VE Day Celebrations But No Cabinet War Rooms
Time travelling back almost 75 years was the impression I had when I visited the Churchill Cabinet Rooms in London recently.
Being given, special behind the scenes permission, to be allowed to walk around inside the sealed rooms that make up the museum in Whitehall was an amazing experience. However, even with VE Day 75 coming, any type of visit will now not be possible for some time yet.
The Cabinet War Rooms, Whitehall, London.
The smell within the sealed glass enclosures transported me time. Every item on display was as it was when the bunker suite was vacated back in 1945 on the day Japan surrendered.
One of a few key moments for the Allies and Churchill was probably D-Day and also May8th 1945 or VE Day. It was in those rooms deep under London that history was made, planned and recorded.
Churchill would have sat in the wooden seat behind his official red Ministerial box in the Cabinet War Rooms.
Today, now knowing the momentous decisions that Churchill and his military bosses faced in that utilitarian brick and steel lined rooms were so important for the whole nation.
VE Day Celebrations Would Have Started Here
The large red painted steel beams certainly give the impression that the place is bomb proof. However, in reality it was bomb resistant! Something that Mr. Churchill, found out later.
It’s not often that you get chances of experiencing such a place locked in time with most of your senses.
The Army, Air Force and Royal Navy controllers as they would have been in 1940’s
The smell and atmosphere of the cellar complex back in the 1940’s would have been what I was now experiencing today, perhaps with some added cigar and cigarette vapors, the remnants of which are still just detectable.
Battle of the Atlantic was tracked here in the Cabinet War Rooms, London.
Churchill as then Prime Minister and Defence Minister was chairing meetings in this very room which helped to give me an understanding that no book or photo could ever do. One arm of his chair showed a wear from his signet ring which he would rub against the timber as he spoke to the gathered military chiefs around him.
Although normal visitors to the complex and museum will not be so lucky to see this so close up.
Toilet or is it? The Cabinet War Rooms.
One very small room worth seeing is the toilet or what purported to be a toilet. It was actually the secret London to Washington direct scrambled phone point that Churchill could call President Roosevelt on at, anytime of the day or night!
VE Day Celebrations Go Ahead From Churchill
About the size of a large cupboard with an engaged lock on the outside.
A mock up of Churchill in the telephone room that looked from the outside that it was a toilet.
Looking around these special rooms which would have been open this year for the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, if it were not for the Covid19 pandemic regulations being in place.
Now some 75 years into the past, Churchill and his wartime speeches have been accepted as some of the best of all time. With heart-warming inspiration and motivation in them. No doubt the news of the surrender of Nazi forces would have come through the Cabinet War Rooms and the VE Day Celebrations announcement would have been sanctioned from there!
VE Day celebrations Churchill did make a huge contribution back in 1945.
Helping in his speeches to drive a nation and its people through to the eventual victory. Almost a simile for the current leader in the Coronavirus battle the UK is going through at present.
Churchill Slept There 3 Times
In a fairly recent film, Churchill was portrayed not as perfect man, but as we know, we all have faults and moods that affect us in all areas of our lives. However, in the end his stature as an exceptional leader during those 5 years did lead to success.
Just in case 6 Lee Enfield 303 rifles ready for defence.
He contributed in a different way. Without a rifle and bayonet on the beaches of Normandy, which were in his mind to be there on D Day. Although King George VI soon put a stop to that!
Which, in the end was probably a very sensible decision, as the thought of the countries leader crashing ashore in Normandy was not one of Churchill’s best perhaps?
Churchill bedroom in The Cabinet War Rooms, Whitehall, London.
It was planned during the war for this bunker to be not only his office, planning and meeting room but also his bedroom. Which, he did sleep in it, on just three occasions as he much preferred to be at home with Clemmie!
Flags will fly on the VE Day celebrations in and around Whitehall, London in 2020.
With VE Day anniversary now so close, it is a shame that the Cabinet War Rooms will not yet be open again. However, they are certainly well worth seeing and exploring and even though you cannot perhaps have a whiff of 1940’s history, your eyes will have plenty to take in as you tour the though-provoking underground complex and museum when it’s safe to do so.
