The Bethnal Green Shelter Disaster

Abstract

During the Second World War there were large-scale fatalities when air raid shelters were hit by bombs. The greatest loss of life in a shelter was at Bethnal Green in the East End of London on 3 March 1943, where 173 people died in a crush on the stairs at the shelter entrance. The causes of this incident have been distorted by post-war press claims that the reasons why it happened were covered up, and panic was the main cause of so many deaths. A recent publication has insinuated that the Government manipulated the inquiry for political reasons. This article evaluates these claims against the available evidence, to demonstrate that such a catastrophic loss of life was far more complicated than suggested. The victims of this disaster deserve to be remembered as unfortunate casualties of war, rather than as being trampled to death by a terrified crowd.