British cartoonist David Low shows Mussolini's invasion of Greece faced with resistance: "Help! Here's one showing fight!" https://t.co/PQCYUKesAu
The Jewish ghetto in Warsaw has now been sealed off from the outside world, by orders of German occupiers. ~400,000 people trapped inside its walls. https://t.co/2Q7Zyaryqs
Nazi cartoon claims to show Winston Churchill's "madman's philosophy": "Our Empire is so large that it hardly matters if a small island burns down." https://t.co/5m3O6jnsUG
Martial law has been declared in Coventry, to help evacuate homeless citizens & speed rescues from the wreckage of overnight bombing. https://t.co/NH4qSwlfn0
Coventry's factories, warehouses, & dairies are still burning. Local man Harry Ward: "I had to run for my life from a knee-high river of boiling butter." https://t.co/AcV3bFcLbg
Nazi propagandist Goebbels exults over Luftwaffe raid, announces that new word "Coventriert" will now be used to describe cities "totally destroyed from the air". https://t.co/5YrSikcPiV
People of Coventry are emerging from air-raid shelters after a night of devastating German bombing. 60,000 of city's 75,000 buildings ruined. 500+ people are dead. https://t.co/QMosXZ7Bed
Bombs still falling. 6000ft above Coventry, Luftwaffe pilot Werner Handorf is amazed by "the prickling of my nostrils- I can smell the city burning." https://t.co/sEdE69t5BP
Coventry Cathedral has collapsed. Fireman Albert Fearn: "This is the end. We'll be dead lucky if we see the sun again." https://t.co/Le9yuPccge
The Site
The surface surrounding the bunker has changed considerably since the War. One of the major changes was the dismantling of the many Nissen Huts and water tanks that existed in the early 1940’s. The other was the erection of the DSS buildings in 1948 to house offices of the fledgling National Health Service.
The area actually on top did used to contain many shrubs and trees (as can be seen from the map) though today it is just grassed over. There is still some greenery that exists on the south side around the concrete mast plinths.
The bunker had two main entrances/exits, on the west and east side for obvious reasons (in case of attack, fire etc.).
The map below shows the site in 1948, as it was at the time.
There was also a generator hut with surrounding blast wall (not shown on map). It could be found at the west side of the compound, close to Ponteland Road just inside the fence.
Follow
- Took some more photos of the elusive name in the floor - the one that's almost but not quite legible. Used a torch… https://t.co/ftHWc2K7lE
- Last week the nice people at https://t.co/mzFJd43Pn7 donated a wet and dry vac and some air movers to the bunker. I… https://t.co/tZv3v1QJRO
- Further to yesterday's list of name/rank/serial numbers, a closer look revealed some more letters under the date. I… https://t.co/FoZqbKj2mB
- So today we decided to move a huge pile of donated carpet tiles as the room they were in was not very weather tight… https://t.co/zAsT2jSdGz
- John Mabbitt (Principal Historic Environment Consultant at Wood Plc) delivering a fascinating presentation on the K… https://t.co/pLCC4Tsdzb
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