Messines road sign

Places
Accession Number RELAWM10718
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Heraldry
Physical description Steel
Location Main Bld: First World War Gallery: Western Front 1917: 3rd Battle of Ypres
Maker Unknown
Place made Belgium
Date made pre 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Steel directional sign taken from a Belgian road. The white painted surface is stencilled in black serif characters on one side with the words 'MESSINES 3.5 K', while the other side is hand painted in black sans-serif characters 'MEESSEN 3.5 H' (with a dot below the letter 'H'). At the end of the sign is the remnant of a threaded bracket which would have attached it to a post, but which has been twisted and sheared off. The surface of the sign has been repeatedly torn and punctured by shrapnel and shell splinters.

History / Summary

This sign was evidently removed from one of the roads leading to Messines, in southern Belgium, and gives some indication of the volume of fire inflicted by the artillery of both sides upon all access routes in the Ypres salient. The sign was probably located at either Wulverghem or Wytschaete, each of which is about 3.5 kilometres from Messines. It is interesting that one side of the sign is marked with the French spelling of the name 'Messines', while the other shows the old Flemish spelling 'Meessen'. The town is today known as 'Mesen'.