The Cabinet War Rooms were also safe from attack – no German spy ever set foot in the Cabinet War Rooms, or even knew about them. This aspect of security proves that the Cabinet War Rooms were effective in doing this. However, john Winnifrith led a successful attack on the Cabinet War Rooms – this was a practice attack by a platoon of the Home Guar. The men got in through unguarded windows and into the Cabinet War Rooms themselves. Although this attack was successful, if any Germans came into England, intelligence sources would tell them and the security of the Cabinet War Rooms would be upped. Another effective method making the Cabinet War Rooms safe was employing Royal Marines to guard the place, where they asked for passes to be shown at the doors, although they got to know the staff there anyway.
The Cabinet War Rooms had good communications. Using a particular colour of telephone in the Map Room, the officers on duty could communicate with intelligence sources (via the green telephones – those with green handsets had a ‘scramble’ facility), or another service war room (the white telephones), or be connected with their switchboard (the black telephones). The map Room was always manned. It was their job to filter through all the incoming updates on the war, and plot the changes on the maps. Also, every morning daily reports were produced (the ‘Cabinet War Rooms Bulletin’) and given to everyone important. This was an effective way of keeping everyone informed.
The Cabinet War Rooms were in a good location – they were close to 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and were in central London so it was close to all the major military and political bases, and the Houses of Parliament. This location added to the Cabinet War Room’s effectiveness in communications.
It depended on what position of job you were in if you found the Cabinet War Rooms comfortable or uncomfortable. For example, those with a higher position of authority (such as Churchill) had better Rooms and better facilities, and lived higher up in the building. Olive Margerison comments that although the place she stayed was ‘Spartan’, had ‘poor ventilation’ and was ‘very small’, she and the other secretaries found it comfortable after a long day’s work. Furthermore, the working hours were flexible and sometimes in the evening the staff would go out for dinner or see a film. The staff had regular health checks according to Margerison, and there were doctors and nurses on site. Furthermore, the atmosphere was ‘wonderful’ and although sometimes they found the work ‘not that exiting’, the Cabinet War Rooms were like a community – Margerison is still good friends with all her colleagues.
However, in contrast to the evidence that the Cabinet War Rooms were comfortable, the Prime-minister himself preferred to work at 10 Downing Street whenever possible (although during the Blitz he stayed in the Cabinet War Rooms). Churchill didn’t think the Cabinet War Rooms were particularly comfortable. According to the Guidebook, the air conditioning there was not good. It never coped with the heat and humidity created, and the pipes further reduced the height of the Rooms. The most uncomfortable place to be in the Cabinet War Rooms was ‘the dock’, which was the sub-basement and provided the most modest accommodation. Typists, clerks and administrators slept there in the dormitories which were extremely small and very uncomfortable, even in those times, when during the war comfort was not the highest priority to people.
However, in order to work effectively, people did have to be comfortable in the Cabinet War Rooms. In the long term the Cabinet War Rooms were obviously effective and worked well enough for Churchill to direct Britain’s war effort from them, because Britain and the Allied forces won the war over Germany. Although Churchill did not find the Cabinet War Rooms very comfortable, it must be remembered that he was the prime minister, and therefore probably used to a more luxurious work place. However, although nowadays we would not consider the Cabinet War Rooms to be comfortable at all, the average worker there would have, especially after a ‘ long day’s work’. The lighting, air conditioning and accommodation were not great, but in the times of war, the community spirit and friendly atmosphere was needed more in order to make the Cabinet War Rooms a more comfortable and effective place to work.
