What Was It Really Like To Shelter In The Tube During WWII?

In WWII, the deep tube sections of London's Underground network were adapted for use as large air-raid shelters; places where civilians could head for safety- and, hopefully, a few hours sleep- as bombs rained down on the streets above.

In this video I'll be going through the history of London Underground's tube shelters, looking at how they came to be and what conditions for those using them were truly like.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:04 The London Underground During World War One
03:43 'Subway Squatters'- opposition to stations as shelters
05:49 Down Street Government Bunker
06:45 The Blitz Begins
08:39 Shelter Options in WWII: The Anderson & Morrison designs
09:20 A Crowd Enters Liverpool Street Station
10:19 Taking Control
11:10 Medical Bays & Bunk Beds
12:56 Life Underground
14:56 Hygiene & Ventilation
15:40 Heat, mosquitos & Other Health Concerns
16:35 Lavatory Facilities
17:11 The Elderly & Children
18:32 Food & Drink
19:09 Leisure Time
19:55 Disasters
20:18 The Bounds Green Disaster, 13th October 1940
20:44 The Bethnal Green Disaster, 14th October 1940
21:31 The Bank Disaster, 11th January 1941
22:06 The Bethnal Green Disaster, 3rd March 1943

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Links for this video:

'It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow: The Story of the Bethnal Green Disaster' (ITV Drama, 1975)
   • It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow - The Story of ...  

The Imperial War Museum
https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london

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Credits

Images & Footage:

rarehistorialphotos.com

Gotha Bomber Footage: The History Channel

Spanish Civil War Footage: Pathe News

Cabinet War Rooms image: Kaihsu Tai (Creative Commons)

Evacuees at a London Tube Station: Illustrated Evening News

Anderson Shelter image: Imperial War Museum

Brick Air Raid Shelter: stockport.gov.uk

Blitz Documentary Footage:    • The Blitz  

Mosquito: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Creative Commons)

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Sound Effects (all CC via freesound.org)

Snoring: Daxter31

Baby Crying: Stevelalonde

Air Raid Siren: Audiojacked

Muffled Distant Explosion: NenadSimic

Explosion Blast: Zimbot

Propeller Plane Flyby: YuriNikolai

Police Whistle: Klankbeeld

Coughing: Zabuhailo

Mosquito: IanFSA

Cannon Fire: Craigsmith

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Music

Dopplerette by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

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