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In the late 1930s, as war loomed, government planners contemplated the effects of a massive and sustained air attack on London – effects that were expected to be as bad as later envisaged from an attack with atomic weapons. The effects would be widespread. As well as the immediate loss of life and damage to buildings would be the general disruption caused by for example the loss of communications, infrastructure, and the inability of people to travel. As well as the immediate effects on the civil population which were met by Air Raid Precaution measures the government had to ensure that its operations which were then firmly based on central London could continue. These activities termed “continuity of government” or “the machinery of government in war” could cover many levels of the governmental and administrative machine. At the top is the decision making apparatus centred on the War Cabinet with the heads of the armed forces and advisors. Below them, at national level would be the various layers of the civil service together with quasi-governmental bodies like the BBC, General Post Office, British Railways, etc who would implement and add to those decisions. Consideration would also need to be given to the continued operation of the monarchy and Parliament. Probably around 150,000 people fell into these categories and this number would rise steadily during the war.
The
initial plan was to relocate the machinery of government to the suburbs of north and northwest London. A bombproof citadel known as
PADDOCK was built at
Dollis Hill for the War Cabinet with supporting bunkers at Cricklewood and Harrow. The bulk of the civil servants would be accommodated in neighbouring schools and colleges left empty by evacuation.
The
plan was however changed. Now, the seat of government was to remain in London for as long as possible and protected accommodation were developed. The most famous was the
bunker under the New Public Buildings (also known as George Street) which was partly occupied by the
Cabinet War Room.
War Rooms .. The
Cabinet War Rooms (now an historic underground complex) housed a
British government command centre throughout WW2, being abandoned in August 1945 after the surrender of Japan.
Other citadels were developed, notably the
Admiralty Citadel which was in fact built illegally on part of
St James’s Park and the
“Rotundas” which were built off
Horseferry Road in the massive holes originally dug in the previous century for gas holders. As well as these citadels a series of
reinforced “steel framed buildings” were constructed in
central London.
Although the upper levels of government would remain in London to act as a “nucleus” the plan was to evacuate the majority of civil servants, mainly to seaside resorts that would have empty hotel accommodation. In this way for example the
Ministry of Food (created separately from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) established a major presence at
Colwyn Bay (near Llandudno, North Wales).
The UK entered the war well prepared for the maintenance of supplies of food but with less than 40% of the country's needs produced at home. The
Ministry of Food was formed on 8 September and
William Morrison appointed Minister. The
Ministry of Food became the
sole buyer and importer of food and regulated prices,
guaranteeing farmers prices and markets for their produce. The
Marketing Boards, except for milk and hops, were suspended.
Recruiting began for the Women's Land Army and in
1940, food rationing was introduced.
Lord Woolton succeeded William Morrison as Minister for Food. In 1941, the US Lend-Lease act was passed under which food, agricultural machinery and equipment was sent from the US to the UK.
The
Ministry of Food relocated to Colwyn Bay in 1939 following the outbreak of WW2. From their base on the Welsh Coast, the relocated civil servants (under
Lord Woolton,
Minister of Food from April '40 until '43) not only set about the enormous task of organising the distribution and rationing of food, they also initiated a massive propaganda effort directed at the people of Great Britain to educate them to feed themselves. It was from Colwyn Bay that initiatives such as “
Dig for Victory” were set out.
This was the “yellow move”, but a last ditch “black move” was also planned should London become unusable or threatened by invasion. Under this plan the nucleus would relocate to planned accommodation in the west midlands eg the War Cabinet would move to Hindlip House near Worcester and Parliament to Stratford-upon-Avon.
The “black move” was not implemented but it was reconsidered in 1943 in the face of bombardment from what would become the V-weapons. By this time there was sufficient citadel and steel framed building accommodation to accommodate around 10,000 key personnel in central London under what were called “Crossbow conditions”. If the bombardment became severe and prolonged non-essential workers would be stood down whilst the nucleus would live and work in the citadels and basements. The Cabinet War Room would still be the hub. Accommodating around 400 its main function was to collect and process information about all aspects of the national and world situation, to brief the decision-makers and then disseminate those decisions. However it was realised that the bunker was not bomb proof and the Horseferry Road Rotundas, code named ANSON, were developed for Churchill, his family and the War Cabinet. ANSON could accommodate up to 2,000 people under a concrete slab twelve feet thick. Supporting the various citadels was a series of communications tunnels dug under Whitehall to carry the vital telephone and telegraph cables linking them to each other and the outside world.
21st
Comment:
Every US Embassy has an RSO (Regional Security Officer) whose job it is to prepare contingency evacuation plans in the event that US citizens and key host nation personnel need to be evacuated. On the surface it may seem fairly simple in evacuating the Embassy personnel. There are USAID contractors, US humanitarian organizations, US citizens with dual passports, and expatriates living in the country. They are scattered all over the country, including in remote locations. The RSO works in very close coordination with the military through the attaches. The attaches are responsible for collecting much of the on the ground intelligence about the capacity of bridges, fuel storage and fuel connectors at airports, available rural landing strips, the condition of roads needed for evacuation, and the kind of security forces that may be necessary. ....
Taiwan has some 80,000 plus to evacuate. The good news is that it's a small island and helicopters can do a lot of the work as long as they are not in danger. But you have to put 80,000 people somewhere which is usually aboard ship because the transit distances for cargo aircraft are too long. And if Taiwan is under attack, that probably means our Naval forces are under attack as well. My point is that with my experience dealing with both Embassy RSO's and the military, no matter what plan they come up with, it ain't going to pretty and lots lives will be lost in the process if Taiwan is under attack. True, we may some advanced warning of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, but not enough time to evacuate all 80'000 plus Americans or dual passport holders. Many thousands will be left behind just like we left thousands of US citizens behind in Afghanistan, which the MSM ignored in order to protect incompetent Biden. After Biden left them all behind, only private organizations of US veterans were able to smuggle thousands of them out without the help of our military and State Department. It was a very dark day for the USA. I'll tell you what my plan would be. Create enormous caves in the mountains for the evacuees to go to with at least a years worth of provisions and accommodations where they would be safe until the US and other nations could evacuate them in small groups. In an evacuation of US citizens, their safety is paramount until there are sufficient resources to evacuate them. Unfortunately, I think Taiwan is so strategic to the US, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, the Malacca Striates, Indonesia, and even India and Australia that any attempt by China to invade Taiwan would be one hell of a bloody mess. God only know who would prevail.
