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Diary Of WW2 — Day 159

Feb 06, 12:00 PM

Tuesday 6th February 1940

At Euston Station, in London, a parcel bomb injures 4 people. The IRA is thought to have planted the device.

Also in London new guidelines for BBC war reporting are issued. Following Admiralty pressure, from now on, the sinking of a small ship may be mentioned only once in a BBC news bulletin. Larger ships, like the Canadian Pacific freighter Beaverburn, sunk today, can be mentioned in consecutive bulletins. The move is to counter the impression that too much reporting, will give the impression that British losses to the increasingly effective U-Boats are even greater than they are.

A campaign is launched to end war gossip. Posters carrying the slogan “Careless Talk Costs Lives” begin to appear.

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