Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter one

The Threat and Shock of War- July 1936 to May 1940

Chapter Two

The Darkest Days- May 1940 to May 1941

Chapter Three

The Tide Turns- June 1941 to December 1943

Chapter Four

The Final Push- January 1944 to August 1945

Chapter Five

Preserving Churchill’s War Rooms

Acknowledgements

Sources

Image Lists

Index

About the Author

Jonathan Asbury is the author of the official Churchill War Rooms guidebook, as well as guidebooks for HMS Belfast, IWM London, IWM North and IWM Duxford. He is a graduate of Churchill College, Cambridge - founded in honour of the wartime Prime Minister - and has enjoyed a life-long fascination with the way that the Second World War was won.

Reviews

"Provides fascinating details of life in this top-secret, subterranean space, such as the portable sun lamp used by staff who spent long hours underground; the specially designed gas masks that would allow switchboard operators to continue working even in the event of an attack; and the top-secret Transatlantic Telephone Room, which was given a toilet-stall style lock so staff presumed it was just Churchill's own private lavatory. Secrets of Churchill's War Rooms draws from personal accounts of staff, archival photographs and images of the restored rooms to provide a behind the scenes look at this once-secret space."-- "Atlas Obscura"

"The photographs are clear, crisp, and bright...Among the most interesting images in the book are the wooden arms of Churchill's chair in the cabinet room that is 'gouged with scratch marks that speak volumes for the nervous energy of its occupant and the tension of the hundreds of meetings that he presided over in this room.'"-- "Winston Churchill Blog"

"Seeing the chairs and tables, the threadbare little rugs, the water basins and drab kitchenware, the microphones through which the Prime Minister addressed the nation, actually ends up doing exactly what the curators of the War Rooms no doubt intended: the sight of it all makes the realization of Blitz-era London very much more immediate and very personal. A great deal of work and unassuming heroism played out in these poorly-lit rooms during the war years, and Secrets of Churchill's War Rooms brings it all before the reader again."-- "Open Letters Monthly"