Some of the abandoned tubes were used during World War II to store and protect treasures from the British Museum. During the Blitz, which was quite fierce in London, entire neighborhoods destroyed by German bombers, there was great concern about the exhibits at the BM. The museum had itself been hit and had suffered extensive damage to one of the upper floors and so the treasures were packed up and moved to some of the deeper tube tunnels, gated and guarded until it was determined that it was safe to bring them back to light. Britian was entrenched in the "War Against Hitler" long before the US joined, although there were several Americans who actually joined the RAF during the late '30's and fought.
Posted by Maura at March 11, 2004 12:48 PMMany of the Tube stations were also designated as bomb shelters, to this day those stations still have the walls that were built to separate the platform from the tracks to protect sheltered people from passing trains.
Another abandoned station was used by Winston Churchill as a bunker.