Backyard bunkers of the Blitz
Keep calm and cram in.
Alex Q. Arbuckle
1939-1944
In 1938, with the outbreak of World War II on the horizon, Sir John Anderson was placed in charge of air-raid preparations in Britain. He commissioned engineers to design a cheap and simple shelter which could be distributed to the population.The result: the Anderson Shelter.Six feet tall, 6.5 feet long, and 4.5 feet wide, the corrugated metal shelters were a snug fit for a family of six. They were buried four feet under owners' yards, their arched roofs covered with a layer of soil.The shelters were distributed for free to poorer residents. Wealthier residents could purchase one for a small fee. Many chose to incorporate the shelters into their gardens, planting vegetables and flowers on top of them. Residents even held competitions for prettiest shelter.By the time the Blitz began, over 2 million Anderson shelters had been erected.
Though damp and uncomfortable in the winter, the shelters were remarkably effective. The ductile metal walls could warp and deform in response to the force of explosions without collapsing, unlike more rigid concrete bunkers.Many urban residents did not have yards for Anderson shelters to be placed in, and had to use indoor or communal shelters. The Morrison shelter, a reinforced cage for two people to sleep in, was designed to withstand a house collapsing on it.After the war, most Anderson shelters were scrapped for their valuable metal, but many were repurposed as garden sheds. A few still survive, awaiting the next raid.
You were supposed to go into your Anderson shelter every night. I used to take my knitting. I used to knit all night. - Muriel Simkin
They had dropped a basket of incendiary bombs and we had got the lot. Luckily not one went off. Next morning the bombs were standing up in the garden as if they had grown in the night. - Muriel Simkin
I would turn over in bed and mutter, when I heard the bang, 'Oh, that's Mrs. Smith and not us.’ - Kingsley Martin
