The author's conclusions are based on first-hand experience with young English and continental refugees during the Blitz. She singles out four factors which may disturb the mental health of children during wartime. The first traumatic situation occurs when the father enters military service. His absence prevents a proper solution of the Oedipus complex for any child: when children remain tied to the mother, they tend to experience disturbances in object choice later on, the boy unconsciously attempting to get a mother instead of a wife, and the girl tending to be fixated on homosexuality. The father's absence may also create superego pathology in both sexes since the strongest impeteus to stable superego development is lacking. Finally, the