“BALLYHOO BATTLE”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20627, 1 December 1941, Page 5

“BALLYHOO BATTLE”

WARNING BY GENERAL

TOO-OPTIMISTIC STORIES

(Reed. Dec. 1, 9 a.m.)

LONDON, Nov. 30,

Major-General C. G. Fuller, in an grticle in the Standard, draws attention to some over-optimistic accounts of the Libyan battles and singles out the British Broadcasting Corporation. "When the Bth Army launched its offensive none in London could know what type of victory General Cunningham was seeking; yet within a few hours G.H.Q. in Broadcasting House embarked on a campaign of words bearing but remote resemblance to the sober announcements from Cairo G.H.Q.,” he said. “The British Broadcasting Corporation told us the enemy had no chance of recovering from the smashing initial blow, but Cairo never released such desirable information. I do not suggest that a ballyhoo battle has not a certain psychological value, but if the real battle does not keep to the heel of the imaginary battle, we must not conclude that the former has failed.” TROOPS FROM BRITAIN (Reed. Dec. 1, 9 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 30. The Minister of Information, Mr. Brendon Bracken, in a speech at Oxford, revealed that 70 per cent, of the British forces in Libya were from Britain itself.