How the Moscow Metro became a true underground city in 1941 (PHOTOS)
The Moscow Metro subway system served several important functions at once. First and foremost, it served as a reliable bomb shelter. Hundreds of thousands of Moscow residents would hide there during nighttime German air raids.
Stations were equipped with lounge chairs, restrooms, drinking fountains, backup power supplies, and running water. Mothers with infants, the disabled and the elderly were accommodated directly in the train carriages parked at the platforms. Those who could brought their own bedding and slept in the tunnels.
During the day, the metro operated as usual. If Luftwaffe planes suddenly appeared over the city, the trains would stop and people would rush to find shelter underground.
On the morning of October 16, a subway train failed to open its doors to passengers for the only time in its history. Following the Red Army's crushing defeat on the outskirts of the capital, authorities decided to evacuate key enterprises and destroy the subway. Fortunately, this plan was abandoned that very same day.
The Moscow Metro became a veritable underground city. Shops, hairdressers, libraries, cinemas, and concert halls operated there. Adults manufactured and repaired weapons in underground workshops, while children studied. The subway also served as a maternity hospital — more than two hundred babies were born there during the war.
On June 27, 1941, ‘Kirovskaya’ Station (now ‘Chistye Prudy’) was closed to passengers. It was converted into an underground strategic command center for the Armed Forces, along with offices for Stalin and Chief of the General Staff Boris Shaposhnikov. During air raids, employees of the People's Commissariat of Defense, located in a building near the station entrance, descended here.
The subway, like in many other cities around the world, became one of the centers of Moscow's political life. For example, on November 6, 1941, a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the revolution was held at ‘Mayakovskaya’ station. "It was quickly converted into a meeting hall… Coatrooms and refreshment rooms were located in the carriages, making the cold stone hall feel more comfortable," recalled Marshal of Communications Ivan Peresypkin.
Members of the government, generals, front-line officers, and workers from Moscow's enterprises attended the meeting. Stalin delivered a speech that was broadcast nationwide. At the end, the ‘Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble’ performed for the guests.
Massive air raids on the capital continued until Summer 1942, while the last German bomber reached the city in June 1943. Residents had stopped hiding underground by that point, but the Moscow Metro retained its status as a bomb shelter until the very end of the war.