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The pre-war policy of the Government was to disperse the population in an air raid rather than build large public shelters which might become mass tombs. Many of these public shelters were squat brick and concrete surface built shelters, designed to hold 50. They were dank and dark and had no sanitary facilities.
Their poor construction also made them dangerous and deadly places. A nearby bomb burst could lift the roof, usually a concrete slab, which would come crashing down on the occupants. These defects were later overcome by the building of outer blast walls, improving the mortaring of the cement joints and by edging the roof so that it could shift a few inches without falling off the supporting walls.
These brick surface shelters were never popular and only about 9 per cent of Londoners used them, many preferring to seek shelter in the slit trenches dug in parks at the time of the Munich crisis in 1938. These had by now been lined and roofed with either concrete or steel and had closed entrances, initially these had no sanitary facilities. Like the Anderson they were covered with earth and, similarly, were liable to flooding.
Many local authorities also improvised public shelters in the basements of strong buildings or in the spaces beneath railway arches.
Natural shelters,such as the Chislehurst Caves in Kent were also taken over to provide shelter for the population.
Copyright © 2002 Peter N. Risbey.
