Thousands of illegitimate mixed-race children fathered by American GIs were given up by their British mothers and shipped across the Atlantic, according to newly released papers.

The issue of how to deal with the unwanted offspring of the illicit affairs divided the country towards the end of the Second World War and exposed the racial prejudices of the time.

It was considered so serious that there were dire warnings it could harm Anglo-American relations and the Government was urged to treat the children as "war casualties".