Q3 - In what ways did the British government attempt to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain? (20 Marks)
Jayesh Sodha
Q3 - In what ways did the British government attempt to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain? (20 Marks)
During the war the British tried to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of England. They did this in three main ways; firstly the government employed censors to cut out ‘negative’ information that may damage morale and the war effort. Secondly the government sensors only let ‘positive’ information about how the British were handling the Blitz to be published. Thirdly the Ministry of Information produced propaganda that encouraged people to think they were winning the war.
The Ministry of Information’s censors cut out information about mass deaths so that morale would not be damaged. Reports of people panicking were restricted. In November 1940 a report was censored said that Coventry was in a terrible state and was unable to cope. Reports of people looting, breakdown of morale and bombings of homes were also not shown. A report of people desperately running away from their homes to sleep in the countryside was also never published. Information about deaths, casualties and the damage left due to German bombing was held back so that the Germans could not see that they were winning the war. The government tried to hide the effects as they feared that if people saw the devastation they may panic and lose the war. Consequently they needed to do this to retain support for the war and to keep up morale even if they were losing.