This book features the design, creation and use of air raid shelters, including interviews with people who used them during the Second World War. The different types of bunkers/air raid shelters (both public and in people's gardens) are covered and the strength and weakness of their designs discussed, using original designs and primary material. The nostalgia/social history of the book covers people's experiences of staying in the air raid shelters. These are divided into topics, including getting to the shelters (how they reacted to the sirens or whether they just moved into the shelters, especially those in gardens, long-term), facilities, health issues, morale and safety, both real and perceived.
In recent years, air raid shelters have been converted into different uses, including homes, and the book will finish with a brief chapter concerning the future and preservation of these once vital buildings.
The Blitz...
Related Scanning WWII dates...
- 06 Sep 40: The official start of the Blitz
- 07 Sep 40: Codeword "Cromwell" passed to warn Britons of invasion
- 12 Oct 40: Re-evacuation of English children begins
- 12 Dec 40: First night of the "Sheffield Blitz"
- 15 Dec 40: Second night of the "Sheffield Blitz"
- 29 Dec 40: St Paul's Cathedral miraculously survives
- 19 Apr 41: Thirty-four firemen killed battling Blitz blazes
- 10 May 41: Blitz raid known as the "Longest Night"
- 11 May 41: First Messerschmitt shot down over England
- 21 May 41: The Blitz un-ceremonially comes to end
Related WWII Store items...
- The Blitz:
London's Longest Night - Then & Now
The Sheffield Blitz - Blitz:
The Story of December 29, 1940 - Air Raid Shelters of the Second World War:
Family Stories of Survival in the Blitz