POPULAR NEWSPAPERS DURING WORLD WAR II

Part 4: 1942-1943 (The Daily Express, the Daily Mirror, the News of the World, The People & the Sunday Express)

This microfilm publication makes available complete runs of the Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, the News of the World, The People, and the Sunday Express for the years 1939 through to 1945. At last social historians and students of journalism can consult complete war-time runs of Britain’s popular newspapers in their libraries. Less august than the papers of record, it is these papers which reveal most about the impact of the war on the home front, the ways in which people amused themselves in the face of adversity, and the way in which public morale was kept high through a mixture of propaganda and judicious reporting.

Most importantly, it is through these papers that we can see how most ordinary people received news of the war. For, with a combined circulation of over 13 million in 1939, increasing to over 22 million by 1948, and a secondary readership far in excess of these figures, the News of the World, the People, the Daily Express, The Daily Mirror and the Sunday Express reached into the homes of the majority of the British public and played a critical role in shaping public perceptions of the war.

Extended runs of such papers are only held by a handful of libraries and their physical condition is generally perilous. Some books have made available selections of front pages, lauding the importance of headlines and pictures in conveying news. But here – for the first time – are complete runs of these papers including the fashion, sports, entertainments and advertisements, providing countless teaching and research opportunities for those studying social history, journalism and popular culture.

These papers show how both the hopes and the fears of the British people writ large. Air-raids, black outs, the destruction of property, evacuation of children, the loss or absence of loved ones, rationing, and conscription all became facts of life.

These papers played a central role in satisfying the public’s appetite for news and in carrying out the government’s wishes to control morale. They created and fed off the products of popular culture – especially popular music, sports and cinema – and gave the war a human scale by relating events to individuals.

Part 1 offers complete runs of each of the newspapers for 1939. It is interesting to compare coverage of identical issues and events and to identify political viewpoints and attempts to gain readership in particular sectors. A good example is the handling of the tense international situation before was broke out. On Sunday January 1, 1939 the News of the World declared that "we must be ready at any moment, as the Prime Minister declares we are ready to meet a life-and-death challenge". In contrast the Daily Express ran a story pacifying the public – "This is why you can sleep soundly in 1939".

Chamberlain’s 'satisfactory' negotiations with Mussolini and Hitler can be contrasted with the fierce struggles of Arsenal, Blackpool, Wolves and Everton in the League Championship. Throughout September and October the mood changes significantly as Europe was pushed over the precipice into war. Even the advertising was placed on a war-footing as fruit-gums, for instance, are suggested as the ideal alternative to cigarettes for sailors.

Part 2, covering 1940, carries us through the fall of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg and the redundancy of the Maginot line to the miracle of Dunkirk in which a defeat was turned into a victory in the eyes of the press. The Battle of Britain was joined and night-raids on London forced mass evacuation which is well reported. Chaplin’s 'Great Dictator' and Selznick’s 'Gone With the Wind' are rapturously received. Although all newspapers in Britain were limited in size in 1940 because of the shortage of newsprint, and circulation numbers were restricted to the then prevailing level for the duration of the war, the newspapers lost none of their appeal or popular enthusiasm.

Part 3 covers 1941. Lend-Lease, the sinking of HMS Hood followed by the hunt and sinking of the Bismarck, Operation Barbarossa and the German advance towards Moscow, the sudden switch of allegiance to Russia and her heroic armies, the intensification of the German U-Boat Campaign, Rommel’s determined counter-offensive in North Africa, meetings between Roosevelt and Churchill and the signing of the Atlantic Charter, marked a year culminating in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The year of 1941 also witnessed the loss of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, the surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese, and a fierce and resolute struggle to turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic. Through the setbacks and the triumphs the Popular Press played a key role in controlling civilian morale.

Part 4 covers both 1942 and 1943 as paper rationing continued to reduce the size of newspapers. 1942 was in many ways a mirror image of 1941. 1942 began where 1941 had left off – with a string of disasters for the Allies such as the fall of Singapore and the capture of Tobruk. German forces regained the initiative on the Eastern Front. But commando raids along the French coast help to revive public morale, the RAF began its unrelenting saturation bombing of German cities, and the Battle of Midway turn the tide of war in the Pacific. The Battle of Stalingrad ended Germany’s forward progress in Russia and Montgomery courted media attention as his Eighth army engaged and defeated the Afrika Korps at El Alamein and recaptured Tobruk.

1943 saw a different sort of disappointment. The Allied forces pushed back Axis opposition on all fronts (North Africa is cleared, German forces quit Stalingrad, Italy surrenders); but hopes of a rapid end to the war are revealed to be no more than wishful thinking and the Allies commence the hard slog towards Axis capitulation.

Part 5 concludes the project and covers 1944-1945. The difficulties of gaining victory are exemplified by drawn-out campaigns at Monte Cassino, Kohima/Imphal, and Guam in 1944. However, the Second Front that Stalin had pressed for was created when Allied forces landed in Normandy and Paris was promptly recaptured. German V1 and V2 attacks created a mini-blitz in London and morale was tested again after the failure of Arnhem and the loss of supplies during the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes.

1945 brought an end to the war and political changes throughout the world. Roosevelt died in sight of victory, Churchill was ousted in the July election by a Labour landslide, and Stalin’s race for Berlin heralded the onset of a Cold War that was to last for 45 years. Anyone reading the pages of the newspapers will find it difficult not to understand the Allied motives for the saturation bombing of Dresden and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The allies – particularly Britain – had been economically and emotionally drained by the war and sought a swift end to it. The horrendous revelations of German and Japanese concentration camps fueled hatred. Enemy resistance as troops bore down on Berlin and Okinawa became more intense and required immense sacrifice to ensure conquest. The Popular Press fanned the flames of vengeance without regard to moral propriety. However, a new world order was eventually set in place. The newly created United Nations promised much, the World Bank was created and reconstruction began. The seeds of European Unity were planted, and the Labour government in Britain presided over the creation of the Welfare State and the final collapse of the British Empire.

Within each part the newspapers are organised aphabetically, with complete runs of the two dailies – the Daily Express and The Daily Mirror, followed by the three Sunday papers – the News of the World, The People and the Sunday Express.

Any library supporting studies of World War II should consider adding this set to their collections. It shows how the news of the world’s events were mirrored and expressed to the people, how opinions were formed, and how people lived and survived. This is a most important collection for all those interested in Media Studies, the History of Journalism, and Newspaper History. It is also a most valuable resource for those concerned with the social and cultural history of the Second World War.