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Remembered Today:

Anonymising War Memorials in WWII


mbriscoe

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I came across this story whilst looking up a War Memorial.

 

Were any War Memorials anonymised in WWII by obliterating the name of the town or village?  I can't remember seeing any that looked as if they might have been and all too often the memorial just refers to "this parish", "this district" etc.

 

 

Quote

Stirling Observer - Thursday 04 July 1940

PUZZLE PARACHUTISTS
PLACE NAMES WITHDRAWN.
Stirling County Council, whose own offices at the time the committee met on Thursday still carried name plates revealing their identity, discussed efforts to render areas “anonymous” in order to baffle enemy parachute troops. The Rev. J. Easton. Shieldhill, said that in many parts of the county, signs were still up which betrayed the district. Could these not be removed? The county clerk (Mr G. J. Sherriff) said this was under consideration at the moment. A certain amount of work was being done, but it interfered with descriptive lettering which was of a permanent character, and it required careful consideration. Mr T. G. Wilson. Killearn. said he understood the instruction had been given over the wireless for all such descriptive name-plates to be removed and particularly notice-boards outside churches. The District Councils were responsible for a certain amount of property including war memorials and every memorial bore the name of the village. He understood no instructions at all had been given about this. Could the County Council communicate with district council clerks and ask them to get their councils to consider what could be done in regard to these memorials? Mr J. Barbour. Plean, said there was a notice board outside the A.R.P. office. While it might be necessary to guide people, it would also be of service to the enemy- The county clerk explained that removal of indication signs was compulsory, and enforcement of was in the hands of the police. Mr W. Baxter. Banton. said it was a pity. It seemed him to be lust another bungle. Mr G. M‘Laren. Stenhousemuir. said they proposed obliterating the name Larbert on Larbert Central School by fixing a metal plate over if. It was agreed to communicate with district councils inviting their assistance in removing all indication signs from property under their control The chairman, in reply to Mr Barbour, .the district councils had no control over tradesmen’s vans Mr Bennie. Bothkennar. thought the council should confer with the police before doing anything.

 

 

 

 

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Can't say I've ever seen anything like this, I must say.

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12 minutes ago, Steven Broomfield said:

Can't say I've ever seen anything like this, I must say.

 

Ditto, I have never seen any sign of one having being defaced. 

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I believe that most road signs and town name boards / station names were removed certainly from the southern parts of England in 1940 for the above reason pretty much at the same time as the nightly blackout came into force. 

 

It would therefore make sense that if a monument bore a town's name it too would get the same treatment but I've never seen actual proof of that. 

 

I know it's not what the OP asked but definitely WW1 monuments in some French towns were removed when the Germans occupied the area. This is of course a different scenario but may be of interest. A case in point is the statue on top of the WW1 memorial at Sainte Marie du Mont in Manche, Normandy which was famously photographed by members of E company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne. Today the statue to those from the town has been replaced.

Edited by Michael Thomson
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I suspect that the memorial could be covered in protected wooded boards as was done to protect many statues.  It would hid any inscriptions.

 

I think it is often said the removal of road signs etc did more damage by disrupting travel in the UK.  Normally armies put up their own signs so it would only affect the enemy in the early days after an invasion.

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And, to be honest, it is relatively uncommon for war memorials to have the name of the town: more usual 'of this parich' or similar. After all, the people erecting the war memorial in Southampton had a pretty good idea it was in Southampton so no real need to point out the perfectly bleedin' obvious!

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29 minutes ago, Steven Broomfield said:

And, to be honest, it is relatively uncommon for war memorials to have the name of the town: more usual 'of this parich' or similar. After all, the people erecting the war memorial in Southampton had a pretty good idea it was in Southampton so no real need to point out the perfectly bleedin' obvious!

 

It is very annoying when going through photographs!  It is more a problem when the memorial is (for example) a district or parish of that larger area.  Often the parishes have different names and have changed over the years as parishes have merged but the memorial might have been for one part of the modern parish.  Similarly a village or district might have been a thriving community but now just absorbed into a larger town.

 

I was reading yesterday the speech given at the unveiling of one memorial, the Provost was saying how he was sure future generations and councils would respect the memorial as much as they did then and take care of it.  I could not thinking "if only" when I thought of some I have seen.

 

 

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Interestingly, the most commonly annotated are (as far as I can tell) the really remote ones that one finds by the side of the road, by chance. These, I guess, are the ones which cover a scattered Parish with little or nothing in the way of a hub.

 

Regarding later identification of photographs, I've taken to snapping a shot of the church name board or closest road sign.

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11 minutes ago, Steven Broomfield said:

Interestingly, the most commonly annotated are (as far as I can tell) the really remote ones that one finds by the side of the road, by chance. These, I guess, are the ones which cover a scattered Parish with little or nothing in the way of a hub.

 

Regarding later identification of photographs, I've taken to snapping a shot of the church name board or closest road sign.

 

I quite often take a picture of the church sign as it gives the exact name but my two main cameras have GPS so I can see exactly where the picture was taken.  Latest camera also has a compass so records the bearing but you need to calibrate and I find I rarely refer to it.

 

If I have to fall back on an older camera then I have a GPS tracker that I hang around my neck then add the location to the images later using GEOSETTER.

 

 

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46 minutes ago, mbriscoe said:

 

I quite often take a picture of the church sign as it gives the exact name but my two main cameras have GPS so I can see exactly where the picture was taken.  Latest camera also has a compass so records the bearing but you need to calibrate and I find I rarely refer to it.

 

If I have to fall back on an older camera then I have a GPS tracker that I hang around my neck then add the location to the images later using GEOSETTER.

 

 

 

Presumably helps the search party when you're late for tea.

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13 minutes ago, Steven Broomfield said:

 

Presumably helps the search party when you're late for tea.

 

It is very useful being able to display the location of every picture on a map though it has drawbacks as a previous POTUS's photographer found!

 

 

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I've never heard before of erasing the names of monuments at the beginning of WWII. That road signs were removed is quite "normal"... common knowledge. But monuments.

And even if they did, the names have bee put up again or replaces after the war, as I don't think there is any town or village in Great Britain (or in Belgium) that has no name on it. It might be something like "from the grateful town" or something, but that's quite rare, isn't it?? 

 

M.

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I did once read of a case where the locals obliterated the name of the town, but left uncovered "The Birthplace of Shakespeare" underneath it!

 

Ron

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20 minutes ago, Ron Clifton said:

I did once read of a case where the locals obliterated the name of the town, but left uncovered "The Birthplace of Shakespeare" underneath it!

 

Ron

 

Ah, all well and good, but did it specify which Shakespeare?

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