When the enemy is trying to bomb your city into oblivion, your first concern might not be whether the buses will be running in the morning.
But as a temporary exhibition at the London Transport Museum reminds us, keeping transport on the move in wartime did, literally, keep cities, and the war effort, going.
Under Attack, which focuses on London, Coventry and Dresden, has been developed by the London Transport Museum in partnership with Coventry Transport Museum and the Verkehrsmuseum Dresden.
It marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Blitz in England and the 65th of the bombing of the German city. Located in the museum’s mezzanine gallery, the first impression of the exhibition is that its monochromatic colour scheme is muted compared with the vivid reds and greens of the buses and trams in the main atrium.
The displays work their way round the walls of the gallery and are divided into four topics: Preparation; Sheltering; Passenger and Staff Experience; and Rehabilitation and Memory.
Divided by a yellow dado strip carrying caption information, large photographs fill the lower half of the wall. Above these, at eye level, are the main text and framed photographs, posters, drawings and ephemera.
Transport hubs
The three cities and their pre-war transport systems are introduced. The largest, London, had a population of 8.6 million and boasted the most modern transport network in the world, carrying 3.8 billion passengers a year.
Coventry, with a population of 200,000, was a major manufacturing centre and 28.5 million journeys were made on its trams and buses every year.
Dresden, the capital of Saxony, was known as “the Florence of the north”. Famed for its cultural heritage, it had more than 630,000 inhabitants. Its transport system carried more than 144 million passengers a year.
After these impressive figures, the story continues with descriptions of the cities’ preparations for war and how they coped with the bombing. London looms large in the coverage, where thousands sought shelter on tube station platforms.
Two posters demonstrate the U-turn made by the British government, which originally feared that civilians would develop a “deep-shelter” mentality that could sap morale.
A 1939 poster decrees that “underground stations must not be used as air-raid shelters”. But another, printed as the Blitz started, concedes that: “This station will now remain open during air-raid alerts.”
Onerous task
The task faced by those responsible for keeping transport going was immense. Grimly similar photographs and film footage of the three cities show roads and tramways blocked by fallen buildings, and workers picking their way through the rubble.
After experiencing its worst raids, in November 1940, Coventry got more than half its bus routes up and running after just two days. But the entire tram system was put out of action and never ran again.
Dresden survived unscathed until allied air raids started in 1944. In February 1945, the firestorm that followed intensive bombing left 25,000 civilians dead and devastated the city centre.
A quote beside a photograph of the ruins recalls the shocked words of a London fireman who witnessed the aftermath: “We never knew what bombing was.”
A central semi-circular timeline picks out key events from the outbreak of war in 1939 up to 2005, when Dresden’s restored 18th-century Frauenkirche was reopened. One entry for 1956 records the twinning of Coventry and Dresden: a symbol of post-war reconciliation as well as a recognition of a shared history.
Understandably, as the exhibition concentrates on the impact of war on urban transport, it steers clear of controversy. There is just a brief paragraph about the arguments surrounding the bombing of Dresden, including a sentence: “The huge number of victims and the loss of a unique cultural city has been exploited for political motives.” This raises more questions than it answers.
The exhibition ends with a reminder of a different and more recent kind of bombing: the front page of a newspaper shows the London bus destroyed in the terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005. Again, this seems like a throwaway gesture, as it deserves more exploration.
Sense of detachment
It is difficult to translate something as dramatic as cities under bombardment – a noisy and terrifying experience – into a two-dimensional factual display. Visitors are left well informed, but curiously detached from the personal experiences of transport workers and civilians.
There are video interviews with people who recall wartime bombing, but more of a sense of individual memory comes through in the comments left by visitors. “I was firebombed in Coventry,” writes one. “I was six and still cannot bear to hear the sirens – a shudder comes down my spine.”
A 72-year-old Londoner who took refuge in the underground remembers “people singing and a smell like wet socks”. The absence of objects is a disadvantage, and the few that feature are generic rather than personal: a shrapnel helmet, the design for a transport bravery medal and a conductress’s cap.
I found myself wanting to know more about what went on behind the official history, and went in search of displays elsewhere in the museum.
I discovered a rich collection in the permanent galleries, where there are some remarkable stories that bring the subject of wartime transport to life: tales of a tram driver’s bravery and those of other men and women who did their bit by simply “seeing it through”.
The useful signs here that encourage visitors to visit Under Attack made me wonder why there are few reciprocal signs in the exhibition itself.
Under Attack has been well marketed and designed, and produced to a high standard. Some of its more memorable images, such as the photo of a double-decker bus sticking out of a bomb crater, remain fixed in the mind.
They are a salient reminder that although our daily commutes may be beset by delays, things could be a lot worse.
Penny Ritchie Calder is a museum consultant
Cost £25,000
Main funders London Transport Museum, Coventry Transport Museum, Verkehrsmuseum Dresden, (the German embassy and Greater London Authority helped with the costs of the launch event)
London Transport Museum staff
Director/project sponsor Sam Mullins
Curators David Bownes, Simon Murphy
Project manager Janette Palmer
Design Andy Spencer, Peter Macdermid, Coventry Transport Museum staff
Head of collections and learning Steve Bagley
Curator Lizzie Hazlehurst
Oral history Felicity Premru, Jen Kavanagh, Verkehrsmuseum Dresden staff
Former director Michael Dünnebier
Exhibitions ends 31 March 2011
