83-398: Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many have been used as defensive structures in such situations). Prior to World War II , in 1924, an Air Raid Precautions Committee was set up in
166-476: A pillbox can be killed with flamethrowers . Complex, well-built and well-protected fortifications are often vulnerable to attacks on access points. If the exits to the surface can be closed off, those manning the facility can be trapped. The fortification can then be bypassed. Famous bunkers include the post-World War I Maginot Line on the French eastern border and Czechoslovak border fortifications mainly on
249-448: 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 37 by 30 metres (120 ft × 100 ft) 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
332-561: A cage-like construction beneath it. It was designed by John Baker and named after Herbert Morrison , the Minister of Home Security at the time. It was the result of the realisation that due to the lack of house cellars it was necessary to develop an effective type of indoor shelter. The shelters came in assembly kits , to be bolted together inside the home. They were approximately 1.98 metres (6 ft 6 in) long, 1.2 metres (4 ft) wide and 0.76 metres (2 ft 6 in) high, had
415-497: A constant interior temperature of 7 to 10 °C (45 to 50 °F), 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
498-443: 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 explosion – if 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
581-518: 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
664-453: A house is purpose-built with a bunker, the normal location is a reinforced below-ground bathroom with fiber-reinforced plastic shells. Bunkers deflect the blast wave from nearby explosions to prevent ear and internal injuries to people sheltering in the bunker. Nuclear bunkers must also cope with the underpressure that lasts for several seconds after the shock wave passes, and block radiation . A bunker's door must be at least as strong as
747-401: A house is purpose-built with a bunker, the normal location is a reinforced below-ground bathroom with large cabinets. One common design approach uses fibre-reinforced plastic shells. Compressive protection may be provided by inexpensive earth arching. The overburden is designed to shield from radiation. To prevent the shelter from floating to the surface in high groundwater, some designs have
830-514: A house was sucked or blown out by a nearby blast, and the floor of the first storey pivoted about its other end (supported by a largely intact wall) and killed the inhabitants. The Morrison shelter was therefore designed to be able to withstand the upper floor falling, of a typical two storey-house undergoing a partial collapse. The shelter was designed to absorb this energy by plastic deformation, since this can absorb two or three orders of magnitude more energy than elastic deformation. Its design enabled
913-400: A narrow, 1–2-metre (3.5–6.5 ft), flexible tent of thin wood is placed in a deep trench, and then covered with cloth or plastic, and then covered with 1–2 m (3.5–6.5 feet) of tamped earth. A large ground shock can move the walls of a bunker several centimeters in a few milliseconds. Bunkers designed for large ground shocks must have sprung internal buildings to protect inhabitants from
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#1732780719575996-515: A part of a trench system. Such bunkers give the defending soldiers better protection than the open trench and also include top protection against aerial attack. They also provide shelter against the weather. Some bunkers may have partially open tops to allow weapons to be discharged with the muzzle pointing upwards (e.g., mortars and anti-aircraft weapons). Many artillery installations, especially for coastal artillery , have historically been protected by extensive bunker systems. These usually housed
1079-440: 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
1162-496: 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
1245-654: A reinforced concrete shelter" is first recorded on 13 October 1939, in "A Nazi field gun hidden in a cemented 'bunker' on the Western front". All the early references to its usage in the Oxford English Dictionary are to German fortifications. However, in the Far East the term was also applied to the earth and log positions built by the Japanese, the term appearing in a 1943 instruction manual issued by
1328-759: A serious lack of data on which to base any design recommendations and the Committee proposed that the Home Office should have its own department for research into structural precautions, rather than relying on research work done by the Bombing Test Committee to support the development of bomb design and strategy. This proposal was eventually implemented in January 1939. During the Munich crisis , local authorities dug trenches to provide shelter. After
1411-522: A skirt held down with the overburden. It may also serve the purpose of a safe room . Large bunkers are often bought by super rich individuals in case of political instability , and usually store or access large amounts of energy for use. They are sometimes refereed to as "luxury bunkers," and their locations are often documented. Munitions storage bunkers are designed to securely store explosive ordnance and contain any internal explosions. The most common configuration for high explosives storage
1494-558: A solid 3.2 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) steel plate "table" top, welded wire mesh sides, and a metal lath "mattress"-type floor. Altogether it had 359 parts and had three tools supplied with the pack. The shelter was provided free to households whose combined income was less than £400 per year (equivalent to £31,000 in 2023). Head of the Engineering Department at Cambridge University , Professor John Baker (later Lord Baker) presented an undergraduate lecture on
1577-511: A type of air raid shelters found in Israel inside homes, near residential areas and in other places across the country. These places are also called Merkhav Mugan ( Hebrew : מרחב מוגן , lit. ' protected space ' ). They are reinforced security rooms required in all new buildings by Israeli law. Cellars in the UK, were mainly included only in larger houses, and in houses built up to
1660-610: A week (equivalent to £390 in 2023, when adjusted for inflation ). Those with a higher income were charged £7 (£550 in 2023) for their shelter. One and a half million shelters of this type were distributed between February 1939 and the outbreak of war. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected. 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
1743-417: Is an unusually large number of bunkers because of a law requiring protective shelters to be constructed for all new buildings since 1963, as well as a number of bunkers built as part of its National Redoubt military defense plan. Some of Switzerland's bunkers have since become tourist attractions housing hotels and museums such as Sasso San Gottardo Museum. The Soviet Union maintained huge bunkers (one of
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#17327807195751826-497: Is the igloo shaped bunker. They are often built into a hillside in order to provide additional containment mass. A specialized version of the munitions bunker called a Gravel Gertie is designed to contain radioactive debris from an explosive accident while assembling or disassembling nuclear warheads . They are installed at all facilities in the United States and United Kingdom which do warhead assembly and disassembly,
1909-514: The Hochbunker was the Winkelturm , named after its designer, Leo Winkel of Duisburg . Winkel patented his design in 1934, and from 1936 onward, Germany built 98 Winkeltürme 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 8.4 and 10 metres (28 and 33 ft) and
1992-698: The Anderson shelter would be built in a garden and equipped with beds as a refuge from air raids. 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
2075-657: The British Indian Army and quickly gaining wide currency. By 1947 the word was familiar enough in English that Hugh Trevor-Roper in The Last Days of Hitler was describing Hitler's underground complex near the Reich Chancellery as "Hitler's own bunker" without quotes around the word bunker. This type of bunker is a small concrete structure, partly dug into the ground, which is usually
2158-547: The Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities. Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes . Trench bunkers are small concrete structures, partly dug into the ground. Many artillery installations, especially for coastal artillery , have historically been protected by extensive bunker systems. Typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes living quarters. When
2241-546: 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
2324-507: 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
2407-671: The Germans to describe permanent structures both large ( blockhouses ), and small ( pillboxes ), and bombproof shelters both above ground (as in Hochbunker ) and below ground (such as the Führerbunker ). The military sense of the word was imported into English during World War II, at first in reference to specifically German dug-outs; according to the Oxford English Dictionary , the sense of "military dug-out;
2490-463: The Tubes for shelter, at some stations, they began to arrive as early as 4:00 pm, 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
2573-449: The UK for air raid protection during World War II . Railway arches were deep, curved structures of brick or concrete, set into the vertical sidewalls of railway lines, which had been intended originally for commercial depots, etc. The arches were covered usually with wooden or brick screen - or curtain walls , thus giving a considerable amount of protection against air raids – provided, of course, that railway lines were not
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2656-446: The UK to build 80 specially adapted London Underground stations as shelters. However, during World War II, the government initially ruled out using these as shelters. After Londoners flooded into underground stations during The Blitz , the government reversed its policy. The UK began building street communal shelters as air raid shelters in 1940. Anderson shelters, designed in 1938 and built to hold up to six people, were in common use in
2739-594: The UK. Indoor shelters known as Morrison shelters were introduced as well. Air raid shelters are still in use to some extent in various nations such as Spain, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore and Taiwan. Air raid shelters were built to serve as protection against enemy air raids . Existing edifices designed for other functions, such as underground stations (tube or subway stations ), tunnels , cellars in houses or basements in larger establishments and railway arches, above ground, were suitable for safeguarding people during air raids. A commonly used home shelter known as
2822-460: The United Kingdom, it was being recognised early that public shelters in open spaces, especially near streets, were urgently 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
2905-587: The United Kingdom. For years, little progress was made with shelters because of the apparently irreconcilable conflict between the need to send the public underground for shelter and the need to keep them above ground for protection against gas attacks . In 1935, every city in the country was given a document to prepare air raid shelters. In February 1936 the Home Secretary appointed a technical Committee on Structural Precautions against Air Attack. By November 1937, there had only been slow progress, because of
2988-481: 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
3071-444: The arrival of inhabitants from other buildings rendered unsafe in earlier attacks. Some occupants perished from heat stroke or carbon monoxide poisoning. Hochbunker ( lit. ' high-rise bunkers ' 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
3154-424: 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
3237-452: The blast wave or a reflection cannot lift the edge. A bunker should have two doors. Door shafts may double as ventilation shafts to reduce digging. In bunkers inhabited for prolonged periods, large amounts of ventilation or air conditioning must be provided in order to prevent ill effects of heat. In bunkers designed for war-time use, manually operated ventilators must be provided because supplies of electricity or gas are unreliable. One of
3320-597: The cargo of a ship". In the 19th century the word came to describe a coal store in a house, or below decks in a ship. It was also used for a sand-filled depression installed on a golf course as a hazard. In the First World War the belligerents built underground shelters, called dugouts in English , while the Germans used the term Bunker . By the Second World War the term came to be used by
3403-493: 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
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3486-487: 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
3569-642: The collieries to the river Tyne, had been closed in 1860 and remained so until 1939. In places the tunnels were 12 metres (39 ft) deep, the tunnels, stretching in parts beneath the city of Newcastle, were converted to air raid shelters with a capacity for 9,000 people. Tunnels linked to landing stages built on the River Irwell in Manchester at the end of the nineteenth century were also used as air-raid shelters. The medieval labyrinth of tunnels beneath Dover Castle had been built originally as part of
3652-428: The crews serving the weapons, protected the ammunition against counter-battery fire, and in numerous examples also protected the guns themselves, though this was usually a trade-off reducing their fields of fire. Artillery bunkers are some of the largest individual pre-Cold War bunkers. The walls of the ' Batterie Todt ' gun installation in northern France were up to 3.5 metres (11 ft) thick, and an underground bunker
3735-652: The crisis, the British Government decided to make these a permanent feature, with a standard design of precast concrete trench lining. Unfortunately these turned out to perform very poorly. They also decided to issue free to poorer households the Anderson shelter , and to provide steel props to create shelters in suitable basements. During World War II, many types of structures were used as air raid shelters, such as cellars, Hochbunker (in Germany), basements, and underpasses. Bombing raids during World War I led
3818-488: The defensive system of the approaches to England, extended over the centuries and further excavated and reinforced during the world wars, until it was capable of accommodating large parts of the secret defence systems protecting the British Isles. On 26 May 1940, it became the headquarters under Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay of Operation Dynamo , from which the rescue and evacuation of up to 338,000 troops from France
3901-429: 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
3984-420: 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 1.8 metres (6 ft) high, 1.4 metres (4.5 ft) wide, and 2.0 metres (6.5 ft) long. When installed underground, they were buried 1.2 metres (4 ft) deep in the soil and then covered with a minimum of 38 centimetres (15 in) of soil above
4067-413: The family to sleep under the shelter at night or during raids, and to use it as a dining table in the daytime, making it a practical item in the house. Half a million Morrison shelters had been distributed by the end of 1941, with a further 100,000 being added in 1943 to prepare the population for the expected German V-1 flying bomb (doodlebug) attacks. In one examination of 44 severely damaged houses it
4150-484: The government. 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
4233-515: The height between 20 and 25 metres (66 and 82 ft). The walls of the towers had a minimum thickness for reinforced concrete of 0.8 metres (2 ft 7 in) and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) for ordinary concrete. The towers were able to shelter between 164 and 500 people, depending on the type. The intent with the Winkeltürme and the other Hochbunker was to protect workers in rail yards and industrial areas. Because of their shape,
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#17327807195754316-558: 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
4399-797: The houses. Non-combatants Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 208093494 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:58:39 GMT Bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. They were used extensively in World War I , World War II , and
4482-507: 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
4565-614: The largest 3,850 (subsequently expanded to take up to 6,500 people.) The largest of the Stockport Air Raid Shelters are open to the public as part of the town's museum service. In southeast London, residents made use of the Chislehurst Caves beneath Chislehurst , a 35-kilometre-long (22 mi) network of caves which have existed since the Middle Ages for the mining of chalk and flint . In
4648-563: The largest being the Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas , which has 12 Gravel Gerties. Bunkers deflect the blast wave from nearby explosions to prevent ear and internal injuries to people sheltering in the bunker. While frame buildings collapse from as little as 21 kPa (3 psi ; 0.21 bar ) of overpressure , bunkers are regularly constructed to survive over 1,000 kPa (150 psi; 10 bar). This substantially decreases
4731-513: The likelihood that a bomb (other than a bunker buster ) can harm the structure. The basic plan is to provide a structure that is very strong in physical compression . The most common purpose-built structure is a buried, steel reinforced concrete vault or arch . Most expedient blast shelters are civil engineering structures that contain large, buried tubes or pipes such as sewage or rapid transit tunnels. Improvised purpose-built blast shelters normally use earthen arches or vaults. To form these,
4814-511: The most efficient manual ventilator designs is the Kearny Air Pump . Ventilation openings in a bunker must be protected by blast valves . A blast valve is closed by a shock wave, but otherwise remains open. One form of expedient blast valve is worn flat rubber tire treads nailed or bolted to frames strong enough to resist the maximum overpressure. Bunkers can be destroyed with powerful explosives and bunkerbusting warheads. The crew of
4897-948: The northern Czech border facing Germany (but to lesser extent all around), Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium, Alpine Wall on the north of Italy, World War II Führerbunker and in Italy, industrial Marnate's Bunker , the V-weapon installations in Germany ( Mittelwerk ) & France ( La Coupole , and the Blockhaus d'Éperlecques ) and the Cold War installations in the United States ( Cheyenne Mountain Complex , Site R , and The Greenbrier ), United Kingdom ( Burlington ), Sweden ( Boden Fortress ) and Canada ( Diefenbunker ). In Switzerland, there
4980-497: 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
5063-514: 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
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#17327807195755146-416: The prime target of the attack at the particular time and so being more likely to suffer from direct hits. Each arch could accommodate anything from around 60 to 150 people. However, fewer people could find shelter at night as sleeping areas for the occupants took up more of the space available – a limitation applying to any other type of shelter as well. Subways were actual thoroughfares also in
5229-450: The principles of design of the shelter as an introduction to his theory of plastic design of structures, which can be summarised as follows: It was impractical to produce a design for mass production that could withstand a direct hit, and so it was a matter of selecting a suitable design target that would save lives in many cases of blast damage to bombed houses. Examination of bombed buildings indicated that in many instances, one end wall of
5312-465: 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. Anderson shelters were issued free to all householders who earned less than £5
5395-661: The secondary uses of the very deeply dug Moscow Metro and Kyiv metro systems was as nuclear shelters). A number of facilities were constructed in China, such as Beijing 's Underground City and Underground Project 131 in Hubei ; in Albania , Enver Hoxha dotted the country with hundreds of thousands of bunkers . In the United States, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center underneath
5478-402: The shape of arches, normally allowing passage underneath railway lines. 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
5561-638: 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. British cities, prepared for use of railway arches and underpasses in 1935. And railway arches and subways were operationalized in
5644-400: 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
5727-562: 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
5810-437: 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. Hochbunker usually consisted of large concrete blocks above ground with walls between 1 and 1.5 metres (3 ft 3 in and 4 ft 11 in) thick and with huge lintels above doorways and openings. They often had
5893-438: The supervision of surveyors. These shelters consisted of 360-millimetre (14 in) brick walls and 300-millimetre-thick (1 ft) 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
5976-438: 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 . The Morrison shelter , officially termed Table (Morrison) Indoor Shelter , had
6059-591: The towers became known colloquially as "cigar stubs" or "sugar beets". The theory behind the Winkeltürme 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. Miklat ( Hebrew : מקלט , lit. ' protected place ' ) Is
6142-409: The walls and floors. Nuclear bunkers must also cope with the underpressure that lasts for several seconds after the shock wave passes, and block radiation . Usually, these features are easy to provide. The overburden ( soil ) and structure provide substantial radiation shielding, and the negative pressure is usually only 1 ⁄ 3 of the overpressure. The doors must be at least as strong as
6225-437: The walls. In bunkers inhabited for prolonged periods, large amounts of ventilation or air conditioning must be provided. Bunkers can be destroyed with powerful explosives and bunker-busting warheads . The word bunker originates as a Scots word for "bench, seat" recorded 1758, alongside shortened bunk "sleeping berth". The word possibly has a Scandinavian origin: Old Swedish bunke means "boards used to protect
6308-407: The walls. The usual design is now starting to incorporate vault doors . To reduce the weight, the door is normally constructed of steel, with a fitted steel lintel and frame. Very thick wood also serves and is more resistant to heat because it chars rather than melts. If the door is on the surface and will be exposed to the blast wave, the edge of the door is normally counter-sunk in the frame so that
6391-462: The war. 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
6474-444: 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 800 °C or 1,470 °F), the occupants often became trapped in these basement shelters, which had also become overcrowded after
6557-656: Was constructed for the V-3 cannon . Typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes living quarters. They were built mainly by nations like Germany during World War II to protect important industries from aerial bombardment . Industrial bunkers are also built for control rooms of dangerous activities, such as tests of rocket engines or explosive experiments. They are also built in order to perform dangerous experiments in them or to store radioactive or explosive goods. Such bunkers also exist on non-military facilities. When
6640-630: 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 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
6723-485: Was directed. In Stockport , 6 mi (9.7 km) south of Manchester, four sets of underground air raid shelter tunnels for civilian use were dug into the red sandstone on which the town centre stands. Preparation started in September 1938 and the first set of shelters was opened on 28 October 1939. (Stockport was not bombed until 11 October 1940.) The smallest of the tunnel shelters could accommodate 2,000 people and
6806-420: Was found that 3 people had been killed, 13 seriously injured, and 16 slightly injured out of a total of 136 people who had occupied Morrison shelters; thus 120 out of 136 escaped from severely bomb-damaged houses without serious injury. Furthermore, it was discovered that the fatalities had occurred in a house which had suffered a direct hit, and some of the severely injured were in shelters sited incorrectly within
6889-460: Was to keep order, give first aid and assist in case of the flooding of the tunnels. 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,
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