The Secrets of Underground Britain - WARTIME SECRETS 

In the mid to late 80's I worked as an engineer and welded track sections all over the network. Some off these abandoned stations are facinating time capsules and definitely have a 'presence' and at 02:30 in the morning walking alone along the tunnels gets the hairs raising on the back of your neck in certain places. A few fellow engineers would refuse to work alone in particular locations. Balham station was a real dreaded location due to the awful loss of life there during the Blitz in 1940.

I spent a short while on detachment to an underground radar station in the early '70's. It's long since gone now.

How refreshing to have a well researched documentary not presented by a so called celebrity.Thank you so much.

You Poms are an incredible lot in times of hardship...praise to all those that produced all the structures and the people who worked in them.👍🏻🇦🇺

@ 19.46 you may be curious to know what you are looking at .It is part of the worlds first programmable computer (probably an early version or experiment) .For while the narration talks of Churchill it ignores that it was here at Dollis Hill that Tommy Flowers built the first computer. It was used to break the Lorenz cipher which Hitler used to issue orders to his high commanders and was more complicated than the Enigma machine. Flowers was the son of bricklayer from the East End faced opposition and prejudice from many at Bletchley Park, especially Gordon Welchman ( Marlborough and Trinity) . It was his expertise in using valves, gained from working on telephone exchanges, that gave him belief that it could be done. His computer ,named Colossus, came online just before D-day and a modern remake is now on show at Bletchley Park.

This is fascinating! I worked in the Basil St hotel Knightsbridge in 1974. There was a closed off entrance to Knightsbridge tube in the basement, we could look through an iron rail to the walkway, still with war time advertising signs! I wish I’d looked into it more at the time! I was young and young people don’t appreciate these great historic places, even if obscure. I did visit the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall once open. We were told there was a secret escape from there for the staff if London was invaded.

I worked at Down Street Station and Clapham South Deep Level Bomb Shelter with TFL Museum’s Hidden London tours. Was the most incredible place to spend each day - I will never forget it!

I have an odd connection with the cabinet war rooms. Because my mother Lorna Martin broadcast French folk music to the free french and resistance from there for the BBC. She couldn't be sure - but the microphone she used was probably also used by Winston for his radio speeches. He did use that room.

Nan worked in the white cliffs of Dover on telephones then as ambulance driver in Canterbury during the Canterbury blitz then drove a Kent police superintendent around.

What a fantastic program. I grew up living in Corsham in the late 60s/early 70s. My mum and granddad both worked at Copenacre Naval Stores. Both had been down into the areas underground. As kids we knew all about these "secret tunnels" and were constantly trying to find our way in. The tunnel for the ammunition storage was located at the east end of Box Tunnel. We played inside old "Pill Boxes" . Of course we played "War" ! lol. What a great child hood!

I have heard, from my grandfather, a member of British secret services, of an amazing operation to secretly store enough oil to maintain shipping throughout the war. One extensive tank, set in hills above Glasgow, is identified by Guiness Book of world records, as possessing the longest sustained echo. Where and how many were established is secret, but it must be enormous. I assume previous excavations might have been exploited. Chasing red spies until 1924, into China, being a cousin of the US ambassador, Joseph P Kennedy, my grandfather worked at a high level.

A very sad time in history! It is a shame that so much of this is not known and will be lost for good one day. Thank you to all that made this possible for us to see.

One of the best documentaries I've seen in ages!!!!!! Thank you :)

The Post office railway is now open to the public as a museum called Mail rail and you can go for a trip on the trains.

Excellent documentary that held my interest throughout the entire presentation.

I worked for a government contractor who installed underground-located transmitters and receivers which had pop-up masts. These were all over the countryside. We serviced these underground chambers, which were located in fields, hills, etc., checking the electronics, and in some locations, generators and fuel tanks. My parents lived in the vicinity of several (spaced apart) and on one lengthy stay with them I visited a few of the sites. Some sites were pretty degraded but others were still fully functional - cobwebs included. A few of the pop-up antenna masts were manually operable. Then, after a months notice, these networks were abandoned "as is". Contractors employees were laid off but my employer, the contract holder continued on other projects, and eventually information and plans were destined for destruction. Many of us saved the cost of construction and kept them as mementoes at their homes.

Further to the underground munition storage bunkers near Bath, in November 1944 4,000 tons of RAF bombs and other munitions exploded in the disused gypsum mines at Fauld, near Hanbury, Staffordshire. It left a crater 300 by 230 yards covering 12 acres. One farm vanished and three others were extensively damaged. I visited the site back in the 1980s. There crater had an eerie atmosphere and there was absolutely no birdsong, even though it was mid-summer.

This guy, the photographer, is committed to his thing. You can't fault that.

This was so much better than many 'documentaries' that vaguely hint at the purposes of old fortifications and structures without giving any real meat. Fascination subject as well.

I was born by East Acton station in 1946 and distinctly remember the train flying past Wood Lane in the late 1950s, between White City & Shepherds Bush.

Fascinating to watch - thank you

Excellent Production Thank you so much

Impressed by the fact that there was no paper trail for the "hidden soldiers", how refreshing.

WOW !! Talk about deal breakers. This tunnels must have been really important on winning the war against Germany- GREAT Brittan

I worked in the Paddock in the 1960's where it was used by the GPO Research Station. Some experiments that were sensitive to sound ad vibration were situated down there but I mostly remember it for the music club where you could borrow LP's and the motoring club where staff could hire specialist tools.

My Grandfather was a firman at night during the blitz, but we know during the day he worked on underground buildings during the war....we never found out any more, all he ever said was that he would've never wanted anybody to see what he saw during the blitz..a man of few words...he failed to get in the army due to flat feet....my other grandfather was a conscientious objector part of the Petts Wood set, he was a Pentecostal lay preacher as well as a local bricklayer..... Great Documentary....

Why isn't this place made into a museum???? I would love to visit a place like this!

At 22:03 there is a spooky disembodied hand within the rungs of the ladder on the left.

I started working at a print factory at cable depot in woolwich in 93, these buildings were used to store the reels of cables that were used to connect the uk with the US, but away from that, I used to get to work on the train from Homerton to north woolwich and because of the woolwich ferry was not yet started for the day I used to walk under the thames via the woolwich foot tunnel. I worked a long 15 hour day so that journey was not one I liked.

27:00 Dover castle,my dad would ride he's push bike from the castle underground, down under castle street to market square and hand deliver messages.

Damn! All that telephone switching gear certainly wouldn't let anyone get any sleep down there!

Well done Chris, great work.

I seem to remember reading about a huge underground factory at the Longbridge Austin factory producing hawker hurricane engines and was still in use as the 1970's/80's for Austin car production . And still think the tunnels still exist but are probably sealed up now .

This is fascinating indeed! I recognised many of the places in London, and had no idea what was below.

One of the greatest things I have seen on youtube.

I agree this is an interesting program. I like how they explored a cross-section of hidden places they used and made across Britain, not just London because of how widely the war affected countries. I don't know how many realise that even Manchester, adapted some pre-existing tunnels for air-raid shelters too. Most may not realise that there are more canals hidden under their feet in the city centre, although disused now- that was part of the reason during the war they were drained, so you could hide there if you had a bomb threat, in the hope that it and empty buildings could increase your chances of surviving.

Fascinating! Although, surprising that there is no mention on Chislehurst Caves in SE London which were used to shelter people during air raids.

Very interesting ,so thank you for sharing ..

In mid 2000, Paddock and other underground bunkers were to be opened to the public but everything was suddenly cancelled and entry money refunded. If a bunker hasn't got bunks, is it still a bunker?

I have documented one of the last intact Zero station underground bunkers at Hollingbourne, such as shown at 37:06 in my Exploring Forgotten Places playlist if you are interested.

I would like to find a stash of cold war electronics surplus in one of those old bunkers. Mullard EL34, EL84, and ECC83 valves. Mustard capacitors and Mullard germanium transistors and diodes etc. Electric guitar stuff that is like gold and rare as hen's teeth these days as new old stock from that era.

Very good presentation and quite lovely actually. I especially enjoyed the auxiliary guerilla forces spread throughout Great Britain, the munitions depots and the war materials factories. Splendid program.

The world's first underground railway was in New York City. An above-ground train went into a belowground station through a tunnel. The tunnel wasn't but a block or 2 since the train was steam-powered and anything longer would have suffocated the passengers.

the operatives in Winston's secret underground army were also tasked to target and eliminate top officials in each town or city working and cooperating with the invading Germans if they came, they knew it was a suicidal mission and as said life expectation was very short for these brave young people

Where did all the .303 rifle ammo go? We could use it here in America no matter how old it is. The .455 Webley ammo, too.

This is a great video...thanks so much for posting it.

Excellent programme. I didn't know how "much" was underground. My son would enjoy this . Thank you

A Wonderfull informative video on the wartime Secrets of Britain, I can fully understand the high secrecy of it all, My farther was in the RAF, a team of six men working under an army officer near the south coast of UK, no identification of rank was worn, all part of a decoy team, with almost 5 miles of land that from the air looked like Green farming fields near an airfield in daytime, but at night ... a busy shipping port, or an airfield, or may be a long military convoy, with Oil and Petrol open top tanks ready to be fired off if needed, and low power lighting arranged to look like ships / aircraft / lorries, with the lights being SLOWLY turned off in the event of an air raid, with hundreds of aircraft at the base, that could JUST be seen through the trees in daytime ... all made with wood and canvas by pinewood studios, this operation saved Southampton from thousands of bombs that was dropped at the decoy site by mistake, Just prior to the intended invasion of Great Britain there was some 400 fighter and heavy bombers near the south cost, all made if wood !!!!.

Still a lot of other site's that are huge but never seen by the public I know ex service man.👍

Brilliant video, thank you

When I was a young lad in the 60s my Dad worked as an Air Traffic Control Officer at RAF Sopley. This was a wartime underground radar station and he took me there a few times. Access was down a very long slope which led to a dimly lit area where all the equipment was,back then low light was needed so that the 'blips' denoting aircraft could be seen on the CRT screens. The place still exists,a private company uses it for data storage,which probably means servers, maybe it is where this 'cloud' is....

Great video Use of tunnels central line Newbury park used as aircraft engine factory in ww2

I am an Aussie Anglo sax son- but I love to see the deep underground unknown parts of the tube system. I really wish Australia had a better rail network - if that means going underground then in my book so be it. the size of the ammunition and other war bunkers is staggeringly huge- even for a farmer's son like myself. A great video.

Great Stuff! Verry Interesting. We had a 'Chain Home Command' HQ in woodland near where I grew up in Norfolk. Thanks for posting.

Great series. Lots of amazing unknown secrets.

I have seen many, many of these videos but none come even close to this one.

in 1940, the UK could build a massive installation underground with a level of discretion, in 2015 the UK cant build a damn subway above & below ground, with modern machine, & 20 billion dollars.

Wonderful! So many positive remarks. I had always thought it was the Germans who liked digging and tunneling. But this was hugely impressive! And so many places these men went, still had electricity! The dry preservation in many places was remarkable! The stalactites and stalagmites were a surprise, in a man made place. Anyway, very, very well done. Thank you!

High visibility jacket. - Access all area's!

My guess (repeat guess) is that if the information that such and such office is on the 29th floor, room 14 (or room 2914) was found out by the Nazis they would be looking for a tall building, not an underground location that was only 2 stories deep!

RU-vid PRO-TIP: In the suggested videos shown at the right, the ones you've already seen are underscored with a red line.

Really interesting documentary - thanks for posting.

Great documentary and subject.

very interesting, thanks for posting..

This is a good documentary, certainly shows more than most of these types of "secret underground" documentaries. I remember the BBC had a "bunker studio" at Wood Norton. I lived in Germany years ago at a rented ex-WW2 Commandants house which had a tunnel from the cellar to an underground bunker in the garden that must have housed probably a dozen soldiers. Another tunnel leads off but the steel door had been welded shut, I always wanted to open it!

Fascinating program - I had no idea about the existence of the Mail Rail system.

I wonder did crossrail encounter these great tunnels and workshops??

I found this to be an amazing documentary as well. It was truly an amazing feat, especially building the tunnel under the Themes. Unfortunately under such dangerous conditions and may the men killed rest in peace. Facts such as Churchill's chair with his fingernail grooves dug in and the technology that was state of the art almost 75 years ago was intriguing. My question is not war related but does anyone know who's body was disrupted in the natural pool? There were two men in the mid 80's that attempted to stay the night for charity and one had his shoulder broken with no memory of it happening. I didn't catch the name of the person who's body was disrupted and tried several searches and couldn't find the answer. Thank you btw- for sharing!

and still no mention of the caves at Godstone caves near the M25. strange.

In Manchester, the city centre's air-raid shelters were sometimes the underground canals- they were drained and reinforced with bricks before being used.

30:39 that mannequin looks like he just had the hardest day of his life.

I went down there in 1981 , brilliant atmosphere.

Thanks for this great video! (:

The first photograph of the British Auxiliaries. Does anyone know the identity of the young man in the back row, third from the right ?? Thank-you. When I was a young man 17 or 18 years old, I had an old WWII dagger similar to a F&S but significantly different. I now believe it to have been a British Auxiliary dagger.

One of these just around the corner from me...sealed up but you can see the hatch

Really good, thanks

Excellent documentary.

I do have one question, What is an American 30.06 BAR doing in an auxiliary bunker ?

That’s a Northern Ireland registered VW Passat (DJZ 6595), beside the Paddock bunker @21:12.

as a kid in very early 1972 my best pals brother used to collect bits of ww11 stuff he dug up,on cannock chase and local sites that got bombed ,,at the back of a old bombed out factory site at the back he found a covered door way ,took him 5 days to dig it out and get in ,and what a find ,a set of 4 radios still inboxes a box of enfeilds 3 boxes of brens boxs of grenades stens other stuff all stored on metal rackes ,he called the police in ,he took photos of the find ,must have been a cash of weapons put there by local defence teams ,in 1939 /40 the factory made stens and enfield parts and other bits

You can understand why they would keep this from public eye the tunnels lead to different places including Buckingham palace and the parliament.

Shame they didn’t mention Tube Alloys or Hatters Castle both British World War 2 projects on Nuclear Weapons and Radar.

Makes you wonder if Jack the Ripper spent a penny there.

People around the country must have been happy that London was protected. We’ve still got no bomb protection today.

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome video!!

Mini trains that delivered the mail? Well there you go something I've never heard off.

Very very interesting. The Auxiliary units were trained up to S.A.S. standards.A last ditch super secret guerilla force to operate independently behind enemy lines if England was conquered partially or wholly.Another part were to be even more secret to operate as signallers with short wave radios reporting on enemy movements. Many after the invasion scare was over,round about 1942, were absorbed by special forces or special operations executive.they were the creme Dr la crème of Britain's fighting men.Hereward The Wake would have recognised them

Fixed that little previous hi-jack problem. To reiterate, I'm fascinated by cultures of many countries, including Europe. It's fascinating to see history displayed in an easy to understand format without attending a lecture. If there were more similar type programs originating from other countries we'd all benefit from the additional insight they would provide.

interesting, if they were in britain, how bout aus an new zealand, is it possible we have them here too? there are, i'm told, tunnels under ballarat, for munitions an stores, never found the entrance though, or anybody who knew about them.

Could still be needed in the not too distant future ~ I am not pessimistic, just practical

Building underground structures is a good thing during WW2. Its safer and it gives the population something to do by digging. Maybe they were paid for their time too so they would have money to live on.

Quite injoide this.... Thankyou

would love to be able to explore this kind of stuff.

My Father was the concrete supervisor at Corsham

i met nick once and he does know a lot and nice guy

At 42:33, the narrator mentions the purchase of a tunnel in 1954. Surely the war was over at that stage?

🌹Thank you............

Damn impressive old boy, imagine the fright of that sentry had he moved mid-stream as it were.

I worked down Wood Lane in the 90s for BT...Lots of gear passing through that needs checking and upgrading from time to time....always find bits and pieces from the 40s down there ..

I’ve gotta question for you Blokes - As a War & History enthusiast, I can’t get enough of these docs, I’m like 50-smmtg, my father fought in Korea & my ancestors hale from that other island u guys subjugated, Ireland, but no hard feelings w that, it makes u stronger, right? BUT, I’ve been watching a lot about the formation of MY Country & those bad ass patriots who had this idea about democracy & NO inherited power, kings, dukes, princes, etc but here’s my question, about 250 years ago, WE WERE ALL Englanders & fathers/sons & for the 1st X in my life I wonder if we didn’t act kind of douchey abt the whole thing & kind of change the terms of our compact & R U guys like 1) “wow, what a story of strength, patriotism, w bold, admirable dreams of freedom independence & equality ( I think we r the 1st true successful democracy) OR 2) What a bunch of traitor A Holes, they went as colonists, not new-country upstarts, God save the King & Queen Mum, cheerio? 3) What do you guys do when we celebrate July 4 by getting blitzed, swallowing hot dogs till we puke & blowing off limbs & appendages w fireworks???? Is it too soon & still hard feelings??? Haha Thank you in advance for any insight & no disrespect