdini a spy, was WWII stopped by a single card trick and does the CIA use magicians in the field? These are just some of the questions answered in Magicians at War , along with some of the most amazing war stories ever told!"   Magicians at War: How Espiona ge and Deceit Changed History (book) Capps, H. Wayne. Magicians at War (2020).