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HISTORYGONE BUT NOTFORGOTTENSEVENTY YEARS AFTER THE LONDON BLITZ, JONATHON KEYMER EXPLAINS HOW ECHOES OF THEWAR ARE ALL AROUND USThe media have been full of stories remindingus that this year marks the 70 th anniversary ofthe start of the Blitz. The German bombing ofcities such as London was particularly heavy betweenSeptember 1940 and May 1941. In 1944, the onslaughtwas renewed following the construction of Germany’sso-called Vergeltungswaffen, or ‘revenge’ weapons –V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets. Over the course ofthe war, London was subjected to intense attacks, andareas such as the East End, docklands and parts of theCity were devastated, or to use a Luftwaffe phrase ofthe day, ‘coventrated’.Seventy years on, our city is barely recognisable fromthe battered, almost apocalyptic, scenes that we seeon the television. The majority of Londoners now haveno memory of the war. It may well have happened onthe moon.But, for the eagle-eyed, signs of war’s ravagessurround us. A mere 200 yards from CharteredAccountants’ Hall, the Bank of England’s walls containpockmarks from a nearby bomb blast, as does theCollege of Arms, which stands as the sole pre-warsurvivor on Queen Victoria Street. At Waterloo Place inSt James, it is possible to imagine the exact pointwhere a bomb fell by examining the shrapnel scars onsurrounding statues.And it is not just in the physical damage that the warstill makes its presence felt. Graffiti left by homesick USsentries survives on the walls of Blewcoat School inWestminster, while away from the centre of London, inCarshalton, children now play on the remains of thevillage’s public bomb shelters.CALM BEFORE THE STORMThe city had made great efforts to ensure theprotection of its people and property. St Paul’sCathedral, for example, had removed its valuables tosafety and converted its crypt into a secure area for itsarchives. The western end of the building was fortifiedas an air-raid shelter and even made gas-proof. TheRed Cross and the St John Ambulance set up campin the cathedral, as well as local fire brigade and22civil defence units, which installed a control centreconnected to firewatchers throughout the City.By winter 1940, 79 underground stations had beenconverted to shelters, with treasures and pieces of arthidden in the tunnels. Beds were brought into theshelters and, as the war progressed, those who hadlost their homes took up semi-permanent residence. Asubterranean culture evolved. For 1,832 days,Methodist Central Hall, where in 1946 the UnitedNations would hold its first general assembly, had thelargest public shelter in Westminster. There weredormitories, canteens and medical facilities.Underground concerts were held by theEntertainments National Service Association, betterknown as ENSA, while the gentlemen’s lavatory wasallegedly equipped with a darts board.The bombing started on 25 August 1940, with thenovember/december 2010 londonaccountant