EXPLORING A WW2 BUNKER and Opening the 'SECRET DOOR' hidden in the Floor. Mystery Finally Solved!

I returned to the WW2 bunker air-raid shelter to lift up the slab to the 'hidden compartment', using nothing more than some simple tools.
Watch the Bunker overnighter: • WW2 BUNKER - Exploring...
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#ww2 #bushcraft #bunker

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

What were you hoping for under the slab?

[@itsalphoenixyt]

A tank with an anti aircraft missles!

[@jamieedwards6721]

Crystal skull.

[@johnbiff3100]

a copy of dads army 🤣 .. a bullet casing would have been nice a little souvenir of your stay 👍

[@mommabear3448]

That was anti-climactic 😆 great video!!

[@OrderOfWoods]

Drainage, but i tought it would be deeper...

[@eileencarroll6418]

In the US it is called a dry well; in the UK it is called a soakaway. Purpose is to temporarily hold rainwater and let it slowly dissipate into the ground. In the US, they are usually underground chambers filled with gravel so the rainwater moved around the gravel. Yours seems to have staggered bricks to create temporary space for water to move through. It seems to have worked.

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Great explanation. Thanks for commenting

[@bbranett2188]

Like a a french well

[@brianbenninghoff3394]

French drain

[@garyo4057]

In the USA it’s called a French drain.

[@simonwilliams1740]

100% soakaway drainage, obviously not a high water table hence the dryness and the lack of proper drainage.

[@bubbablanding6084]

As a former air defense artillery officer who served in Europe I am pretty certain that these are ammo bunkers in an area where large antiaircraft guns were emplaced. Guns were emplaced on concrete pads similar to the one he commented on as he walked between bunkers. The bunkers probably served two or three guns each. He commented that these were close to an airfield, and airfields were always heavily defended by large and medium anti aircraft emplacements.

[@FullNelson007]

I was thinking the same thing. Some type of ammo storage

[@dennisraymond2540]

You're absolutely right...... Good evening how are you doing over there hope you're having a wonderful day it's a wonderful day that the lord has made

[@FullNelson007]

@@dennisraymond2540 amen to that 🙏

[@leehi8176]

Ya you could be right but it also could be a tunle that Leeds to each buckerks so if sees the enmy they have a chance of escaping to other bunckers

[@kennethharris9162]

LLLL LLAAAAAAl£AA LlAl£

[@MrGoesBoom]

For temporary little quick setup bunkers that have been left rotting for roughly 80 years, those are in surprisingly good shape.

[@JRH087]

British built

[@The_BenboBaggins]

@@JRH087 from a time where 'quality' wasn't a dirty word...

[@JRH087]

@@The_BenboBaggins i agree, its all about speed and quantity these days sadly

[@dominicpatterson9890]

Dustin here in the states we call that a sump hole. As water sheds down the stairs of the bunker there needs to be a place for it to absorb it back into the earth instead of flooding the bunker. We love your channel! Your one of our favorite channels to watch! We look forward to all of your new videos!

[@jamesellsworth9673]

Closure! A bit of a cleanup, ventilator caps on the top openings; rebuild the loo on the bare above-ground concrete slab...and you have a start on a homeless village.

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Great suggestion James 👌

[@brianhorner6340]

Thanks for the update!! Kinda reminds me of TA Outdoors WW2 bunker he cleaned up at his ‘new’ house! If there’s 2 things I buzz off then it’s WW2 and Bushcraft so a massive thank you for being able to combine both :)

[@monkeyboy6590]

The hole has two purposes. 1. Water drainage. 2. Grenade drop. In the military, anytime we build fighting holes or air raid shelters, we always equip them with a place for water to travel to and if we are attacked by ground troops, and a grenade is thrown into the entrance, the grenade would drop in and protect the occupants from shrapnel.

[@tommywolfe2706]

I would have never thought of a grenade drop....I know that bigger bunkers have bends and walls with holes for engaging intruders, but that makes total sense consider the size of these bunkers. One grenade makes it in that hole an the whole entry would get smashed though....lol. I suppose that the air vent is both an air vent and emergency exit in that case?

[@larrydriemel6242]

why would you put a steel cover on a grenade pit? a grenade won't give you enough time to take the lid off, you could just close the door,or stand to the side,. some people get confused by the obvious :)

[@vickicox6313]

It's all interesting 🤔

[@gerbrand8132]

Nice work👍

[@jimwarren6283]

You dont cover a place you want a grenade to roll into or at least we never did

[@wagwanbennydj6003]

This is honestly nostalgic for me! As me and my mates happened across these air raid shelters a few months back and I thought all the same things you did it must have more underground areas I found alot of out of place bricks and concrete structures!

[@Dayvo369]

Where abouts is this in the uk

[@nodarkthings]

Saw your comment on AB and came here and was intrigued by the bunker video. Very pleased tonight to see that I didn't have long to wait for the sequel! Those are quite evocative structures, lying there hidden in the woods. I was secretly hoping this would spark an epic Oak Island style quest!

[@spikem6039]

Its for stashing your beers whilst out hunting for food

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

I like that idea!

[@SLEEPYSID99]

Nah... Its definitely a soakaway

[@goldenmath4091]

We found holes like this as kids, we lived on the outskirts of a WW2 airfield, the holes went down and opened up into war rooms , they will filled in over time by the council as we're dangerous, we found many shelters, tunnels etc it was great fun as a kid, and this takes me back

[@theflash7983]

I love watching you You actually make me happy Please don’t stop uploading

[@erroleabrown4317]

Thank you for going back and uncovering the slab it must be drainage and is constructed cleverly, if I ever build a bunker it’s going to have drainage like that because that was cool. Thanks so much for sharing your discoveries

[@desertfun4all650]

Awesome video brother. That's what I was thinking it was going to be. My great grandmother had an old storage cave that had something similar. Be safe and God bless brother. Thanks for updating us.

[@beancampingpodcast7926]

Great change of pace & exactly why you've earnt the 100k badge!!!!. Great suspense and really well thought out video. Well done Dustin - Ant.

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks bro 🙏

[@harryjohnston6562]

ZEO SO HAPPY THAT SHE GOT HER LENON LIKE THIS PLEASE LAND THIS I LOVE LEMONS

[@KioHonda428]

The third bunker had the artfully displayed cast of SpongeBob LOL. Patrick, SpongeBob, Gary, and even plankton. 😂

[@jjudy5869]

A standard manhole in the US is 11" x 16". If it was an opening for tunnels between bunkers I would assume it would be that size. So I would say everyone's summation that it is drainage and the fact the floors are dry and the walls are not rusty would be a good guess as well as the lose brickwork. Never heard of a Grenade drop but it makes sense as described.

[@stephenshepherd1433]

It's a French Drain, it's probably a 6' hole filled with gravel, to allow the rain water to slowly drain into the ground.

[@kingrafa3938]

Congratulations Dustin for reaching the 100K subscribers. Road to 200K subs 👍👍👍🇵🇭

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks bro

[@Bear-kr3gr]

It’s a French drain. A pit of gravel at the bottom of the stairs to allow rain to drain away and not fill the bunker. In the states if you have a basement with no exposed walls but a stair down to it outside you’ll have one of those. Old old old tech and doesn’t work in wet ground conditions cause the gravel pit fills up with water and overflows.

[@fyarafianny2309]

Amazing video 👍 There are usually many Bunkers in the forest 🌳, every Bunker must have a story.

[@marcomcdowell8861]

I'm 18 hours late here in Japan, but congrats on 101K! Seeing that it's at the bottom of open stairs, I'd think it was a drain to keep the bunker dry.

[@umoksha]

Nice to see you coming back to the bunker, it definitely appears to be a drainage. Good choice of using a nail to lift the slab 👍

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks for watching

[@RedandBlackS10]

"Whats that?" Spongebob squarepants dear sir! Along with Patrick the starfish and Gary the snail haha

[@stefans649]

Great Video, thanks for going back and taking us with you. Greetings from Germany 🍻✌

[@thomaskipfer1008]

Good place for a camp shelter. Homeless people could live there for years. Thanks for the video.

[@RLU-wt8vi]

Good news - Yes! It makes sense to be a type of drainage. Very interesting. Bad- What? No cooking?? Enjoy the meals you've shared. (Just need to know the spices you add.) Thanks!

[@MrVinz377]

Imagine having one of those bunkers in the back of your own garden , would be cool...just in case things go bad ...

[@idagotdinixa442]

Wooow this was really exciting 👏👏🤩 thanks for exploring this for us 🔝☺️ great video 👌

[@piddy3825]

Yeah, drainage. I doubt the bunkers would have been connected by tunnels considering the size of the openings. much to small for any practical purpose of moving people or supplies, but perfect for allowing adequate water drainage. If you really wanted to make certain, I guess you could go and open all the remaining intact covers and excavate the one with the debris in it. but I do think you satisfied our curiosity. Thanks!

[@hogfry]

A tunnel entrance would be INSIDE the bunker behind the protection of the door. Since its at the bottom of the stairs it's probably a drainage cistern to keep water out of the bunker itself. Usually those have an aggregate in them to allow water to drain away but stop debris from filling the hole. Large stones or brick sometimes chunks of crushed concrete... Etc.

[@peterforden5917]

When I was a kid (I'm 70+ now) my dad was in thde RAF, and I used to play in the air-raid shelters around the various stations, but played in them the nea by the 60's most had been destroyed because of the dangers to kids like me! both boys and girls,the girls tended to take over the one nearest the amq (airmens married quaters)and play games like "HOUSE" etc, they were usually cleaner and drier!,, we boys plaed in all of the others MOSTLY abandoned , those that werent were FILLED with axe shats different types of axe head an pich head an thousands og military pocket knives, we never touched them because if caught by the RAFP t(snowdrops!) they'd inform our fathers through official channels and we'd get a walloping for the black mark on THEIR records. the shelter looks like a prewar/early war shelter due to the "quality" of the entry way not just a few huge concrete slabs with only the door way being brick work their were some ar former RAF (NOW ARMY AVIATION SQUADRON) TERN HILL in the square in front of the old AMQ (not BUNTINGSDALE ESTATE which was bui being nuilt from around the imd 50s and and finished byc58.,) there being shallow bomb shelter at each corner (probably more shrapnel proof designs) they'd all gone when I was there last in 1999, which was GOOD maybe not for the archeology interested, but I remember near drowning in the one nearest to my hoUse,I was abut 3 at the time and my Mum made me sit at the bottom of the stars as a punishment!. If I were you I would check your Map and find out what was near by ie an ammo dump airmens or air womens quaters cookhouse etc they wouldnt have been in a semi circle fior nothibg , really enjoyable! brought back several forgottten memories, Thank you. keep it up :)

[@petevalverde1988]

Bro. That was so cool. Keep em coming, please!😊

[@saidahstaceykitimbo8553]

This is amazing. I love your bravery and curiosity 😆🙄 💯

[@AaronGAchannel]

I am so happy you came back to check.

[@BraxxJuventa]

Told you so. It's a drainage. 👍😁 Thanks for the video Dustin! 👍😁

[@isaiahthegoat957]

Usually id say get to the point but the way this video is setup and just the anticipation is actually great! Like.

[@despickles]

very interesting thanks for going back to see what was under the slab top marks

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks 👍

[@wojak33]

wooow super sekretne odwodnienie wejścia:)) brawo:)

[@tm5aw357]

Great vid. What an awesome area to have access to.

[@rosiesumiel4968]

I am so excited to see this video I let you know what I think of it

[@troyomstead9943]

Do you actually do anything but talk?

[@martinfoy5167]

Dustin definitely a drain hole 💯% you certainly found plenty of camp opportunities ⛺🍻🔥💨💨👌👍

[@runner1984]

Facinating vid! I've found countless bunkers scattered arcross Spain - some in the middle of nowhere.

[@stevetrang811]

Dry well but good find of the bunkers themselves and video thanks

[@davidchase7166]

Congrats on the 100k Dustin. Very well deserved

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks bro. 👍

[@wagwanbennydj6003]

No way swear I've honestly been in these! Too lovely area madness that you was here too! Makes we want to check for that slab now haha

[@ignflex5277]

There are 3 of these bunkers in a forest nearby me, however the local council have barricaded them off with steel bars to stop people going inside them which is annoying.

[@wendybray2324]

I really enjoyed this video, I love the bunker explores as you never know what can be found, love your content,

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks wendy

[@williewonka6694]

You've discovered Al Capones vault. Geraldo would be proud.

[@kerrygrubb9480]

Drainage! Like the video!!!

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Drainage sump.. I knew that from the start. There has to be a way of getting rid of water. The pit may well have had a pump in it to remove water quicker. Well made.

[@kennethbarker852]

1st class video to watch thank you take care kind regards from me kenneth👍

[@china-trip]

Wow, Beautiful Upload friend. keep it up. Thank you for sharing this to us. Greetings from Korea

[@Shaden0040]

Check local council records and military records for this area.

[@paullawrence8572]

Fascinating vid! Always enjoy, just drainage I think but hoping you were going to find something different but worth looking into.👌👍

[@davidscott41]

They look like for ammunition storage bunkers thery might have been a connection for water mains to put out possible fires with one made as water inlet outlet

[@MrLapidary]

No rain water standing in any of the shelters, so drainage it is.

[@Familyman0838]

These were built as air raid shelters not to protect against ground attack usually situated near air bases or artillary emplacements the larger of them looks like a ammo store or for fuel etc

[@IKS-Exploration]

Just subscribed I like a good bunker or two :) nice videos folk :)

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks bro

[@micksbackyardaquaponics1408]

That was amazing video clip to see there off the ww2 bunkers an it would be great to see what is under the anthers ones An keep up the great video clip there. 👍👍

[@jackieow]

As of 1940, Churchill knew Operation Sea Lion could be activated at any time, and Britain could be totally overrun by German forces. Against that contingency, he wanted forests around as many villages as possible inhabited by Resistance forces that could harass the occupying Germans. They were to be assembled in groups of about half a dozen men, handpicked by mayors and police chiefs who would have a clue who was upright and dependable, and could be capable of handling weapons. These men were to be housed in quickie small bunkers scattered around the forest, such as shown in the video. Unfortunately rifles were in such short supply that each group could only be given one .22 caliber rifle, as the more powerful rifles were needed on the battlefield. The job of these men in groups of half a dozen was to sneak around as best they could, sniping at the heads of Nazi soldiers on patrol, knifing sentries, sabotaging German ammo dumps, etc. etc. They knew that upon invasion, they were to assemble in their respective group locations that were pre-built (as shown in the video) and pre-designated for each Resistance group. The commander of each location had a prime initial directive: unlock a top drawer and carry out the command sealed in the envelope. The command for each Resistance group was: to kill the local mayor and local police chief. Churchill knew they would be tortured, and have family members tortured, to force them to talk and reveal the identities and locations of the Resistance group members they had named. So, Churchill knew that owing to the exigencies of war the only way to reliably break the chain of knowledge about the groups and their locations (lest members have their families tortured to death to try to blackmail surrenders) was to kill off the officials who had made the selections in the first place. Of course the covered pits in front of each location were to drain away pulses of rain water. At the same time, Britain was appealing to ordinary U.S. citzens, from the Embassy in Washington D.C., to contribute personal firearms from all across the 48 states. They were literally mailed in by thousands of individual U.S. citizens and sent from the British Embassy in Washington D.C. to London, for distribution toward immediate combat needs. Also at the same time, American Army Air Corps commanders were with a wink and a nod instructing pilots to accidentally land their warplanes in southern Canada and forget where they had parked them, so that Canadians could repaint U.S. warplanes with R.A.F. insignia and fly them for use in England's blitz predicament. America had to put some of our own military people on assassination lists as well, in that U.S. soldiers who were technically trained (e.g. radar and some radio equipment) were assigned the "protection" of personal "bodyguards." Actually, the bodyguards were there to murder the technically trained U.S. servicemen on the battlefield any time their positions were about to be overrun. Churchill did not want English officials being able to talk about Resistance fighter identities, and Roosevelt did not want certain types of technical knowledge to fall into enemy hands either. In a similar albeit less serious vein, as soon as the U.K. declared war on Germany in September 1939, everybody knew what that meant because World War I had been such a recent experience in living memory. There had been a protracted and lamentable lead up to Hitler's invasion of Poland, with the sequelae being obvious to those who knew history was going to be repeated but in a more terrible way with weapons of increased severity. Thus, the day after England went to war almost everyone killed their pet dogs and cats. They knew there would be too little time and money and food to go around as it was for just the humans.

[@coyleigh6902]

Awesome comment. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[@Williamplayz-di2zy]

When you said old slab it looked like amongus 😂😂😂

[@nicolabennington203]

It’s a drain/soak away for water that runs down the steps.

[@Afro408]

Yep a drainage sump. Or. Someone had already taken the treasure and filled the hole. 😉 They could have been munitions storage, as they’re not far enough underground for bomb protection and they are far apart in case of one exploding. The same sort of thing is in western Queensland, but are much bigger and are now used for tourist accommodation! There is a related museum on site as well. Very quiet stay. 😁

[@seymourpro6097]

Many places in the UK had underground shelters during WW2 rural ones could be for the crew of anti aircraft guns or for bases for stay behind troops if there actually was an invasion.

[@godyellow1234]

I’m learning!!!

[@840kat]

I was hoping you'd open up one of the others to see if the other ones looked "recently filled in" or not. There was one that still had a slab that wasn't blocked by wooden debris.

[@dennisraymond2540]

You're absolutely right...... Good evening how are you doing over there hope you're having a wonderful day it's a wonderful day that the lord has made

[@RichardSmith-um4js]

Lift the cover on another shelter to verify your idea. You are probably right about drainage. Enjoyed the video.

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

👍

[@bikerleo1966]

Someone should restore all those bunkers

[@thebluealien1146]

Alr, I'll call History Secrets, he's the master at restoring WWII things. (15 mins later.... History Secrets: Hey! They are all restored! Me: *sees them exactly like how they were during WWII* O_O, oh u- u- uhmmmm, (my mind: h- how he do that?) me still talking: g- good job man! looks identical!! me: History Secrets, you should get a reward for that! History Secrets: Thanks! (lol, i just came up with that, but he is rlly good at restoring things from WWII)

[@jimparsons9454]

It looks like a common sump pit. I hate to say it looks shoddily built but, they probably had to build it quickly or these structures were built cheaply due to the dire circumstances at the time.

[@nocomment2944]

I think the hole that was filled with rubble was probably the original slab smashed with a lump hammer by someone who was curious about what lay beneath.

[@brianloughary2521]

Thanks for the video and update looks like for drainage to me but who knows.👍👍👍

[@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Thanks for watching 🙏

[@Henchman1977]

It's a dry well/soak pit. Keeps rain water from entering the shelter...

[@frizaminelli]

I've always wanted to build a maybe less good of a shelter like this, but yeah, thats a great idea with the drainage, wouldnt've thought about drainage at the front so no flooding!!

[@michaelreitz3992]

It's a sump for drainage. Fun video.

[@emileclede4510]

That space is a "Sump" or a "Dry Well" and they are for drainage in basements, tunnels, mines, etc. Some installations, like in a residential basement, they had a pump in the bottom to pump out the collected water, called a "Sump Pump."

[@dennisraymond2540]

You're absolutely right...... Good evening Emile how are you doing over there hope you're having a wonderful day it's a wonderful day that the lord has made

[@michaelmccarthy1358]

The shelters at Hooton Wirral all have these sumps to allow the rain running down the steps to drain away. they are quite effective.

[@Dayvo369]

Where abouts are they mate?

[@Dayvo369]

Michael McCarthy??? Is that you binny? 🤷‍♂️🤣 madness if it is

[@curthill7123]

I think it is a simple sump drainage. Likely the entire structure sits on large sump with coarse fill. The drain you found allows the water to filter into the surrounding drainage field. They may have individual drainege fields, or one very large one.

[@ianddavidson1]

Air raid Shelters. These are very typical Stanton shelters. Assembled from pre cast concrete sections bolted together at the top, and with brick built ends. Sizes vary, based on the number of sections used. Stanton shelters can be found used as civilian shelters (There are two extant in West Bridgford, Nottingham), and they are very common on WW2 era RAF airfields, particularly on the dispersed sites. The concrete bases are for huts, which were often timber, or plywood with tarred-felt on the roofs and walls. These have either rotted over time, or were dismantled and "re-purposed" at the end of the war.

[@panzer63]

Nice vid and it's a drain I work in a dockyard and the shelters here have theses hols 🤗

[@mltthorn]

The concrete slabs are what large aircraft shooting guns were placed upon

[@007tallguy]

yup, drainage hole. if it had been for some sort of storage, it likely would have been made so it could have been be "easily" lifted, some sort of hand access or with an integrated handle.

[@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188]

In Denmark the Germans built a lot of bunkers on our West Coast to prevent an English attack, and some years ago one was found to be untouched, since the war, when being left by the German troops. They managed also to make a contact a soldier who had been there, from the papers found, and today the actual content has been moved to a smaller Museum in a local town nearby. Still to be seen.

[@TheSilmarillian]

Nice find hello from Australia

[@endrilolpopc8284]

Bro in 7:10 is Patric with SpongeBob and his pet Garry☠️☠️

[@exploringwales1424]

Great video , cool channel. Happy to support you 👍

[@SegaDisneyUniverse]

Well that was quite disappointing. I was hoping you'd find a boss key in one of those bunkers.😜

[@nomad634]

Thanks for not contaminating this experience with tools of any kind

[@dieuhiennguyen8921]

I enjoyed your video thanks

[@brothersofvalhall]

cool video love ww2 bunkers all the love from norway

[@SkoomeyGaming]

Ever think of taking a leaf blower in there get it nice and clean

[@Huongcamping2000]

Hi ❤❤❤ It's amazing

[@Megan-224]

I think that's were they put weapons and stuff for emergencies

[@AaronTeale]

Sick Bruv!

[@cliffordshedd1100]

thanks for the video i was hoping you would find out what was under the opening.

[@leuvenlife]

metal was scarce during wartime, drain holes were often made of concrete.

[@beautifulworld7293]

I really like your efforts and video, New friend, stay connected

[@gilbertnowak5770]

There is a Good Posibility that those are ORDANCE LOCKERS, the (what seams to be Skylites ) may be for lifting Ordance in and out of the lockers. I worked Ordance in the Navy and we had lockers like that on the East Coast . A fallout Shelter would not have Skylites built into them!