Survival Retreats are nothing new

I just read an article on WW2 and especially many British cities during those dark hours, It transpires than quite afew people who were given the self assembly Anderson shelters did not use them quite in the way the government planned.

Some sharp folks did not assemble their shelters in their gardens as instructed but actually humped the componants off to places like their allotments, common woodland areas, public parks, wasteland and to places out of town. They not only set them up as retreats in out of the way places but on occasion they fastened more than one shelter to other shelters brought by friends and family. In some cases these rather drab structures were decorated and fitted out with carpeting, bunk beds, cookers, larders, and wardrobes. It transpires the owners were happy to risk the threat of the house being bombed as a lesser threat than their towns being occupied by the germans, so they set themselves up with retreats.

Also some of the middle classes had timber holiday chalets built in rural locations for much the same reason.

It looks like Grandad rather than Dad got into survival retreats for civilians first

reply to post by Northern Raider


Im not surprised!

Clearly day by day we can see the genius of Grandad. They truly were the greatest generation.

My Grandfather had a brick-built , covered with concrete air-raid shelter in their back garden. We demolished it a few years ago and boy it took some doing. It was at least 4 house bricks thick, 6 in some places with vertical sides up to about waist height, then pyramid style going upwards then flattened out on top. This was then covered with concrete to waterproof it. A couple of feet in front of the entrance was a 4 brick thick wall going the full height and width of the shelter to protect the entrance from blast and debris.

He hardly used it as an air-raid shelter, he used it to 'hang' pheasants and rabbits in it

reply to post by Northern Raider


Being in the farming industry, my grandfather was in the Home Guard during WW2. He has recently told me about his unit whose responsibility was to operate as a guerilla force should the UK mainland have been invaded.

He said they had numerous retreats hidden in the countryside stocked with supplies of food, weapons, ammunition and explosives so that they could sabotage German supply lines in the event of an invasion.

They were left pretty much to their own devices within the local chain of command, and sounded like a group of country folk who knew the land and would act as an irregular resistance force, attacking and sabotaging opportunity targets. Fascinating stuff, I will be seeing him at Christmas and see if I can find out anymore about it.

I don't think any of the retreats survived, most of them were dismantled shortly afterwards apparently.

CS

reply to post by Northern Raider


This is very true about the allotments.
When I lived with my parents, we had a few fields with a river. on the other side of the river there are allotments and now thinking about it, two of the sheds are built with the corticated metal and built in the same way as the anderson shelters were.

I would say that they are about a good 60 meters away from any buildings and would have been a safe bet from any bombing.

I bet the UK is full of ww2 retreats. it's just finding them.

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I bet the UK is full of ww2 retreats. it's just finding them.

Last June I visited a chap in Kendal, and he asked me to identify his retreat which he said was sited on his property, I searched high and low without success, turns out the buggers garage was ultra reinforced.

Twas a double garage with pit and apex roof originally with workspace at the back. The walls were the normal double brick thickness, (12 inches) not only did he cavity wall insulate them but he also put another two inner wall thickness in grade A breeze blocks intertied with rebar, making the total wall thickness 24 inches thick. The Pit he had converted into subfloor water storage, and the roof he had put double ( or more ) extra roof trusses in, supported by ( if my memory holds up) about 20 Acrows ( Steel adjustable roof and wall supports). The garage vehicle access door were false fronts as he had brick up the openings on the inside, the only window was one at the back ( south facing) was double glazed and he had some SITEX sheet window security shutter to go over the window in time of need, and the ordinary door was a much modified steel door made up to look like an ordinary UPVC one. It was fascinating to see what he had done over the last 30 year to his garage.

reply to post by Northern Raider


I have a garage in my garden, over the next few years I may do the same.
I think it would take alot of work though, so it might even be better to start again. The roof does need replacing and the floor is crack by tree roots.

If I did start again though, I could put a sub level in. ummm I might just start some designs.

reply to post by CallSign


They were called zero stations, take a look at this

www.subbrit.org.uk...

And

www.btinternet.com...

Hope this may be of some interest.