with increased urbanisation such arrangements no longer serve to prevent unwanted incursions. This year Heliopolis War Cemetery has be pro- vided with sturdy masonry and concrete walls. At Cassino War Cemy, in Italy, the entrance has been modified, to discourage motor-cyclists from joy-riding in the cemetery, whilst at Catania War Cemetery in Sicily part of the front wall was demolished by a lorry and had to be re-built.
Unfortunately, there have been a number of instances of wilful damage to cemeteries and memorials in the past year. Twenty-three headstones were broken in Ypres Reservoir and Leopoldsburg War Cemeteries, Belgium, and three in Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery, Poland. In Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany, during the last week of October, the entrance building, the Stone of Remembrance and the shelter building were all sprayed with graffiti. A specialist contractor in Munich was immediately employed to clean off the paint using a fine sand-blasting technique that does not damage the stone and the cemetery was pre- sentable again before the Remembrance Day ceremony on 11 November. At the Commission's head office, research has continued into anti-graffiti coatings for stonework. The various coatings on the market do not resist the graffiti altogether but are intended to make it easier to clean it off after an attact. Unfortunately, in order to be fully effective the applications need to be so thick that the stone becomes unacceptably discoloured. Until this problem has been overcome and there are no other adverse effects to the fabric, the coatings cannot be taken into general use. Materials and techniques continue to improve rapidly, and it is hoped that, in time, anti-graffiti coatings will be a useful and effective preventative maintenance technique.
Vandalism at Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany
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The vandalised headstones at Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, Belgium, later inspected by the Minister of the Interior, Monsieur Tobback