EU Referendum


Media: The Shelter War (4)


14/10/2012



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Yesterday's piece brought us to 14 September 1940, one full week since the start of the London Blitz and the bombing of the East End.

That Saturday, with more than 6,000 casualties estimated, the Daily Worker was recording that tens of thousands of shelterless Londoners were seeking to "camp out" in the Tubes. London Communists, the previous day, had sent a deputation to see the Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street, "to present to him a true picture of the real situation in London, the real suffering of the people".

The paper did not record whether Mr Churchill was actually at home, or whether he even saw the memorandum that the deputation handed in. However, we did learn that the Premier's Secretary later returned it to the deputation with a covering letter requesting them to go to the Home Office.

Thus bidden, the deputation went there, where they had remained for two hours, "pressing the demands of Londoners".

Their memorandum had complained of many families in Anderson shelters having been "wiped out by direct hits", while bad weather made all-night use of them impossible. Others had been forced to depend on dangerous basements. Others again on surface shelters "built of brick that crumbles in the hand".

Londoners, they said, "are shocked and indignant at the scandalous treatment of the homeless. They resent the homeless being made the object of charity. People are being left to fend for themselves, seeking shelter with neighbours, friends". Later (4 October), the Daily Worker was to publish a pointed cartoon, on precisely this (below). 

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This Saturday in September, Communist councillor for Stepney, Phil Piratin, took charge of fifty East Enders, including a group of what Time magazine called "ill-clad children". As the sirens sounded, they burst into the Savoy Hotel and occupied the basement air-raid shelter. "If it is good enough for the rich it is good enough for the Stepney workers and their families", Piratin declared.

After a tense confrontation with the police, the hotel manager allowed them to remain. Negotiation with the waiting staff produced silver trays laden with pots of tea, bread and butter, at a heavily discounted price. As the initial tension dissipated, it became a relatively good-humoured occupation and the demonstrators left when the "all clear" sounded - but not before having had a whip round to tip the doorman. 

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The incident was briefly mentioned by the Sunday Express but, with invasion in the air, the paper's main story was devoted to speculation on whether the Germans had called off the assault. According to the Berlin correspondent of the Swiss newspaper Basler Nachrichten, the Germans believed the destruction of London and its industrial organisation "will mean the paralysis of the entire enonomic and financial structure of the Empire".

Fort the first time, it had been officially declared in Berlin that London's destruction was capable of bringing about England's defeat and military collapse. 

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The Labour-supporting Reynolds News brought home what was at stake, it too focusing on the expected invasion. It noted that Göring's "blitzkrieg" on London had a dual object: first to smash communications and disorganise public services in the Capital, and, second, to confront the Government with a problem of a demoralised and panic-striken population. Both these "preliminaries", the paper said, "have failed".

As to the shelter question, a front-page report stated that the while question of air raid protection was under review. Experts were "considering" the advisability of deep shelters in heavily populated areas, and the advisability of using tube stations was being re-examined.

The reporter "understood" that the Ministry of Transport held the view that "stations must be kept clear in order to disperse the people as quickly as possible". On the other hand, he noted, "in several districts people have taken matters into their own hands, and have remained in tube stations during the last two or three nights. This, he added, "will continue unless the Government provide alternatives".

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This was the day on which, by tradition, the Battle of Britain was won – celebrated as Battle of Britain Day. In all, 185 enemy aircraft were claimed by the RAF, although he actual number shot down was closer to 55. The newspapers had trouble keeping up, though, the Daily Express proclaiming ten short of the final claimed total.

The only concession this paper made to the growing shelter crisis was a short squib, in the editorial column, referring to the German claims that the destruction of London would mean the paralysis of the entire economic and financial structure of the Empire. "That opinion steels London to two resolves", the paper said. "To shelter her citizens. To keep them at work. Both problems go together, for in this crisis no man can work without shelter".

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The Daily Mirror, claiming 50 bombers shot down, of 72 dispatched, made not even this brief a mention of shelters. It did, however, find space for a full column on "cockney heroism". Its page 5 cartoon (above) exuded jingoistic defiance.

On this one day, therefore, there could hardly have been a greater contrast between the "popular" Press and the Daily Worker. Dismissing the great aerial battle in a single column, its main headline was devoted to the shelter crisis, telling of how councils had the powers to take over private shelters and open them up for public use. Borough Councils had also been informed that they "need not delay" in requisitioning any empty flats or mansions in their areas, for use by the homeless. 

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In terms of private shelters, particularly controversial had been the great Carreras factory shelter, with spaces for 3,000. It was used during the day by workers, but kept empty and locked at night. Recently, seven people had been killed in a cellar, having been unable to use this shelter.

This paper also covered the Savoy Hotel "invasion" and then, in a long page-2 piece, wrote (below) of the Friday's deputation to the Home Office, being told that the Government standard for air raid shelters had never meant to offer protection from bombs. The shelters only had to withstand splinters. 

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Ironically, the deputation had been informed of this while taking cover from an air raid, in the Home Office Shelter Refuge, together with the Civil Servants they were meeting. Not only had the shelter been completely gas proof, and "generally speaking quite comfortable", it had also been bomb-proof.

By contrast, Randall Swingler, writing for the Daily Worker reported on how he had spent part of the night in one a surface shelter on North London, built to accommodate over 2,000 people.

In the middle of a heavy raid, it had been completely empty. Builders employed in erecting others near the Angel, wrote Swingler, "laugh at them as they build: says they are only useful for the same purpose as the tin conveniences they most resemble.

London's people, Swingler concluded, "have already taken matters into their own hands with regard to the Tube stations. The matter of the deep shelters which now exist is one which no one but the people will settle - for the people's safety". He was not wrong.

Part 1 of "The Shelter War" here
Part 2 of "The Shelter War" here.
Part 3 of "The Shelter War" here. 
Part 5 of "The Shelter War" here
Part 6 of "The Shelter War" here.

COMMENT: "SHELTER WAR" THREAD