AN interesting reminder of the reporting restrictions in force during the Second World War can be found on the reverse of this photograph from April, 1940. A triangular stamp reads ‘Not to be published’, in stern capitals, initialled by an anonymous official in the Press and Censorship Bureau. he independent bureau was established in October 1939 after a serious crisis, involving what could and what could not be reported about the presence of British troops in France, had engulfed the Ministry of Information, which until then had been responsible for vetting newspaper reporting on the war.
On the weekend of 27-28 April, more than 100 officers, sailors and marines, who had taken part in naval engagements in Norvik, Norway, arrived in Glasgow. They had spent four days ashore in Norway before being rescued. Some of them, this newspaper reported, were “wearing a strange variety of clothing given them by kindly Norwegian villagers” and had “many thrilling tales to tell of their experiences.” In the picture, they are putting money into a Glasgow student’s charity collection tin.
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The Allies had mined Norwegian coastal waters on April 8 to disrupt the Nazis’ winter supply of Swedish iron-ore but were stunned the following day when the German forces began their invasion of Norway. Though the Allies regained Narvik from the Germans in late May, the Norway campaign was a disaster for the Allies. As historian Andrew Roberts has written, the House of Commons debate on Norway on May 7 and 8 destroyed the Chamberlain government and brought to power “an energetic coalition under the premiership of Churchill, ironically enough the Briton most directly responsible for the Norway expedition and the Admiralty’s unimpressive part in it.”
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