The evacuations

Faced with the problem of supplies and the shortage of manpower in the countryside, the German military authorities decided to forcibly evacuate women and children to the surrounding rural areas. The evacuations prompted an outcry in the occupied zone. The church authorities joined the socialist deputies in condemning the practice. The sudden force was denounced as inhumane treatment. Young women, raised from their beds, were brought out of their homes and led by force to trains waiting to take them into the countryside.
The propaganda images in the Gazette des Ardennes showed the contrasting picture of a peaceful life in the countryside. Such propaganda was intended to mitigate the disastrous effect the evacuations were having on public opinion in the occupied zone.
Resistance to the evacuations was not limited to women and children. It also extended to the large numbers of destitute people - unemployment being rife in the occupied zone - and they were a drain on the resources of the occupation forces.