Post by Catsmate on Apr 5, 2016 12:21:13 GMT
Part of my notes on London Underground related incidents and oddities.
In 1943 the uncompleted London Underground (Central Line) station at Bethnal Green was the site of the largest, single incident, loss of civilian life during the war. It inspired a government cover-up that lasted until well after the war.
In 1940 the uncompleted station, part of the eastern extension of the Central line begun in the 1930s, was requisitioned at the onset of the first Luftwaffe Blitz against London for use as an air raid shelter. It was administered by the local authority, the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green, and used by thousands of people, especially during the heavy air raids of October 1940. Use of the shelter dwindled in 1941 as the Luftwaffe was redirected away from London, and increased after it was expected the Germans would began retaliatory bombing in response to Royal Air Force raids.
On 3 March 1943 a German raid was expected in response to the heavy RAF raid on Berlin on the night of 1 March. The air-raid siren sounded at 8:17PM, triggering a heavy but orderly flow of people down the blacked-out staircase from street level to the shelter. Exactly what happened is disputed but accounts agree that an unknown middle-aged woman with a child fell over, three steps up from the base, and others fell around her quickly becoming tangled in an immovable mass of humanity. Nearly three hundred people ended up in that panicking, struggling, suffocating pile. More than half of would die.
On-site staff attempted to help people, and others extricated themselves, but 173 people, most of them women and children, were fatally crushed or asphyxiated. About sixty more survived with injuries of various sorts, many requiring hospital attention.
News of the disaster was withheld for 36 hours and reporting of what had happened was censored, giving rise to allegations of a cover-up.
At the end of the war Herbert Morrison (Minister of Home Security) stated that the disaster had resulted from a panicking crowd, triggered by gunfire from a newly installed anti-aircraft battery in nearby Victoria Park though this was disputed by survivors; the Eastern District (Shoreditch) Coroner (Dr. William Heddy), Mr. Justice Singleton (in a lawsuit brought by the widow of one of those killed) and Lord Justice Greene (Master of the Rolls, in the appeal of the case) stated that there was no evidence of any stampede or panic on the staircase.
In fact in 1941 Bethnal Green Council had warned London Civil Defence that the staircase needed a crush barrier to slow down the crowds, but was told that would be a waste of money. After the disaster steps were edged with white paint and handrails installed.
It was not until 50 years after the disaster that a discreet commemorative plaque was erected at the site.
Game use.
Basically I see two possibilities for inserting this tragedy into a game. Firstly it could be a piece of background that the PCs become involved in, either by hearing about it or actually being there. It's still not a well known incident so PCs in WW2 London could become involved accidentally.
Secondly the whole incident could have been a cover-up of something far stranger; an alien menace of some sort loose in wartime London that the government are trying to hide. Did a Torchwood attempt to apprehend a stranded alien go horribly wrong perhaps?
Links.
BBC account
Account by a doctor who treated the injured.
Stairway to Heaven memorial site
In 1943 the uncompleted London Underground (Central Line) station at Bethnal Green was the site of the largest, single incident, loss of civilian life during the war. It inspired a government cover-up that lasted until well after the war.
In 1940 the uncompleted station, part of the eastern extension of the Central line begun in the 1930s, was requisitioned at the onset of the first Luftwaffe Blitz against London for use as an air raid shelter. It was administered by the local authority, the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green, and used by thousands of people, especially during the heavy air raids of October 1940. Use of the shelter dwindled in 1941 as the Luftwaffe was redirected away from London, and increased after it was expected the Germans would began retaliatory bombing in response to Royal Air Force raids.
- In 1940 the tunnels and other construction was largely complete although rails were not laid.
On 3 March 1943 a German raid was expected in response to the heavy RAF raid on Berlin on the night of 1 March. The air-raid siren sounded at 8:17PM, triggering a heavy but orderly flow of people down the blacked-out staircase from street level to the shelter. Exactly what happened is disputed but accounts agree that an unknown middle-aged woman with a child fell over, three steps up from the base, and others fell around her quickly becoming tangled in an immovable mass of humanity. Nearly three hundred people ended up in that panicking, struggling, suffocating pile. More than half of would die.
On-site staff attempted to help people, and others extricated themselves, but 173 people, most of them women and children, were fatally crushed or asphyxiated. About sixty more survived with injuries of various sorts, many requiring hospital attention.
News of the disaster was withheld for 36 hours and reporting of what had happened was censored, giving rise to allegations of a cover-up.
At the end of the war Herbert Morrison (Minister of Home Security) stated that the disaster had resulted from a panicking crowd, triggered by gunfire from a newly installed anti-aircraft battery in nearby Victoria Park though this was disputed by survivors; the Eastern District (Shoreditch) Coroner (Dr. William Heddy), Mr. Justice Singleton (in a lawsuit brought by the widow of one of those killed) and Lord Justice Greene (Master of the Rolls, in the appeal of the case) stated that there was no evidence of any stampede or panic on the staircase.
- Heddy was also the coroner who sat on the death of the German spy Josef Jakobs, the last person executed in the Tower of London and the only spy executed by firing squad in Britain during the war.
In fact in 1941 Bethnal Green Council had warned London Civil Defence that the staircase needed a crush barrier to slow down the crowds, but was told that would be a waste of money. After the disaster steps were edged with white paint and handrails installed.
It was not until 50 years after the disaster that a discreet commemorative plaque was erected at the site.
Game use.
Basically I see two possibilities for inserting this tragedy into a game. Firstly it could be a piece of background that the PCs become involved in, either by hearing about it or actually being there. It's still not a well known incident so PCs in WW2 London could become involved accidentally.
Secondly the whole incident could have been a cover-up of something far stranger; an alien menace of some sort loose in wartime London that the government are trying to hide. Did a Torchwood attempt to apprehend a stranded alien go horribly wrong perhaps?
Links.
BBC account
Account by a doctor who treated the injured.
Stairway to Heaven memorial site