What was censored in ww2 letters?
During World War II letters were censored by military personnel and post office workers to protect sensitive information being leaked to the “enemy aliens.” Censorship occurred in Canada, England and other allied countries. Soldiers’ letters were censored for the same reasons as newspapers.
Why is a letter called a letter?
The word letter, borrowed from Old French letre, entered Middle English around 1200 AD, eventually displacing the native English term bōcstaf (bookstaff). Letter is descended from the Latin littera, which may have descended from the Greek “διφθέρα” (writing tablet), via Etruscan.
Who invented handwritten?
One of the most basic forms of sending and receiving messages between two people was in the form of written letters. “According to the testimony of ancient historian Hellanicus, the first recorded handwritten letter was written by Persian Queen Atossa, around 500 BC” (Tomshinsky, 2013, p. 112).
How many letters were sent from the trenches in WW1?
Letters from the Trenches Twelve and a half million letters were sent to the Western Front every week. In 1914 the Postal Section of the Royal Engineers had a staff of 250 men. By 1918 the Army Postal Service employed 4,000 soldiers.
Can a soldier send a letter home from the trenches?
Although Soldiers in the trenches were allowed to send letters home to their loved ones, the letters that they sent were heavily censored by the Ministry of Defence, details of where the soldier was stationed were deleted as were details of any movements that the soldier was involved with, letters home were often unreadable because of the censors.
Why did soldiers write to each other in the trenches?
Even soldiers in the front line trenches received daily deliveries of letters. Soldiers were also encouraged to write letters to friends and family in Britain. Most men decided it would be better to conceal the horrors of the trench warfare.
Why was the letter from the trenches censored?
The letter was not censored. The soldiers at the front need more rest. While in the trenches the water is over our knees most of the time. The war is going to last some time yet, and might be another twelve months before it is over. The war has only just begun and its going to be a war of exhaustion.