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Comment by jbuzbee | Hacker News Reader

What I found most interesting was that it was right in the middle of London. You'd think that his bunker would be out in the countryside far way from the attacks of the blitz. But then again, I guess he needed to be close to the politicians and the decision-makers. To me, it looked like after the war was over, they all just got up and walked away...

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It's been a few years since I took the tour, but I think the staff largely did just kind of get up and walk away. People stuck around for a few days but slowly stopped showing up as they realized there wasn't any need to hide in the bunker anymore. This allowed the bunker to be preserved largely as it looked while in-use, which was my favorite part to see.

I was somewhat surprised at the level of secrecy around the location, given that it was a couple hundred yards from what I would assume were actual known targets. A stray bomb could have hit it totally by accident.

I believe Syria's President Assad would understand why Churchill stayed put in the capital. In the current Syria situation President Assad stays put with his family because if he was to move then that would show he has lost confidence in his armed forces and their ability to free the country from the terrorists/defend the capital.

Saddam Hussein was probably in the same boat when the same neo-cons/neo-liberals wanted regime change, Iraq was given the chance to hand him over but he chose to stay put.

Taking flight from the capital didn't work out for Gaddafi, sometimes the hardened bunker under the known palace is the only option. Moving is tantamount to resigning in a game of chess.

Remember the context at the time. Rommel had led the invasion of France, disobeying orders his armoured division had charged ahead, leaving the main formation far behind, out of range of communications. The German high command had no idea where he was so couldn't reinforce or resupply him (or summon him for a court-martial I suppose). And Rommel was in trouble at this point; his men were exhausted, his tanks were out of fuel and breaking down, spread over miles of countryside. If the French had sent one reconnaissance aircraft they would have realized this, and in fact could have just ignored him, he wasn't able to go anywhere.

Instead word reached Paris that the Germans had penetrated 150 miles into France and the French government panicked and fled, and that's how Rommel invented blitzkreig. Churchill would have been perfectly well aware of what happens when the government abandons its capital. The French are still suffering from that reputation even today!

I took the CWR tour years ago. My recollection is that Churchill had a funny sense of danger and would go up on the roof during a raid. The War Rooms weren't even reinforced against bomb damage until later when this big old slab was installed overhead.

That was the amazing part - it isn't that deep and doesn't have much protection.

Not sure because it's close to the Thames, or because there might be a Tube line close by.

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