RESEARCH: NANTWICH SECRET BUNKER

1. RESEARCH:NANTWICH SECRET BUNKER Emma Jones and Claudia Edge

2. THE BUNKER If all of the missiles at Hack Green[1] were armed, the base alone would be the 7th biggest Nuclear Power in the world The Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker is a former government-owned nuclear bunker located at Hack Green, Cheshire, England. The first military use of the area was in World War II, when a Starfish site was established at Hack Green. Its purpose was to confuse Luftwaffe bombers looking for the vital railway junction at Crewe. A Ground-controlled interception (GCI) radar station was added. In the 1950s, the site was modernised as part of the ROTOR project. This included the provision of a substantial semi-sunk reinforced concrete bunker or blockhouse (type R6). The station, officially designated RAF Hack Green, was also known as Mersey Radar. It provided an air traffic control service to military aircraft crossing civil airspace.

3. THE BUNKER The site was abandoned and remained derelict for many years, until the Home Office took it over. They rebuilt the R6 bunker as a Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQs) - one of a network of 17 such sites throughout the UK - designed to enable government to continue in the aftermath of a major nuclear attack on the UK. In about 1992, following the end of the Cold War, the Home Office abandoned its network of RGHQs and sold many of the sites. This one was bought by a private company and subsequently opened to the public in 1998 as a museum with a Cold War theme. It has a substantial collection of military and Cold War memorabilia, including one of the largest collections of decommissioned nuclear weapons in the world. It also houses Ballistic Missile Early Warning System equipment originally from RAF High Wycombe The museum includes information about the function of the bunker during the Cold War. There is a simulator designed to simulate conditions in the bunker during a nuclear attack. Visitors can watch the BBC film The War Game, produced to inform the public of what would be likely to happen in a nuclear attack on Britain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_Green_Secret_Nuclear_Bunker

4. THE BUNKER http://www.hackgreen.co.uk/Hack_Green_History/hack_green_history.htm

5. THE COLD WAR 1947–1991 The Cold War was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States with NATO and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its allies in Warsaw Pact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War The Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred - the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm

6. EVENTS IN 1982 January 11 – Mark Thatcher, son of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara during the Dakar Rally; he is rescued January 14. Unemployment in the United Kingdom increases by 129,918 to 3,070,621, a post-war record number. March 10 - The United States places an embargo on Libyanoil imports, alleging Libyan support for terrorist groups. March 26 – A ground-breaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, D.C. April 2 – The Falklands War begins: Argentinainvades and occupies the Falkland Islands. May 2Falklands War: The nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. Operation Algeciras, an attempt to destroy a Royal Navy warship in Gibraltar, fails.

7. EVENTS IN 1982 May 18 - Falklands War: The British Special Air Services launch an operation to destroy three Argentinean Exocetmissiles and five Super Étendardfighter-bombers in mainland Argentina. It fails when the Argentineans discover about the plot. KGB head Yuri Andropov is appointed to the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. June 6 The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. June 8 President Ronald Reagan becomes the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament. June 14 – The Falklands War ends: Formal surrender of Argentine forces, and liberation of the Falkland Islanders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982

8. CELEBRITY INFLUENCE These are the lyrics of 2 songs written in the 80's about the cold war and the threat to civilians from all out nuclear war. The poetry is very good and doesn't need music. "Russians" by Sting In Europe and America, there's a growing feeling of hysteriaConditioned to respond to all the threatsIn the rhetorical speeches of the SovietsMr. Khrushchev said we will bury youI don't subscribe to this point of viewIt would be such an ignorant thing to doIf the Russians love their children too "I won't let the sun go down on me" - NikKershaw Forty winks in the lobby, make mine a G&TThen to our favorite hobby, searching for an enemyHere in our paper houses, stretching for miles and milesOld men in stripey trousers rule the world with plastic smiles

9. PUBLIC THOUGHTS went from age 12 to 22 during the 80s and I remember the first part of the decade as a mix of riots, unemployment, AIDS, war and nuclear paranoia. Anyone who tries to tell you that we spent the decade with an asymmetric haircut, wearing legwarmers and doing the Rubik cube is lying. While Thatcher did her thing, Reagan escalated the cold war and kept us all on edge. I still have a nagging resentment about the Thatcher legacy, but it is hard to imagine going back to just BT and for our home phone.Nigel, London I remember a leaflet coming through our letterbox, I think it was called "Protect and Survive" giving advice about what to in the event of nuclear attack by the Warsaw Pact, it had diagrams and information about what to do with dead family members bodies in your house, it frightened the life out of me and I hid under my blankets when I went to sleep for about six months, waiting for the missiles to drop on my house and melt my Star Wars toys. It brought home a reality that even though there was no actual fighting going on, there was actual danger to us in the UK. Justyn Taylor, Cardiff

10. ROLES IN THE BUNKER The ROC kept 120 men and women on-call in the area, though the bunker could only hold half that number. Once inside, the lucky 60 people would have enough food and water to survive for a month before having to venture out. The plan was that, when the big day came, the volunteers would be summoned to the bunker and a strict first-come-first-served policy would swing into action. The 61st person to report for duty would literally have the door slammed in their face. At any one time a third of the people would be working, a third off-duty and a third asleep.