World War II Graffiti from an Air Raid Shelter in Plymouth, Devon, England

Some of these images are to be seen elsewhere on this site at a lower resolution. Luckily I was able to gain access again to this underground air raid shelter , so I took a 3 mega pixel digital camera with me. This shelter would have been used by the Admiralty, i.e. service men, Navy - and school children of primary age, as it is across the road from an old Plymouth School. Some of this graffiti is obviously done by children, They are all pencil on cement wall.

The imagery is very telling, even the kids knew what was going on and what was at stake!


are these bombs, or barrage balloons? 1536 X 2048 396 KB	a German plane 1652 X 1211 294 KB	PART 1 a German plane is under Ack Ack Fire, note shell bursts close by it. Is it smoke coming out of the fuselage, or is it a stylized image of a bird's wing making this a "German Raiding Eagle." 1204 X 1467 217 KB	armless men parachuting to the ground having jumped out of a plane shouting "help!" 1536 X 2048 420 KB

PART 2 see PART 1 above, note the searchlight shining up into the sky, with the gun on right firing skywards too. This is the same artwork as in PART 1 above, but the bottom part. The plane in PART 1 is under fire by the British AAA battery. 1536 X 2048 444 KB	a ship under aerial attack, with Ack Ack bursting among the planes & a bomb falling close to the bow of the ship making a large splash. 1336 X 1557 316 KB	a "V for Victory" sign, with the ". . -" or "den,den,den, dennnn" of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. It is an irony of war that the musical rally call for Allied victory was a German composition. 1452 X 1479 235 KB	raising money for Plymouth War Ship Week in 1942 1536 X 2048 386 KB

WE WILL WIN! speaks for itself. 1300 X 1461 264 KB	the whole artwork made up of PARTS 1 & 2, slightly soft focus as it was a hard shot to take. 1180 X 2031 331 KB

click to enlarge

click here to return to main cyberheritage online history and heritage site, 12,000 pics, 2 gb data!!