monument
Whitehall outside Cabinet Office, SW1A 2AS
This two-hour walk covers a number of leading personalities who led the fight back against the Axis Powers, explores preparations for some of the most decisive battles, considers how London became the centre of the free world while not losing sight of how people got on with their lives. This is realised by visiting the locations they worked from or the memorials raised to them.
Embankment, Westminster
Charing Cross
Meet: outside Cabinet Office opposite Women of WW2 Memorial SW1A 2AS End point is close to Green Park tube station
This walk is not suitable for those with wheelchairs and mobility issues owing to the need to traverse stairs.
This is a walking tour. Toilets at Westminster tube station. No spots to sit en route.
This street-based walk covers World War 2 in Whitehall and St James's, exploring Britain’s role in the war as well as the significant scale of international activity in Britain at the time, given its role as a bulwark against the Axis Powers. It seeks to go beyond Churchill, about whom many walks on the topic tend to focus.
The walk considers British engagement in the war by considering
• the role of women in the war;
• the scale and importance of rationing;
• the leadership offered by Churchill, Mountbatten, George VI and the Queen Mum,
• international leadership emanating from London such as De Gaulle and Free France, D-Day Planning with Eisenhower, and early moves which ultimately led to the United Nations; and
• the scale of subterfuge by considering encryption and decryption as well as the role of spies and deception.
The focus of the walk is on the historic events that occurred in buildings (those which remain) and personalities commemorated through public sculptures, but some buildings (Admiralty Citadel, War Rooms) marry form and function and so are part of the story.
