Editing Bethnal Green (section)

====Bethnal Green tube disaster====
[[File:Bethnal Green stn memorial plaque.JPG|thumb|right|Plaque to the 1943 disaster]]

On 3 March 1943, an [[air raid warning]] sounded at 8:17 pm, causing a flow of people down the narrow staircase, with no handrail, of the uncompleted [[Bethnal Green tube station]], wet from rain and only dimly lit due to blackout precautions, to shelter from bombs. (The station had been requisitioned in 1940 by the [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green]] under the supervision of the Regional Commissioners.) A [[crowd crush]] ensued, thought to have been triggered by a woman carrying a baby tripping on the stairs. A new anti-aircraft rocket being test-fired in nearby Victoria Park caused panic, being thought to be a German weapon.<ref name=thorpe>{{cite news| last=Thorpe | first=Vanessa | title='Not many people know what happened': covered up London Blitz tragedy is inspiration for Steve McQueen's new film |newspaper=The Observer| date=15 September 2024 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/sep/15/not-many-people-know-what-happened-covered-up-london-blitz-tragedy-is-inspiration-for-steve-mcqueens-new-film}}</ref> The panic began at 8:27.

In the wet, dark conditions, a woman tripped on the crowded stairs, causing many others to fall. Within a few seconds 300 people were crushed in the narrow stairwell, causing the deaths of 173 people, mostly women and 62 children, who were crushed and asphyxiated. A report was filed by Eric Linden, who witnessed the incident, with the ''[[Daily Mail]]'', but not published. Very little information was provided at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/09/a795909.shtml|author=Simon B|title=The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster|publisher=BBC|date=29 July 2002|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/london-wunderground/bethnal-green-tube-disaster|newspaper=Skibbereen Eagle|title=Bethnal Green tube disaster|location=Skibbereen, Co. Cork|date=16 February 2010|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620130925/http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/london-wunderground/bethnal-green-tube-disaster/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://alondoninheritance.com/thebombedcity/bethnal-greens-ordeal-and-the-underground-shelter-disaster|last=A London Inheritance|title=Bethnal Green's Ordeal|date=6 May 2018|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref> The outcome of a government inquiry was not made public until 1946 to avoid a propaganda win for the enemy and to protect public morale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/bombing/bethnal/source1.htm|last=National Archives|title=Why did the Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster happen?|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref name=thorpe/> It was the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://northshields173.org |last1=Bolger |first1=Peter |last2=Hepplewhite |first2=Peter |title=Lemonade factory air raid disaster 1941 |website=North Shields 173 |date=2019 |access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref>

Director [[Steve McQueen (director)|Steve McQueen]] made a 2024 film, ''Blitz'', about the wartime bombing of London ([[the Blitz]]), depicting and partly inspired by this event.<ref name=thorpe/>