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Last week, I saw the movie, “Darkest Hour” and a few week’s before that, “Dunkirk”. History is not my strongest suit, despite my love of museums, but having visited the Churchill War Rooms in London recently, everything that happened during that time frame suddenly made sense to the muddled historic timeline in my head!
One of the five branches of the Imperial War Museums, the Churchill War Rooms, opened to the public in 1984, includes the Cabinet War Rooms, the historic underground complex that housed the British government center throughout World War II and the Churchill Museum, dedicated to the life of former prime minister Winston Churchill.
As Hitler threatened the world, Britain began construction on the Cabinet War Rooms, located below the Treasury building in Westminster in 1938. Just before the war broke out in Europe, operations were moved in and remained throughout the Second World War until the surrender of Japan.
The Churchill War Rooms offer a self guided tour through each of the areas used by British intelligence and more importantly, the prime minister of the time, Winston Churchill.
Watching the movie, it was quite thrilling to see the Map Room, which was used continually by the officers of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force who produced a daily intelligence summary for the King, Prime Minister and the military Chiefs of Staff. The other room I recognized was the Cabinet Room, from which Churchill visited in 1940 and famously declared, “This is the room from which I will direct the war.” And that he did. 115 Cabinet meetings, in all, were held in the Cabinet War Rooms.
The facility included living and sleeping areas for the staff, bedrooms for the military officers and senior ministers and rooms for the typists and telephone switchboard operators. The prime minister also spent much of his time below ground working, despite the fact that the rooms were not entirely immune to the bombing raids that continually rained devastation upon the city.
Also interesting to observe were the Transatlantic Telephone Room and Churchill’s office-bedroom, both preserved much as they were left. Noticing a small sign which instructed visitors to walk to the end of one of the hallways, it also gave instructions to check out a doorway on the left. Though it only appeared to be the entrance to a bathroom, there wasn’t much else to clue anyone in as to its importance. As I entered the next room, one of the volunteers, asked me if I had noticed the doorway. Since I didn’t seem to know anything about it, he proceeded to tell me about a scene in the movie to watch for when Winston Churchill retired to what appeared to be a restroom. A glass wall, around the corner, offered a glimpse into the pseudo bathroom…it was actually a small room outfitted with a SIGSALY code-scrambling encrypted telephone connected directly with the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. This modest space offered the prime minister privacy and a direct line to speak with American President Roosevelt.
The other major part of the exhibit was the Churchill Museum. A large detailed space, it offered a look into Churchill’s life from his birth, to his military career, his political career and finally retirement.
Whether you are a fan of the two-time prime minister or a history buff, the Churchill War Rooms does not cease to please. Take a couple of hours and head on over to the place in London that made a huge impact on World War II.
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Churchill War Rooms
- https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms
- Address: Clive Steps, King Charles St, Westminster, London SW1A 2AQ, UK
- Hours: Daily, 0930-1800
- Admission: Adult, £21.00, Children under 5, free, Children ages 5-15, £10.50, Family ticket (2 adults, 1 child) £35.70, Family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) £53.55, Concessions, £16.80. Audio guides included in admission price.
- Getting There: Metro, Westminster station