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Britain - and it's Bunkers

© David Farrant

One of the oddities of the Cold war is how it brought a return to the tactics of an earlier era. We tend to think of recent times as being technologically innovative and forward looking, so how can this be?

Until the end of WW2 mankind only had the means to kill his fellow men off a few at a time. Even the biggest conventional bomb has a relatively small radius of destruction. Machine guns and gas weapons, along with artillery, the mass killers of WW1, were only developed in limited amounts by the start of the Cold war. What was changing was the development of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them great distances. Later developments of industrial scale biological and chemical arms added to the threat.

After WW2 fast and long-range jet planes were the first threat to security closely followed by rockets. Now no nation on earth could be considered totally exempt from destruction of its cities. The attempts to defend against this brought on the first return to underground bunkers and defences. The siege mentality was back.

Here in Britain the first post war generation of radar in the early 1950's was provided with underground operations and control bunkers. This system of over 60 bunkers and its radar was called the ROTOR project. Most of these structures were built along the Eastern side of Britain, with a few further West. From single level to two and three level bunkers were built. For example, the one just North East of London at Kelvedon Hatch is a three storey structure, with walls ten feet thick, containing 40,000 tons of concrete. This was no slight endeavour in a poor and struggling post war Britain. Government also had bunkers for itself and its armed forces command and control structure, some using above ground and some underground structures. Vast amounts of money were spent but largely to no avail, as the advent of thermonuclear weapons rendered this infrastructure vulnerable after just a few years.

Britain was and still is a major ally of the United States and because of its position in Europe was heavily used as a base for US forces. Many airfields were given over to the USAF and other facilities were used by US Army, Navy and Intelligence apparatus during the years of the Cold War. Britain's own nuclear deterrent required yet more secure and hardened facilities. As the Cold war ebbed and flowed, and became closer or further from an actual all out war, the strategies changed. Bunkers were re-used for other organizations, including the redundant ROTOR bunkers, Anti Aircraft Operations Rooms and old WW2 war rooms and underground factories.

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