London remembers

Bronze relief created by Paul Day depicting King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visiting Londoners bombed out during the Second World War. The relief is on a wall in The Mall in London next to a statue of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. It was unveiled in February 2009.

The King and Queen had refused to leave London during The Blitz. The relif shows another aspect of the war in London.

London Remembers website 

Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain monument in London on the Victoria Embankment near the River Thames was unveiled by Prince Charles on 18 September 2005. The monument was devised by the Battle of Britain Historical Society. Paul Day was the sculptor.

The monument commemorates all those who took part in the battle - the airmen and the civilians.

'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few' - Winston Churchill.

For more detailed information about, and description of, this monument see The Battle of Britain London Monument website.

London air-raids 1917

This plaque is found along the banks of the Thames River in London.

The Sphinx on the banks of the Thames River was presented to England by Egypt in 1819 as a memorial to Lord Nelson and Sir Ralph Abercromby and the battles against Napoleon in Egypt, particularly in 1798. The sphinx was one of the landmarks slightly damaged during the bombing of London. However many buildings were destroyed in the air-raids and people killed.

Websites
1914-1918 Online - International Encyclopedia of the First World War - Bombing of London
History in the Headlines - London's World War / Zeppelin Terror
Imperial War Museum - Air raids that shook London in the First World War

Battle of Britain monument

The Battle of Britain memorial was opened on 18 September 2005.

It is located on the Victoria Embankment and overlooks the Thames River. A series of bronze panels depict scenes from the Battle of Britain during the Second World War. The image above shows the impact of the German bombing of London, beneath which is one of Sir Winston Churchill's famous statements: Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

The Battle of Britain Monument website contains information about the project and detailed images of the monument as seen during the day and at night. It also has a list of allied aircrew during the Battle of Britain.

Other panels show the pilots scrambling to reach their aircraft to take on the German planes.

The panels mounted both sides of two granite walls measures 25 metres and is a most impressive site. The names of the 2,937 men - pilots and ground crew from 14 countries - who served in the airforce during the Battle of Britain are also listed in panels on the monument.

Additional information about the monument:

Bravery in bronze - the Battle of Britain Monument

Cleopatra's Needle, London

When in London in 2011 we were surprised to encounter two large sphinx on the Thames embankment.

The sphinx are either side of an Egyptian obelisk, part of which is shown in the photo below. The models of the sphinx, designed by George Vulliamy and modelled by C. H. Mabey, were added to the site in 1882. Unfortunately they are facing the wrong way - they should be guarding the obelisk, facing away from it.

The obelisk dates back to around 1450 BC and was originally erected at Heliopolis in Egypt on the orders of Thutmose III. It was one of three known structures erected at this time. It is known under the name of Cleopatra's Needle but has no connection with that Queen of Egypt. One of the plaques on base of the monument reads:

The obelisk was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by Muhammad Ali, ruler of Egypt and Sudan, in commemoration of Lord Nelson's victory against the French Navy at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 and the victory of Sir Ralph Abercromby's troops against the French at the Battle of Alexandria in  March 1801.

It was not until 1877 that attempts were made to transport the obelisk to London. It was encased in an iron capsule named the Cleopatra and towed to England. All went well until a storm in the Bay of Biscay when it was thought that the capsule had been lost. However it survived and was towed to England by a second ship. The obelisk was erected on the bank of the Thames on 12 September 1878.

During the First World War on the night of the 4th of November German bombers dropped bombs on London. One of the bombs landed near the obelisk. Shrapnel from the bomb damaged the plinth of the obelisk and also one of the sphinx. The damage on these monuments remains as a memory of that raid. The blog, Great War London, provides information about the German raid and damage that occurred.

The Imperial War Museum has a photo of the sphinx after the air raid showing the damage not only to the monument but also more serious damage close by.

Special Operations Executive memorial, London

Memorials can tell us a great deal about aspects of history that were not well known or which may have been forgotten. When returning to our hotel in Lambeth Road we passed, on the Albert Embankment outside Lambeth Palace, a memorial to the S O E.

Reading the plaque, the S.O.E was the Special Operations Executive which 'was secretly formed for the purpose of recruiting agents, men and women of many nationalities who would volunteer to continue the fight for freedom by performing acts of sabotage in countries occupied by the enemy during the Second World War.'

The woman featured on the memorial was Violette Szabo who grew up in London, the daughter of an English father and French mother. When her husband was killed fighting in North Africa she volunteered for under cover work in France. On her second mission she was captured by the Germans, tortured and killed. Violette was only one of many women and men who were involved in S.O.E resistance operations in Europe.

The secret unit operated from London  between 1940 and 1946. There is a plaque in Baker Street designating one of the buildings from which the operatives worked.

Further information:
Special Operations Executive - IWM
Churchill's heroines - book review in Sunday Express 25 March 3013
Secret agents' memorial unveiled - BBC News 4 October 2009
Special Operations Executive 1940-1946 - BBC History
Special Operations Executive - Wikipedia

Imperial War Museum

While in London we visited the Imperial War Museum, particularly to view their new World War I display.

The Imperial War Museum was opened in June 1920 with the intention of collecting and displaying material relating to the First World War. The collection now extends to the Second World War and subsequent conflicts. The new First World War Galleries were opened in July this year and were a major reason for the visit. Fortunately we arrived at the museum well before the opening time of 10.00 am as there was already quite a long queue ahead of us. It was not long before the queue was out of the gate and growing in the street. About ten minutes before the doors opened a staff member began handing out tickets for the First World War exhibition for the first group of people to be admitted.

Viewing the exhibition is a moving experience. The exhibition investigates a variety of topics including the lead up to and causes of the war,events that took place during the war, the involvement of countries from the British Empire, recruitment, experiences on the battlefield, life on the home front, role of women, logistics of feeding and looking after the soldiers on the battlefield, the advent of new machines and technology in warfare as well as Armistice and the Peace Treaty. You really need more than one viewing to take it all in.

There is a constant hum of the sounds of battle. In one section you walk through what appears to be a trench. One confronting moment is turning a corner and finding yourself face to face with a tank. A large number of artefacts and photographs help to portray the story. Fortunately the IWM has published a book by Paul Cornish to accompany the exhibition.

The IWM also has smaller displays relating to the Second World War and other military conflicts in which the British have been involved.

Upstairs there is a galley exhibiting some of the artwork produced relating to the First World War.

We also visited the library where Robin looked for information about his grandfather who died during the First World War.

Poppies in London

The centenary of the commencement of the First World War was commemorated on August 4. In France on August 5 we watched a report on Sky News about a project at the Tower of London where a display of ceramic poppies is being prepared in memory of the servicemen from Britain and the British Empire who lost their lives during World War I.

Additional information about the Tower of London Remembers project can be found on the Tower of London website.

 Two days later, on our first day in London, we walked to the Tower of London to visit the display. It was a spectacular sight and when complete, later in the year, it will be a moving memorial to the men who died.

The display of poppies continues around three sides of the Tower of London. Cascades of poppies fall from two windows on different sides of the tower while a third cascade appears over a garden wall.

In some sections there are only two or three rows of poppies but we watched the many volunteers adding additional poppies to the display.