‘File 28/7 II War: Propaganda – Local Opinion’ [135r] (269/686)
The record is made up of 1 file (341 folios). It was created in 12 Mar 1942-12 Aug 1944. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
'
TALKI1IG POINTS CIRCULAR
Ho.C/5.
Dear
KIDDLE. EAST:
Public Relations Office,
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
,
Bahrain,
In 1942, the fighter, fighter-bomber and light
bomber squadrons in the Kiddle East have flown 30,000 opera
tional sorties. In the hardest days 1 fighting at EL AL ALE I IT
they flew as many as 1000 sorties a day. In raids on enemy
landing-grounds, they have destroyed between 500 and 600
hostile aircraft. In their bombing and strafing attacks on
enemy concentrations and columns, they put out of action more
than 100 enemy tanks and armoured cars, and v/recked, at a con
servative estimate, some 5,000 enemy transport vehicles -
petrol and water bowsers, troop carriers, guns and supply
lorries.
The number of enemy aircraft shot down in the Middle
East during 1942 was 1,784.
During the year Malta fighters destroyed 773 enemy
aircraft, with nearly 300 others listed as ,f probables". R.A.F.
losses in aircraft in this time v/ere 195, but from these 89
pilots were saved.
Malta AA gunners shot down 182 Axis aircraft. The
total number of enemy aircraft destroyed by anti-aircraft
defences over Britain is 738.
The R.A.F. from Malta attacked 46 convoys, six single
vessels and five naval forces, with the result that 46 ships
were either sunk, severely damaged, or left in flames. About
40 other ships were attacked and damaged. Naval aircraft
backed up these attacks with 37 ships hit with bombs or tor
pedoes, including four cruisers and two destroyers. The grand
total of Malta shipping strikes is thus 83 ships hit, with 52
"probables”. Allowing for the fact that a medium-sized supply
ship carries the equivalent of six long goods trains of muni
tions or stores Malt a has in the year sent to the bottom
something like 500 goods trains.
During the enemy's attempt to neutralise the island
he dropped 12,000 tons of bombs on Malta. Now' Malta is strik
ing back. So far, with its limited resources, its aircraft
have dropped 1500 tons of bombs on the enemy in North Africa
and Sicily. These aircraft are now flying three times as many
operational hours as in the most active week in the summer.
513 enemy aircraft v/ere found abandoned on 120
landing-grounds in Egypt and Libya after the Battle of Egypt.
404 of these were German, 106 v/ere Italian and three were
French. 51$ of the total were fighters, 33$ bombers, 13$ trans
port aircraft and 3$ gliders.
BOMBS:
A 2,000-lb. bomb can destroy 25,000 square ft. and
severely damage 75,000 sq. ft. by blast. 300 tons of bombs
can completely destroy a square mile and damage by blast
proportionetely.
About this item
- Content
The file, a direct chronological continuation of ‘File 28/7 I War: Propaganda: local opinion’ (IOR/R/15/2/687), comprises reports and correspondence concerning: the dissemination of pro-British and Allied propaganda in Bahrain and the wider Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region, as prepared and coordinated by the Publicity Office in Bahrain; the reception and impact of propaganda (Allied and Axis) on local public opinion in Bahrain. The propaganda covers events from Germany’s advances in Russia and Japan’s advances in the Indian Ocean in early 1942, to the Allied Landings in Normandy in June 1944. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Public Relations Officer in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Bertram Sidney Thomas); the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban; Edward Birkbeck Wakefield; Major Tom Hickinbotham); and the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior).
The file includes:
- weekly reports, prepared by Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. staff, summarising local opinion in Bahrain towards news of events in the war. These reports were sent by the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in digested form and on a weekly basis to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. ;
- throughout the file, minutes of the approximately monthly meetings held by the Bahrain Radio Listeners Committee between July 1942 and August 1943. The minutes chiefly comprise comments on the content, quality of reception, quality of delivery, and timing, of BBC Arabic radio broadcasts, and to a lesser extent that of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. radio station;
- throughout the file, summaries of ‘talking points’ for dissemination as propaganda, focusing on topics including: Russia’s military strength against Germany (ff 42-43); facts and figures of the air war in the Mediterranean (ff 135-136); facts and figures on the Allied bombing campaign over Germany, with a focus on damage in Berlin and Essen (f 173);
- a report by Thomas of his tour of Middle East publicity centres (in Cairo, Jerusalem, Baghdad), dated 28 February 1943, commenting on: printing resources at Cairo; mechanical monitoring of radio broadcasts in Baghdad; use of cinema vans in remote districts of Iraq; Thomas’s own recommendations for publicity in the Gulf, including use of additional film projectors, hospitality sessions; majlis sessions (ff 11-16);
- a copy of an undated letter from L H Hurst of the Ministry of Information in London, to Thomas, requesting advice on ‘the best ways of capitalising the sympathies of pro-British Arabs.’ Thomas’s lengthy reply is appended to the letter (ff 47-51, with an additional copy at ff 59-64);
- correspondence relating to Thomas’s planned trip across the Arabian Peninsula, in March 1943 (ff 141-156);
- correspondence relating to Thomas’s departure to take up a role as head of an Arab Centre for training new officers (f 227);
- arrangements to send coloured film and records for broadcast in Sharjah (f 202);
- Government of Bahrain public notices: a prohibition on listening to German and Italian radio broadcasts, dated 16 June 1940 (f 5); a prohibition on listening to Japanese radio broadcasts, dated 8 December 1941 (f 6); dimming of car headlamps and other air raid precautions, dated 16 April 1942 (f 22).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (341 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The file notes at the end of the file (ff 315-342) mirror the chronological arrangement.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 343; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-314; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. An additional mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also present in parallel between ff 315-342.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/688
- Title
- ‘File 28/7 II War: Propaganda – Local Opinion’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:4v, 7r:21v, 23r:342v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence