Finding Shelter from Bombs

During World War II there was a lot of panic in the United States as the threat of occupying forces grew more and more real with every day. While the battle took place mostly in Europe and on the oceans, every now and then there would be a reminder that the war was very real and very close, such as the bombing on Pearl Harbor, and even attacks on coastal cities by the braver of the Axis fleets. Because of this paranoia of domestic attacks, the United States started enforcing many different precautions to prepare its citizens.

One of the things they did was take advice from the British and prepare for air raids and bombings, building bomb shelters and teaching all the school children to duck and cover if they were ever caught off guard. Children were advised to climb under their school desks so that if the structure of the school building was compromised by a bombing the collapsing rubble would land on the desk, not on them, and keep the children safe.

The same concept goes for bomb shelters except on a much more durable and reliable scale. Bomb shelters are bunkers built beneath the ground, especially by defensive military forces, designed to house civilians and military personnel in the case of a bombing. Many people had their own bomb shelters installed just to have something more immediate available, and in the cities with underground subway systems the tunnels could easily be converted; the bombs would do the most damage to the surface world, so bomb shelters were designed to take people underground where it was safest, where there was less debris and an entire layer of earth separating them from the blast.

This same thing happens all over the world, whenever there’s a real threat of bombings. London saw it work effectively during World War II, and most of the outposts toward the frontline had shelters readily available.