Hitler change of tactics was partly in response to British bombing raids on Berlin, but the main response was to try to break the morale of the British people and Churchill to sue for peace. Though the Luftwaffe had failed to defeat the RAF and Operation Sealion was called off, the bombing attacks on major cities continued throughout the winter causing much damage. Over a period of 77 days London was bombed every day except one. Other cities to be bombed included Bristol, Liverpool, Plymouth, Southampton, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry and Glasgow – all of them ports or industrial centres.
The British government was concerned about public morale because the huge fear generated by the Guernica bombing during the Spanish Civil War, convinced many people that a civilian population could be bombed into submission. The theory was that the population, in constant fear of a sudden and violent death, would put pressure on their government to surrender. If that government did not surrender, then the population would take to the streets, riot and overthrow the government. The whole point of a sustained bombing campaign was to destroy a nation’s morale.
The three key ways the British government hid the effects of the blitz was by appointing Government Censors who would cut out negative information that might damage public morale and the war effort. Also, appointing more Government censors that would only allow positive information about how Britain was coping during the Blitz. Finally, having the Ministry of Information produce propaganda encouraging people to support the war and to help keep their hopes high about winning.
Government appointed censors whose job it was to extract nearly all of the negative press from any sources of information. An example of the censors keeping information from the public is Source B. The photograph show in the source was censored because it was showing dead bodies and this was deemed to disturbing for the public.
Other Government Censors edited news papers; pictures of dead bodies were banned from being shown, and so were interviews of people complaining and some stories were suppressed altogether! The government could do this with ease because it had gained total censorship on all newspapers and other publications. It also had sufficient control over news broadcasts on the BBC. They were determined to get said what they wanted to the people, instead of the facts themselves. An example of this is Source C, it shows a photograph of a group of people smiling in front of their bombed buildings and the caption says “Their houses are wreaked but the tenants of the buildings still showed the British ‘grit’ ” .Newsreels over there showed people in London getting on with the job after long nights of destruction. However, not all propaganda that was created was as misleading as a lot had been. The Ministry Of Information was funded by the government to create films that were to warn and encourage the British people about the dangers that they were to face, and how they could protect themselves at the same time. These were very successful and proved to have a great impact on the people at home. Source E proves this because it shows report from the Ministry of Information to the government that inform them on the mood and attitude of the public. It shows that people are panicky and hysteric and that flight from the East End was growing rapidly, also it shows people were seeking shelter in railway stations rather than the shelters that were provided.
In conclusion: the British government was concerned with public morale and spirit because it was Hitler’s plan to break the morale of the British people and force the government to surrender. As a result the government took some measures to insure that they public did not panic and that morale was high, it meant most people were in the dark and did not know that really extent of the damage.
