FOR VICTORY
Donald Duck whenever he did shout down the phone and Roosevelt would have to stop himself from laughing.
“Churchill would call Roosevelt ‘old pal’ and Roosevelt would call Churchill ‘ Winnie’. This was before D-Day, they were obviously discussing important things, but there was an element of relaxation between them.”
The book also reveals the more mundane side of life below ground.
One veteran recalls how Map Room officers celebrated Christmas in 1941 by racing toilet rolls along the corridor. Another describes how staff stripped to their underwear, put on protective goggles and stood in front of sun lamps to alleviate health problems associated with working underground for prolonged periods.
Junior staff felt the toll most. Asbury explains: “The hours were very long a and when The Blitz was on you’d go down an extra floor to a tiny basement and try to get to sleep surrounded by rats and spiders, with the ventilation system not working very well.
“It was a horrible atmosphere to sleep in. But they had this real sense of purpose and put up with things.”
As Germany marched across Europe, the War R Rooms developed. Asbury continues: “The space gradually got bigger and bigger and filled up with people planning for every different theatre of the war, leading up to the plans for D Day. The story of the War Rooms was really the story of the war. They had to make it up as they were going along, which says a great deal about the people doing that, they were just so efficient. It feels quite British, that brilliant improvisation.”
The War Rooms were in constant use until Japan’s surrender signalled the end of the war. Germany had already capitulated, weeks after Hitler’s suicide.
It was August 16, 1945, that the lights in the Map Room were switched off for the first time in six years. Churchill’s bunker fell into darkness.
And a light finally shone on a free world...
Churchill hated life in bunker but he decided every key move here JONATHAN ASBURY ON WAR ROOMS’ VITAL ROLE