75 years ago this month, Britain declared war on Germany. Stepney had already started to prepare at the London Fruit Exchange, Spitalfields Market: The basement was placed on the list of official public shelters in 1938, when the authorities anticipated the possibility of raids that might last from a few minutes to half an hour, probably in daytime. ...On a late summer afternoon came the first of the raids that were suddenly to devastate and mutilate London and it was instantly seen that preparations were not equal to the needs that became terrifyingly apparent. The shelter had accommodation for 5,164 persons seated. Twice that number was immediately exceeded in the first mad rushes to get away from the destruction raining down from the skies. ...The heat of that cellar became literally hardly bearable. A steady stream of semi-conscious or unconscious people was passed towards the doorway, their faces rubbed with wet handkerchiefs, and drops of precious water forced between their lips. As soon as they could stand they moved back to make room for the next cases. Thousands of people were huddled together on the filthy floor, with not so much as one inch of room between any of them, while less lucky men, women and children patrolled up and down, panting, along the gangways a few bare inches wide between the prone figures. Mickey Davies of Mickeys Shelter, writing in 1944 for the book Cockney Campaign.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:02:01 +0000
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