HG and church bells article

[petere]

The thread about ”The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage” got me to think about church bells in the war. I know that in WW1 some countries desperatly needed metal for weapons so they simply took them down and melted them. I guess this is a pretty last-ditch option for the authorities, it can’t be a very popular decision to tell the population.
I googled around the subject and found that Britain kept their bells all through WW2.

As a bonus, while I was googling, I found a very interesting article that describes actually the same situation from the ”Godfrey’s Cottage” episode. One day in September 1940 there was a false alarm and the church bells started ringing. Two young boys from the LDV rushed to their meeting point, thinking that ”this is it”. The article is a bit old but interesting, maybe somebody here would like to read it.


www.google.com/amp/s/www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/day-church-bells-rang-out-4834790.amp

[Dave Homewood]

I believe in Britain some bells were definately smelted to be used for war weapons, but they left at least one bell in each village and town as it was a crucial warning system.

In the Dad's Army film you see the two men come to get the St Aldhelm's bells, and the Vicar decides to have one last pull on them fore they are melted down, sparking the alert that led to the platoon blocking the road.

[petere]

That’s right, I forgot about that scene! Now I remember.👍