In times of War Bells were melted down to make Cannons -In times of Peace Cannons were melted down to make Bells!

In times of War Bells were melted down to make Cannons.  175,000 bells across Europe were taken by Nazi Germany

In times of Peace Cannons were melted down to make Bells!  

The bells that rang out across allied nations after the First World War ended what for many had been a four-year silence enforced by regulation in some places and imposed by confiscation in others.

In Germany and across Europe, tens of thousands of bronze bells—some imparting “the songs of the angels” since the 12th century—had been seized and melted down for arms and munitions.

During the First World War, 44 per cent of the bells in Germany alone were lost, many given willingly to support the war effort—and some not so willingly.

“They will speak a different language in the future,” Munzinger said in his sermon on July 22, 1917. “It goes against any feelings that they, who like no other preach peace and should heal wounded hearts, should tear apart bodies in gruesome murders and open wounds that will never heal.”

The practice wasn’t limited to the conflict of 1914-18, either.

Between 1939 and 1945, 175,000 bells across Europe were taken by Nazi Germany. They were transported to collection points, known as Glockenfriedhöfe, or bell cemeteries, the biggest of them in Hamburg. Some 150,000 were delivered to foundries and melted down to make shell casings and armaments.

Benito Mussolini’s government actually forged a prewar agreement with the Vatican providing for the “mobilization” of Italian bells under which half were to be claimed for war industries. As was the case in Germany, at least one bell designated by local authorities was to remain in every tower.

The bells were to be broken up in Italy and the scrap sent to Hamburg for processing because Italian smelting plants did not have the capacity to meet the deluge.