July 7 – London, England. I had scouted the neighborhood last night to find my pizza place so I knew we were only a block from the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace's garden and riding area. In fact the street, Palace Street, brought us to the palace grounds at the old riding stables.
After a quick breakfast in the hotel we ventured out and noticed that large groups of people were walking towards the palace. They were coming from neighboring hotels and tour busses were dropping them off so we joined the throng. It was almost midday and I thought the Changing of the Guard might be getting ready to start. (This is not where they bring out new men to stand by the palace, this is where a new company of men come to stay in the Palace Barracks to relive the company that has been there 24 hours.) So instead of turning on Palace Street we continued down Buckingham Gate and that brought us to the southeastern side of the palace. It was a short walk on Buckingham Palace Road to the front of the complex. People were already lining the street along The Mall and around the statue of Queen Victoria directly in front of the palace. I remembered reading that the procession had two parts. Another band of some sort marches up The Mall and enters the palace by the left hand. This band is accompanied by a smaller, maybe platoon size, group of soldiers. The band that belongs to the guard's unit and the new company of guards come up Buckingham Palace Road. That street had almost no one standing on the best side, east, for pictures so Diana and I headed over there.
Sure enough is just a little while we heard a band coming down The Mall. When we could finally see them they had much smaller hats with red plumes on top, dark navy jackets with red collars, navy trousers with a wide red stripe down the side and gold belts with a large dagger or short sword attached. Nothing like the Queen's Guards uniform. In fact they were a band from a cavalry unit because they were wearing spurs. They were followed by 11 soldiers of the Queen's Guard, two officers (identifiable by the wide red stripe on their trousers, the gold epaulets on their coats, large white and green plume on the sides of their bear hats and the swords on their belts), one noncommissioned officer (identifiable by his gold collar and cuffs, smaller white and green plume, skinny red stripe on his trousers and the swagger stick he carried under his arm), and eight enlisted men of various ranks (identifiable by the small white plume on their hats, the same skinny red stripe as the NCO, black cuffs and collars, in fact no gold anywhere I could see. This group was not strictly in step. They did enter the left hand gate in the palace wall.
In a few minutes another band started up to our left and marched right past us. They had on the Guard's uniforms and were followed by two groups of 14 men each and an advance guard of four. Two of these men were officers and two carried colors. The second group was led by one officer. Each officer in this formation had his sword drawn and resting on his right shoulder as he marched. An NCO marched as an outrider to the formation on the right. They were strictly in step. I have a feeling that the group with the other band are reservists or something like that, otherwise I can't account for their lack of formation discipline. This formation made a wide turn in front of the palace and entered the grounds by the right hand gate in the wall. They were trailed a mounted police officer as if to say, you may be able to protect the nation from some things but I'll protect you from rowdy tourists.
Once they were all inside the grounds we couldn't see any of the formalities so we headed down The Mall past Saint James Park. Our ultimate destination is the Churchill War Rooms. This unique set of rooms was used as a secret command center for the war effort. Churchill practically lived down in them and they had a room for his wife. His upper staff also lived there. When the war ended they turned out the lights and locked them up where they remained not lost but forgotten for over 50 years. When someone decided to see what was down there they discovered the rooms as they were left, maps up, papers on desks, pens, memos, reports all just lying there frozen in time. It was decided to turn it into a memorial to the war effort and several years later it opened to the public.
It's Sunday and the warm sunny day has hundreds of people taking advantage of the weather by sitting or laying out in Saint James' Park. The Mall is closed to traffic because of the changing of the guard so the stroll along the park toward the Horse Guards Parade Ground was very pleasant and will be so until the old guard marches out of the palace. It's lined on both sides by large British flags in honor of the Queen's Jubilee. I think the Queen Victoria statue in front of the palace has been spruced up as well; the golden angel on top and the white marble of the statue itself seem to be unusually bright.
Finding the Churchill War Rooms is a little tricky. If you're walking down Horse Guard's Road along Saint James' Park it's below the basement of the last building across from the park as you approach Birdcage Walk (despite its name it's a major street). Not too far from 10 Downing Street, home of the British Prime Minister. The War Rooms are marked by a small, bronze umbrella like canopy over the entrance to the right of a rather large marble staircase with a statue of Clive at the center. The entrance is often in the shade of the building and is dark so it can be missed.
Once inside the first thing you see is a great bust of Winston Churchill and a sign that says, "This was the global hub of information on the war. The Government's secret bomb shelter an easy target that was never hit." Above this sign hangs a German 500 lb. bomb. Past this point, while some changes were made to facilitate the tour, the rooms you see are just as they were discovered. It looks like it was in operation yesterday, except for the archaic equipment.
The first stop was at the Cabinet Room. They cut a large viewing window in the back wall. They have a chart under the viewing window that shows where everyone sat during the meetings. There were normally 25 people in the room unless outside expertise was needed. The only chair that is not identified by both name and title (ex. Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production) was #18. Whoever it was it was probably a nonmilitary staff member because all those seated around him are in that category.
There are reports on the table, ashtrays, pencils, writing paper and office supplies. On the wall behind Churchill is a large world map just like the ones that were hung in the grade school classrooms in Salisbury Township, Pennsylvania. Again, they keep reminding us, this is just how they found it when the rooms were 'rediscovered'.
Around the corner was a guarded entrance simply marked 'Cabinet'. They have a mannequin in a WWII Royal Marine uniform standing guard. Just outside the door is a steel trapdoor that opens to reveal a set of stairs leading down to the more secure lower bomb shelter.
Just down the hall is what looks like a toilet. It has one of those lock signals on it that goes red when you lock it from inside. Only a few people knew that this room was actually a secure phone where Churchill could talk to President Roosevelt. The must have wondered why it was always 'Occupied'.
From this area we wound our way through the living quarters for the people who occupied important positions and had to stay here, various military aides and the like. Of course the cabinet members had jobs to do and offices to administer so they came for the meetings and reports. Most were very Spartan, with military style furniture and fixtures. Clemintine Churchill's room was an exception. She had a dresser with mirror, a vanity, pitcher and bowl and a large armchair. Hers was the only bed with a bedspread.
A room with a long table was the Chief of Staff's meeting room. A lot of people worked down here in addition to the military types and administrators. Typists, secretaries, equipment operators, communications specialists, cleaning staff, cooks, waiters, repairmen, all sorts of people toiled here underground for the sake of the war effort. Every department had a head and they all had to meet regularly with the Chief of Staff to keep things running smoothly.
We did get into the kitchen; it was well equipped but very small. Anyone today would cry foul if they had to use this space to prepare food but it was up to date stuff in the 1940s. The teakettle was huge. I imagine it was the most used item in the place.
We stopped in the canteen to have a Coke and scone. This was the space used for meals by 90% of the people down here. Very utilitarian, but that's what you want in a busy place.
Next up was the radio room where reports from all over the world would be sent to the War Rooms. The war in Europe, Africa and the Pacific, anywhere the UK had troops deployed, were all monitored but the special emphasis was Europe and especially the attacks on the British Isles and the situational status of the expected German invasion that never came. Next to the radio room was the switchboard. Calls came in from all over the world as well.
Adjacent to these two communications centers was a large staff of typists to get everything transcribed so that reports could be issued to the staff of the War Rooms. The managers of this area had bedrooms right off the space and desks in their bedrooms which did double duty as their private office. The telephones down here are of course 1930s-40s Bakelite phones like the old black dial phones of the 50s only larger and more clunky. They had phones of several colors but the really special phones had a black body with a turquoise or aqua handset. Phones of this color scheme were scrambled phones and had to be used when any sensitive information was discussed during a phone conversation. The typing center office had one in case something earthshaking came in and they wanted to report it immediately to someone outside the building.
Next we came to the Situation Room. This room has one entire wall covered with a map of the world. Other walls have maps of Europe, the British Isles, the Pacific, China, the Asian Subcontinent and Australia/New Zealand. One each there were colored pins, sometimes with colored thread connecting them. Notes were also pinned to the maps. This room was staffed by five men, four at desks that were set so each pair faced the other and one desk was at the end so he could look down the row at his four aides and the world map. There were all sorts of phones here. All are the same shape but they came in white, green, black and the scrambled black & teal. One phone was red and I imagine that was the panic line when a call had to get through and right now. Files, reports, maps and even personal items are exactly as they were left when the workers disbanded and closed the rooms for the last time. There's one exception to that. On the managers desk there's an envelope with three sugar cubes setting on it. The man who used that desk kept his personal sugar supply in an envelope with his name on it. Sugar was severely rationed and he didn't want any of his to be pinched. They found his sugar, in the envelope, in his desk drawer and wanted to display it openly to show how everyone just left. They didn't really formally close the building they just went away leaving everything behind. The war was over and they were happy to be above ground again.
It's an interesting place and so authentic because it's real. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in history, WWII or just life in general. I really liked the place. Soon we were back above ground ourselves
From the War Rooms we walked past Parliament Square and Big Ben to the bank of the Thames River. We decided to take a river boat down to Greenwich to see the Naval Museum and visit my heroes, Rodney and Nelson, both brilliant British Admirals. The prime meridian runs through it and it's here that the world's time zones are measured. GMT +6 (or in the military Zulu time). Nelson defeated the French Navy twice, once in the Battle of the River Nile and later at Trafalgar just off Spain. The last defeat was the end of the French pretention at being a naval power. Of course, Nelson was wounded and later died of his wounds in that battle but the job was done.
The ride down the Thames is great. If you are ever in London you have to do it. Maybe not all the way to Greenwich but at least through London. You always get a better perspective on a city from the water. It's true in New York City, it's true in Moscow, Vienna, Budapest, Prague and it's true in London too.
Going to Greenwich you pass the Tower of London, the London Eye, the Old Globe Theater, the cruiser Belfast, a WWII warship and Cleopatra's Needle (an obelisk from Ancient Egypt). You pass under Waterloo, Tower and London Bridges and go through many sections of London you probably won't see otherwise. I love riding in boats so maybe I'm biased but how can you not like it. I love it that my two namesakes have busts on the façade of the old building. There's a lot of information inside about Nelson, not as much about Rodney who came before Nelson but his feats are almost a important.
It was a very nice ride down and back. After getting off the boat we walked back to the hotel. I'm telling you this place is very well located. Tonight she joined me and we went back to the same pizza place I ate in last night. Tomorrow will be a long day so we got to bed fairly early. I want to get our laundry in right when they open at 7:30am so we'll be sure to get it back tomorrow so we can pack the night before leaving rather than the morning of.
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