BRITISH WAR-TIME HEADQUARTERS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25450, 23 March 1948, Page 5

BRITISH WAR-TIME HEADQUARTERS

Six Acres Of Underground Rooms To Be Preserved

(Special Correspondent N.Z P.A.)

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, March 22. Although it has bAen announced that the secret underground headquarters beneath Whitehall used by the British War Cabinet and the Chiefs of Staff during the war will be preserved for the nation, it has been decided that the public cannot at present be admitted to them. Security is the reason for this prohibition, as the six acres of underground rooms, passages, and shelters lie partly under the present Cabinet offices.

The construction of the secret headSuarters was begun in 1937, and when le Munich Conference took place several rooms had already been completed. »

When war was formally declared at 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 3, 1939, the Chiefs of Staff were actually meeting in one of the underground rooms. They went up to their offices a few minutes later to hear the first air raid warning.

The secret headquarters were extended during the war until they could provide sleeping accommodation for 270 persons ana working space for many more. , To-day the underground War Cabinet room, the map room, and the emergency underground bedroom used by Mr Churchill are just as they were left when the war ended.

In the Cabinet room are 24 seats arranged in a hollow square, with the. seat formerly occupied by Mr Churchill in the centre. In front of Mr Churchill’s seat there is a large printed card which reads: “Please understand that there is no depression in this House, and we are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist—Victoria, R. 1.”

Although the sheets Jiave been removed, the bed occupied by Mr Churchill when he used the shelter is still made. It was from ,this room, eauinned as n mm bin nd office and bed-

room, that Mr Churchill made most of his war-time broadcasts. Mr Neville Chamberlain broadcast his speech announcing the declaration of war from the underground Cabinet room.

Large maps marked to show the position of the Allied forces on ail fronts when the war ended still hang dn the walls of the map room. Otl)er maps, similarly marked, hang behind curtains in Mr Churchill’s bedroom. On a board which showed tile daily British and enemy air casualties are figures showing what were claimed to ■be the enemy’s losses during the Royal Air Force's best day at the height of the Battle of Britain. These figures were subsequently found to be exaggerated, but they nave been painted in as a permanent memorial. "They gave us great encouragement at the time,” remarked Mr Churchill’s war-time Chief of Staff (Field-Marshal Lord Ismay), who conducted a party of correspondents over the headquarters this week. The headquarters was never subjected to the test of a direct bomb hit, but one 10001 b bomb burst not very far away and shook the ceilings. According to Lord Ismay, who was in the Cabinet room when this occurred, Mr Churchill remarked: “What a pity it could not have tested our defences.' Lord Ismay also disclosed that Mr Churchill did not like the underground shelter. "It was always difficult to keep him down hare,” he said. “When there was an air raid he was always much happier if he could get up on the Air Ministry roof and see what was happening.” The secret map room during the war was staffed by retired officers specially selected for the purpose. Each morning the duty officer went from the underground headquarters to the King to give His Majesty the latest reports on the progress of the war. The King several times visited the headquarters in person.