Combined Ops HQ Western Approaches

[John Brown]

In WW2 the Combined Operations Headquarters for Western Approaches was located in underground rooms at Derby House in Liverpool. After the war the rooms were sealed up and forgotten about. It was only by chance, during some renovation work at Derby House about 40 years later, that they were re discovered. It was decided to open them to the public and here are some photos I took in 1993.

John

[Batstiger]

Nice pictures John, not a mobile phone in sight!

Bob.

[herakles]

I's good that these sort of things are preserved. It seems that it's been a good renovation.

I've been to a few of these sites like under Whitehall and at Dover. They are all interesting and well preserved.

My guess this one was due to lottery money. Is that right?

I have read that not all preservations and museums have proven popular however.

[John Brown]

Herk

I'm not sure if funding came from the lottery. Probably not, initially at least, as I was there in 1993 and that might have been a bit early for the Lottery.

If anybody wishes more info on the museum here is its website. Particularly interesting are the 'before and after' photos of some of the restoration work.

http://www.liverpoolwarmuseum.co.uk/

Regards....John

[Harley]

Loving the gigantic "GPO" teletype machine and telephone - what a contraption! I'd rather have one of those over a fax machine any day of the week.

I have to take umbrage with their project advisor's statement on the website though; "It is Merseyside's great Churchill link." Ludicrously simplistic if you ask me. They'd have done better to highlight this sentence from the history page;

"Throughout the years of WW2, Liverpool was Britain's main convoy port, the vital lifeline was maintained with the United States and Canada, it was crucial both for Britain's survival and the ultimate Allied victory."

I trust they actually highlight the importance of the place in the museum. They're actually asking for comments on their new website so I may have to politely give them a piece of my mind.

:whistles:

Harley