The Little Flaws

Evening Star, Issue 25893, 10 September 1946, Page 5

The Little Flaws

The two items locate one or more battalions of the Royal Berkshire Regiment as being in Burma. It was precisely little flaws like this which , the enemy searched for—and which we tried to conceal.

For example, when Miss Diana Talbot, daughter of the captain of H.M.S. Illustrious, was married to Captain A. L. S. Harris, R.M., we had to ask the Press to publish nothing but the names of the bride and bridegroom, the date, and the name of the town where the wedding was. _ Anything more would almost certainly have indicated the whereabouts of that important warship and the reason for her presence there.

Many warships were “ adopted ” by towns in England, which usually presented a' piece of plate to the ship they had chosen. The local papers were very upset because they could not report the ceremony of presentation. But it was usually, attended by a party of officers and men from the

vessel, and a report would have given away the fact that she was in home waters.

For the same reason editors were asked that in reporting the names of naval personnel who were decorated at an investiture the men should not be described as “ of H.M.S. —but that their awards should be stated to have been given for services “ in H.M.S.—.” Again, consider a report of a football match which a team representing the- Loamshire Regiment wins with a goal scored by Lieutenant-colonel Smith.

This would almost certainly give the enemy the name of the officer commanding; one battalion of the Loamshires. So any further mention of Lieutenant-colonel Smith—perhaps that he shot a rare bird in India a year lateiv—would give away the position of a battalion of the Loamshires. That was why w e made the rule that no ranks might be given in sports reports unless all members of the team were of the rank of major or below.