On the 70th anniversary of the Blitz on London survivors stepped back in time when they relived their experiences sheltering from Nazi bombs in London Underground stations during the Second World War. Providing a refuge from waves of attack bombers, Tube stations across London became impromptu shelters, saving thousands of lives in the process.
Aldwych Tube Station with the tiling showing the original name "Strand"
Aldwych, one of the first to be used as an air raid shelter, is being reopened to mark the anniversary. The station has been closed for 16 years, but it has reopened for tours to commemorate the Battle of Britain. An original 1938 train and a vintage bus parked outside the station - which was taken out of use in 1994 - enhanced the wartime atmosphere. The shelters saw crowds of people attempt to sleep on cramped, smelly platforms. Blitz survivors were invited to the station to relive their experiences ahead of its opening to the public.
The appearance of German bombers in the skies over London during the afternoon of September 7, 1940 heralded a tactical shift in Hitler's attempt to subdue Great Britain. This was the beginning of the Blitz - a period of intense bombing of London and other cities that continued until the following May. For the next consecutive 57 days, London was bombed either during the day or night. Fires consumed many portions of the city. Residents sought shelter wherever they could find it - many fleeing to the Underground stations that sheltered as many as 177,000 people during the night. In the worst single incident, 450 were killed when a bomb destroyed a school being used as an air raid shelter. Londoners and the world were introduced to a new weapon of terror and destruction in the arsenal of twentieth century warfare. The Blitz ended on May 11, 1941 when Hitler called off the raids in order to move his bombers east in preparation for Germany's invasion of Russia.
Air Raid Warden
People in London also used tube stations during the Blitz. They would buy a platform tickets and camp on the platforms for the night. Sheltering in the tube was popular because it was dry, warm and quiet down there. The government was afraid that the overcrowded platforms would disrupt the movement of troops and tried to stop the public from using the tube stations as shelters. The people refused to give them up and the government was forced to back down. In some cases underground stations were closed down and given over to the public to use during air raids.
The tube stations were not as safe as people thought. High explosive bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe could penetrate up to fifty feet through solid ground. On 17th September 1940, a bomb killed twenty people sheltering in Marble Arch station. The worst incident took place at Balham in October 1940 when 600 people were killed or injured when bombs burst a water main and the station flooded, an incident depicted in the movie “Atonement.”. The following year 111 people were killed while sheltering at the Bank underground station. One night 178 people suffocated at Bethnal Green station after a panic stampede, the worst civilian disaster of WW11 in Britain.
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/02/bethnal-green-tube-disaster.html
Sheltering in Aldwych
A census held in November 1940 discovered that the majority of people in London did not use specially created shelters. The survey revealed that of those interviewed, 27 % used domestic shelters (i.e. Anderson Shelters), and 9 % slept in public shelters (specially built by the local authorities) and 4 % used underground railway stations. The rest of those interviewed were either on duty at night or slept in their own homes.
Because many people preferred to stay in their own homes during the bombing raids the government decided to look for a way of protecting people in their own homes. So in March 1941 the government began issuing Morrison Shelters, basically metal cages with a steel top which you could also use as a kitchen table!
Aldwych station which closed down 16 years ago was a strange station, connected by a shuttle service to Holborn Station which was just 10 minutes walk away. It only makes sense if you realise that the route was meant to connect to the mainline station at Waterloo but the line never made it under the river, the money ran out. It then had a potential new lease of life in the 70’s as it was meant to be a station on the “Fleet Line” which was the planned continuation of the Jubilee Line from it’s original terminus at Charing Cross. In an indication of the ability of Governments to waste money the tunnels were actually built from Charing X to Aldwych but when the Jubilee Line extension was opened to Canary Wharf in 1999 the Charing X Branch was closed.
Aldwych was closed in the 1990s due to lack of use but has often been used as a movie location. To commemorate the Blitz and the resilience of Londoners in the face of bombing it has now been done up as a Second World War tube station, with a series of 1940s carriages decked out with London Transport posters and wartime ads. The station was used as an air raid shelter and it doesn’t take much imagination to go back in time – the surroundings are almost completely unchanged from the 40s.
London Transport Museum, who organised the event, have gone all-out in recreating the look and feel of 1940s London. Visitors descending into the station were guided by staff in period costumes - including one acting as an air-raid warden. An original 1938 train and a vintage bus were parked outside the station enhance the wartime atmosphere.
Contemporary posters adorned the ticket hall, and as you entered the station, an ARP warden is out to tell us what you can expect once you’re below. Suddenly, the air raid siren is sounding, and you are ushered down the steps to platform level. Reaching the bottom, you're given a stiff talking to by a matronly Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) cadet, before being taken onto the platform, where London Underground's 1938-built Northern line train is waiting at the platform. Boarding the train, you encounter and greet a few more characters, before suddenly the tunnel is filled with the deafening sound of the air raid siren and the rumble of bombs falling above.
London Transport Museum has clearly gone to a lot of effort for this event, and they've been rewarded by the popularity - tickets were swiftly snapped up when they went on sale. Hopefully the success will inspire TfL to open up more of London's hidden pieces of transport infrastructure in the future. But it seems a pity to waste Aldwych’s potential and it would be wonderful to see the station reopen, restored and with the lifts working, as a permanent Blitz exhibition as this is a place with real history and character.
In the meantime, we recommend a visit to the Museum's current show. Under Attack: London, Coventry, Dresden, which runs until 31st March 2011. The aerial bombing raids, known in Britain as the Blitz, defined the wartime experience of many European cities. This exhibition tells the story from the perspective of public transport in London, Coventry and Dresden, and illustrates the struggle to keep these cities moving during the Second World War.
1938 Tube Stock
The exhibition has been developed in partnership with Coventry Transport Museum and the Verkehrsmuseum Dresden, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of the Blitz in England and the 65th anniversary of the Dresden bombing.
The exhibition focuses on the role that public transport played in helping to create a sense of identity and normality. In particular, it seeks to explore the areas of commonality, as well as difference, and convey the shared experience of people from all walks of life - irrespective of nationality.
The exhibition explores some of the myths and reality of the wartime experience and reviews the changing nature of popular memory in relation to the Blitz attacks in England and the Firestorm in Dresden. A series of unique displays shows how each city prepared for war and the contrasting role of their transport systems. In London and Coventry, public transport was used to evacuate children and others out of the city, whilst in Dresden; the city itself was regarded as a shelter with transport bringing refugees into the centre. Visitors are encouraged to consider the effect of the bombing campaigns and reflect on the part played by transport in keeping the cities moving and in bolstering public morale in the face of attack.
In all well worth catching and let’s hope in the future Aldwych Station will have a starring role as the unique setting for its own expedition.
Exhibition at London’s Transport Museum
http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/events/exhibitions
London’s Transport Museum
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/londons-transport-museum.html
The effect of the Blitz on the historic City of Coventry
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/11/moonlight-sonata_14.html
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