Trenches Air raid trenches are forms of
trenches that began to be constructed for defensive purposes around the world after the creation of
bomber aircraft. They were especially prevalent during World War II, but have also been used in other wars.
Cellars near
Hanover, Germany Cellars have always been much more important in Continental Europe than in the United Kingdom and especially in
Germany almost all houses and apartment blocks have been and still are built with cellars. Air-raid precautions during World War II in Germany could be much more readily implemented by the authorities than was possible in the UK. All that was necessary was to ascertain that cellars were being prepared to accommodate all the residents of a building; that all the cellar hatch and window protections were in place; that access to the cellars was safe in the event of an air raid; that once inside, the occupants were secure for any incidents other than direct hits during the air raid and that means of escape was available. The inadequacies of cellars and basements became apparent in the firestorms during the
incendiary attacks on the larger German inner cities, especially
Hamburg and
Dresden. When burning buildings and apartment blocks above them collapsed in the raging winds (which could reach well over ), the occupants often became trapped in these basement shelters, which had also become overcrowded after the arrival of inhabitants from other buildings rendered unsafe in earlier attacks. Some occupants perished from heat stroke or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hochbunker ,
Brandenburg ( or
blockhouses), were a type of construction designed to relieve the pressure Nazi German authorities were facing to accommodate additional numbers of the population in high-density housing areas, as well as pedestrians on the streets during air raids. In contrast to other shelters, these buildings were considered completely bomb-proof. They had the advantage of being built upward, which was much cheaper than downward excavation. usually consisted of large concrete blocks above ground with walls between thick and with huge lintels above doorways and openings. They often had a constant interior temperature of , which made them perfectly suitable for laboratories, both during and after the war. They were used to protect people, administrative centres, important archives and works of art. Their structures took many forms: usually consisting of square blocks or of low, long rectangular or triangular shapes; straight towers of a square plan rising to great heights, or round tower-like edifices, even pyramidal constructions. Some of the circular towers contained helical floors that gradually curved their way upward within the circular walls. Many of these structures may still be seen. They have been converted into offices, storage space; some have even been adapted for hotels, hospitals and schools, as well as many other peacetime purposes. In
Schöneberg, a block of flats was built over the Pallasstrasse air-raid shelter after World War II. During the
Cold War,
NATO used the shelter for food storage. The cost of demolishing these edifices after the war would have been enormous, as the attempts at breaking up one of the six so-called
Flak towers of Vienna proved. The attempted demolition caused no more than a crack in one of the walls of the tower, after which efforts were abandoned. Only the
Zoo Tower in Berlin was successfully demolished. One particular variant of the was the , named after its designer, Leo Winkel of
Duisburg. Winkel patented his design in 1934, and from 1936 onward, Germany built 98 of five different types. The towers had a conical shape with walls that curved downward to a reinforced base. The dimensions of the towers varied. Diameters ranged between and the height between . The walls of the towers had a minimum thickness for reinforced concrete of and for ordinary concrete. The towers were able to shelter between 164 and 500 people, depending on the type. The intent with the and the other was to protect workers in rail yards and industrial areas. Because of their shape, the towers became known colloquially as "cigar stubs" or "sugar beets". The theory behind the was that the curved walls would deflect any bomb hitting the tower, directing it down towards the base. The towers had a small footprint, which was probably a greater protection. A US bomb did hit one tower in Bremen in October 1944; the bomb exploded through the roof, killing five people inside.
Israel Miklat (, ) Is a type of air raid shelter found in Israel inside homes, near residential areas and in other places across the country. These places are also called
Merkhav Mugan (, ). They are reinforced
security rooms required in all new buildings by
Israeli law.
Types •
Miklat Tzibury (מקלט ציבורי) – , a partly underground facility, installed in residential areas. They are commonly used for community needs (clubs, education etc.). Maintained by the local governance and Home Front. They are located in streets and near public facilities. •
Miklat BeBayit Meshutaf (מקלט בבית משותף) – {{lit •
Merkhav Mugan Dirati (מרחב מוגן דירתי or ממ״ד) – installed in residential apartments and private houses. •
Merkhav Mugan Komati (מרחב מוגן קומתי or ממ״ק) – common floor space in apartment buildings in which there is no
Merkhav Mugan Dirati in every apartment and in other multi-storey buildings (mostly offices and industry). •
Merkhav Mugan Mosadi (מרחב מוגן מוסדי or ממ״מ) – installed in every public structure.
United Kingdom Cellars Cellars in the UK, were mainly included only in larger houses, and in houses built up to the period of
World War I, after which detached and semi-detached properties were constructed without cellars, usually to avoid the higher building costs entailed. Since house building had increased vastly between the wars, the lack of cellars in more recent housing became a major problem in the
Air Raid Precautions (ARP) programmes in the UK during World War II. Alternatives had to be found speedily once it became clear that Germany was contemplating air raids as a means of demoralising the population and disrupting supply lines in the UK. Initial recommendations were that householders should shelter under the stairs. Later, authorities supplied materials to households to construct communal street shelters and
Morrison and
Anderson shelters.
Basements Basements also became available for the use of air raid shelters. Basements under factory premises, schools, hospitals, department stores and other businesses were utilised. However, these
ad hoc shelters could bring additional dangers, as heavy machinery and materials or water storage facilities above the shelter, and insufficient support structures threatened to cause the collapse of basements. When the
Wilkinson's Lemonade factory in
North Shields received a direct hit on Saturday, 3 May 1941 during a German attack on the north-east coast of England, 107 occupants lost their lives when heavy machinery fell through the ceiling of the basement in which they were sheltering.
Railway arches and subways (underpasses) British cities prepared for use of railway arches and underpasses in 1935 and railway arches and
subways London Underground stations Prior to the beginning of the war, shelter policy had been determined by
John Anderson, then Lord Privy Seal and, on the declaration of war, Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security. Anderson announced the policy to Parliament on 20 April 1939, based on a report from a committee chaired by Lord Hailey. This reaffirmed a policy of dispersal and eschewed the use of deep shelters, including the use of tube stations and underground tunnels as public shelters. Reasons given were the spread of disease due to the lack of toilet facilities at many stations, the inherent danger of people falling onto the lines, and that people sheltering in the stations and tunnels might be tempted to stay in them day and night because they would feel safer there than outside the stations. None of these concerns had been borne out by experience during the bombing raids of the First World War, when eighty specially adapted tube stations had been pressed into use, but in a highly controversial decision in January 1924, Anderson, then chairman of the Air Raid Precautions Committee of Imperial Defence, had ruled out the tube station shelter option in any future conflict. Following the intensive bombing of London on 7 September 1940 and the overnight raids of 7/8 September, there was considerable pressure to change the policy but, even following a review on 17 September, the government stood firm. On 19 September,
William Mabane, parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Home Security, urged the public not to leave their
Anderson shelters for public shelters, saying it deprived others of shelter. "We're going to improve the amenities in existing shelters", he promised. "We're setting about providing better lighting and better accommodation for sleeping and better sanitary arrangements." The Ministries of Home Security and Transport jointly issued an "urgent appeal", telling the public "to refrain from using Tube stations as air-raid shelters except in the case of urgent necessity". Over the night of 19/20 September, thousands of Londoners took matters in their own hands. They had flocked to the Tubes for shelter, at some stations, they began to arrive as early as with bedding and bags of food to sustain them for the night. By the time the evening rush hour was in progress, they had already staked their "pitches" on the platforms. The police did not intervene and some station managers, on their own initiative, provided additional toilet facilities. Transport Minister
John Reith, and the chairman of London Transport,
Lord Ashfield, inspected
Holborn tube station to see for themselves. The government realised that it could not contain this popular revolt. On 21 September, it abruptly changed policy, removing its objections to the use of tube stations. In what it called part of its "deep shelter extension policy", it decided to close the short section of
Piccadilly line from Holborn to
Aldwych, and convert different sections for specific wartime use, including a public air raid shelter at Aldwych. Floodgates were installed at various points to protect the network should bombs breach the tunnels under the Thames, or large water mains in the vicinity of stations. Seventy-nine stations were fitted with bunks for 22,000 people, supplied with first aid facilities and equipped with chemical toilets. 124 canteens opened in all parts of the tube system. Shelter marshals were appointed, whose function it was to keep order, give first aid and assist in case of the flooding of the tunnels. station in use as an air-raid shelter during World War II Businesses (for example
Plessey Ltd) were allowed to use the Underground stations and unopened tunnels; government offices were installed in others and the anti-aircraft centre for London used a station as its headquarters. Tube stations and tunnels were still vulnerable to a direct hit and on 14 October 1940, a bomb penetrated the road and tunnel at
Balham tube station, blew up the water mains and sewage pipes, and killed 66 people. At
Bank station, a direct hit caused a crater of on 11 January 1941; the road above the station collapsed and killed 56 occupants. The highest death toll was caused by an incident at the unfinished
Bethnal Green tube station on 8 March 1943, when 1,500 people entered the station. The crowd suddenly surged forward upon hearing the unfamiliar sound of a new type of anti-aircraft rocket being launched nearby. Someone stumbled on the stairs, and the crowd pushing on, were falling on top of one another, and 173 people were crushed to death in the disaster. The London Underground system was considered one of the safest means of protecting relatively many people in a high-density area of the capital. An estimated 170,000 people sheltered in the tunnels and stations during the war. Although not a great number in comparison to the population of the capital, it almost certainly saved the lives of the people who probably would have had to find alternative, less secure means of protection. Artists and photographers such as
Henry Moore and
Bill Brandt were employed as war artists to document life in London's shelters during the war.
Other tunnels , offered air raid shelter. Many other types of tunnels were adapted for shelters to protect the civil population, and the military and administrative establishment in the UK during the war. Some had been built many years before, some had been part of an ancient defence system, and some had belonged to commercial enterprises, such as coal mining. The
Victoria tunnels at
Newcastle upon Tyne, for example, completed as long ago as 1842, and used for transporting coal from the collieries to the river Tyne, had been closed in 1860 and remained so until 1939. In places the tunnels were deep, the tunnels, stretching in parts beneath the city of Newcastle, were converted to air raid shelters with a capacity for 9,000 people. In southeast London, residents made use of the
Chislehurst Caves beneath
Chislehurst, a network of caves which have existed since the
Middle Ages for the mining of
chalk and
flint.
Street communal shelter In the United Kingdom, public shelters in open spaces, especially near streets, were needed for pedestrians, drivers and passengers in passing vehicles, etc. The programme of building
street communal shelters commenced in March 1940, the government supplying the materials, and being the moving force behind the scheme, and private builders executing the work under the supervision of surveyors. These shelters consisted of brick walls and reinforced concrete roofs, similarly to, but much larger than, the private shelters in backyards and gardens being introduced slightly later. The communal shelters were usually intended to accommodate about fifty persons, and were divided into various sections by interior walls with openings connecting the different sections. Sections were normally furnished with six bunks. The construction work then went on rapidly, until the resources of concrete and bricks began to be depleted due to the excessive demand placed on them so suddenly. Also, the performance of the early street shelters was a serious blow to public confidence. Their walls were shaken down either by earth shock or blast, and the concrete roofs then fell onto the helpless occupants, and this was there for all to see. At around the same time rumours of accidents started to circulate, such as on one occasion people being drowned due to a burst main filling up the shelter with water. Although much improved designs were being introduced whose performance had been demonstrated in explosion trials, communal shelters became highly unpopular, and shortly afterwards householders were being encouraged to build or have built private shelters on their properties, or within their houses, with materials being supplied by the government.
Anderson shelter The
Anderson shelter was designed in 1938 by William Paterson and Oscar Carl (Karl) Kerrison in response to a request from the Home Office. It was named after Sir
John Anderson, then
Lord Privy Seal with special responsibility for preparing air-raid precautions immediately prior to the outbreak of World War II, and it was he who then initiated the development of the shelter. After evaluation by David Anderson, Bertram Lawrence Hurst, and Sir Henry Jupp, of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, the design was released for production. Anderson shelters were designed to accommodate up to six people. The main principle of protection was based on curved and straight
galvanised corrugated steel panels. Six curved panels were bolted together at the top, so forming the main body of the shelter, three straight sheets on either side, and two more straight panels were fixed to each end, one containing the door—a total of fourteen panels. A small
drainage sump was often incorporated in the floor to collect rainwater seeping into the shelter. The shelters were high, wide, and long. When installed underground, they were buried deep in the soil and then covered with a minimum of of soil above the roof. When they were buried outside, the earth banks could be planted with vegetables and flowers, that at times could be quite an appealing sight and in this way would become the subject of competitions of the best-planted shelter among householders in the neighbourhood. The internal fitting out of the shelter was left to the owner and so there were wide variations in comfort. Large numbers were manufactured at
John Summers & Sons ironworks at
Shotton on Deeside with production peaking at 50,000 units per week. The Anderson shelters performed well under blast and ground shock, because they had good connectivity and ductility, which meant that they could absorb a great deal of energy through plastic deformation without falling apart. (This was in marked contrast to other trench shelters which used concrete for the sides and roof, which were inherently unstable when disturbed by the effects of an explosionif the roof slab lifted, the walls fell in under the static earth pressure; if the walls were pushed in, the roof would be unsupported at one edge and would fall.) However, when the pattern of all-night alerts became established, it was realised that in winter Anderson shelters installed outside were cold damp holes in the ground and often flooded in wet weather, and so their occupancy factor would be poor. This led to the development of the indoor
Morrison shelter. At the end of the war in Europe, households who had received an Anderson shelter were expected to remove their shelters and local authorities began the task of reclaiming the corrugated iron. Householders who wished to keep their Anderson shelter (or more likely the valuable metal) could pay a nominal fee. Because of the large number made and their robustness, many Anderson shelters still survive. Many were dug up after the war and converted into storage sheds for use in gardens and
allotments. In July 1950, the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors made an award of £3,000 (£) to Baker for his design of the Morrison shelter. In 1981, the British government would issue a series of
Domestic Nuclear Shelters publications to complement the earlier
Protect and Survive pamphlet. One of the shelters depicted in
Domestic Nuclear Shelters, the Type 2 indoor shelter, was mostly identical to the Morrison shelter, and the assembly instructions were essentially the same as those contained in the 1941 ''How to Put Up Your Morrison 'Table' Shelter'' pamphlet.
Scallywag bunkers , Suffolk
Scallywag bunkers or Operational Base (OB) were underground bunkers used by
Auxiliary Units of the British Resistance against
Axis powers invasion of the United Kingdom. They were provided with elaborately concealed underground Operational Bases, usually built by the Royal Engineers in a local woodland, with a camouflaged entrance and emergency escape tunnel.
Stanton shelters (2007) A segment shelter manufactured by the
Stanton Ironworks,
Ilkeston, Derbyshire. The shop producing
spun-concrete lighting columns ceased production and turned over to concrete air-raid shelters, of which were manufactured, principally for the air ministry. Reinforced concrete proved an ideal material for air-raid shelters, being strong and resistant to shock with no deterioration with the passing of time. This type of segment shelter was of simple design and of low cost—any length of shelter could be built up from the pre-cast steel reinforced concrete segments. The segments were wide; a pair of them formed an arch high and transverse struts were provided to ensure rigidity. These fitted into longitudinal bearers which were grooved to receive the foot of each segment. Each pair of segments was bolted together at the apex of the arch and each segment was also bolted to its neighbour, the joints being sealed with a bituminous compound. The convenient handling of these segments enabled them to be transported onto sites where close access by motor lorry was not possible. Partly buried in the ground, with a suitably screened entrance, this bolted shelter afforded safe protection against blast and splinters.
Other construction was built without a basement due to the presence of groundwater Some air-raid shelters were constructed in residential building schemes in anticipation of the Second World War. There is a surviving example at
St Leonard's Court in
East Sheen, southwest London. Military air-raid shelters included
blast pens at
airfields for the security of
aircrews and
aircraft maintenance personnel away from the main airbase buildings. Few shelters could survive a direct bomb-hit. The German authorities claimed that were totally bomb-proof, but none were targeted by any of the 41
Grand Slam earthquake bombs dropped by the RAF by the end of World War II. Two of these bombs were dropped on the
Valentin submarine pens near
Bremen and these barely penetrated of reinforced concrete, bringing down the roof. More recently, the penetration by laser-guided
"smart bombs" of the
Amiriyah shelter during the 1991
Gulf War showed how vulnerable even reinforced concrete shelters are to direct hits from bunker-buster bombs. However, the air-raid shelters are built to protect the civilian population, so protection against a direct hit is of secondary value. The most important dangers are the blast and shrapnel. == Air-raid shelters in modern times ==