THESE images were taken in Swindon almost exactly 78 years ago, as the world agonised on the brink of World War Two.

On Friday, September 1, 1939, we reported: “Germany has attacked Poland. Early this morning the official Warsaw radio announced that the Germans had launched a full-scale attack against the towns in the Polish Corridor, says Reuter.

“They were also attacking Upper Silesia.”

Two days later, after all diplomatic efforts to dissuade Adolf Hitler from continuing the attack failed, Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Britain had long been preparing for war. On the day Germany invaded Poland, a photograph of a group of children at Swindon station appeared on the front page.

They were evacuees from London, some of many thousands sent away from the capital ahead of expected bombardment.

The little girl toward the front of the image has a cardboard box on a string around her neck. It contains one of the millions of gas masks which were in the process of being issued.

Another photograph showed air raid wardens as they distributed masks to local households.

Gas attacks were a major concern at the beginning of the war, although the threat never became a reality.

On the same page as that image was an announcement of a ban on food hoarding. It was now an offence for anybody to buy more than a week’s supply of any provision, including tea, coffee and cocoa.

Double shifts of wardens and soldiers were digging public shelters across Swindon, and the Victoria, GWR and St Margaret’s hospitals were being evacuated.

We said: “There was no school for Swindon children today. All the schools were occupied by teaching staffs and ex-teachers preparing to receive evacuated children.

“At Lethbridge Road School, under the direction of the headmaster, an elaborate arrangement had been made.

“Children were received in one large classroom and given a warm drink on arrival. Then they passed through to another room and received rations, including tinned milk, biscuits, tinned meat, chocolate, etc.

“Finally they moved to a third department, where they were marshalled by helpers who conducted them to their new homes.”

Our editorial column struck a patriotic note: “The reality of the national spirit will be demonstrated today when the children, the aged and the infirm are taken to places of safety. There is good reason to expect that these precautionary measures will be carried through in the spirit of helpfulness and consideration which has inspired their preparation. A great experience is opening out which, unless unreason prevails, will be an educational revelation to the young.”