The Underworld: taking shelter from the bombers

In the IWM North in Salford Quays is an impressive painting by Walter Bayes:

‘The Underworld: Taking cover in a Tube Station during a London air raid’ Walter Bayes, 1918 (c)IWM

The image is distinctly (and understandably) reminiscent of the more familiar pictures of tube stations during the Second World War. It depicts civilians sheltering from the an air raid in the tunnels and on the platform at Elephant and Castle.

Twenty two years after the end of the Great War, in November 1940, Bill Brandt went into that same underground station in South London and photographed Londoners sheltering from the next generation of German bombers.

Elephant and Castle Underground Station, photo by Bill Brandt, 1940 (c)IWM

 

London’s air defences

The defence of London from aerial attack is in the news this week. A group of tenants in East London is protesting about stationing of anti-air missiles on their block of flats during the Olympics. Ninety-five years ago, London was encircled by air defences for the first time – guarding against a much more obvious aerial threat: the German Gotha bombers.