“DON’T TALK”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3175, 28 September 1942, Page 3

“DON’T TALK”

HARM DONE BY GOSSIP INFORMATION FOR ENEMY IF YOU DON’T KNOW, DON’T ASK “ Somewhere north of Australia a Japanese officer works in front of a big map of Australia with flags of different shapes and colours,” an Australian Army officer said recently.

“Those flags bear numbers corresponding with military units in Australia —armies, corps, divisions, brigades, A.1.F., A.M.F., and U.S. forces. The Japanese officer is moving the flags about, placing them where he believes each unit is located.

“Some parts of the map will have big clusters of flags, other places will show none. When the time comes for the Japanese commander to attack Australia he will try to strike where the flags are fewest. \ “A casual remark in Melbourne, that ‘Bill expects to be moving next week,’ may not mean much in itself. But another remark in Sydney by someone else about another man, a casual comment in Adelaide, a few scraps of gossip in a country bar, all may add up to the movement of a division. ,

“The movement of a division may disclose to the expert a whole tactical plan. Somewhere north of Australia the little flags will be moved from one part of the map to another. The Japanese commander will change his plan to counter ours, and our efforts to outwit him will all have gone for nought, all x through little scraps of gossip. “That is why the Army is saying now with all urgency—. “If you know, don’t talk! “If you don’t know, don’t ask.”