Dispatches from the People's War: Home Intelligence and Army Morale reports, October 1940-May 1945

1939年战争爆发后，内维尔·张伯伦（Neville Chamberlain）政府成立了一个信息部（Ministry of Information， MOI），其任务是处理公共关系，更广泛地说，是维持士气。然而，MIO试图在没有任何评估公众情绪的情况下与公众沟通，这是一个障碍。这是在与英国对话，而不听英国的意见：一种片面的对话。1939年12月，在信息部内部成立了一个国内情报部门，以调查和监测民众的士气。从1940年5月18日至9月27日，这个单位每天编写关于公众舆论状况的秘密报告。从1940年10月9日至1944年12月27日，这些报告每周出版一次。这些报告涵盖了英国的所有地区，以及所有被认为会影响士气的问题，是一组了不起的文件。他们提供了一个独特的窗口来了解英国人在他们历史上最大的危机之一中的态度和行为。这些报告在内政部和其他相关的白厅部门之间传阅，并形成了英国公众和政府机构之间的重要联系。与此同时，陆军部对军队的士气深感担忧，因为在1944年6月英吉利海峡入侵之前，大部分军队都驻扎在英国。于是，副官部门建立了自己的收集部队情报的系统，从1942年1月到1945年5月，每季为陆军委员会编写士气报告。就像国内情报机构的报告一样，这些报告为我们提供了一个无与伦比的视角，让我们了解到国内军队在准备海外服役时的心态。如上所述，2010年5月，保罗·艾迪生博士和我出版了一本合编的卷，其中包含1940年5月18日至9月27日每日家庭情报报告的未删节集，标题为“倾听英国：1940年5月至9月英国最好时刻的家庭情报报告”（博德利海德出版社）。我们现在希望编写一个重要的后续卷。这将包括从1940年10月到1944年12月（当这些报告终止时）的每周家庭情报士气报告和从1942年1月到1945年5月的季度军队士气报告。这本新书，连同2010年5月出版的那一卷，将形成1940-1945年英国人民在大后方士气的全面调查。

On the outbreak of war in 1939 Neville Chamberlain's government set up a Ministry of Information (MOI) with the task of handling its public relations and, more generally, of sustaining morale. The MIO was, however, handicapped by the fact that is was trying to communicate with the public without any means of assessing the public mood. It was talking to Britain without listening to Britain: a one-sided conversation. In December 1939 a Home Intelligence department was established within the Ministry of Information to investigate and monitor popular morale. From 18 May until 27 September 1940 this unit compiled secret daily reports on the state of public opinion. From 9 October 1940 until 27 December 1944 these reports were produced on a weekly basis. The Home Intelligence reports, which cover all regions of the United Kingdom and all issues that were thought to affect morale, are a remarkable set of documents. They provide a unique window into the attitudes and behaviour of the British people during one of the supreme crises in their history. The reports were circulated within the MOI, and to other relevant Whitehall ministries, and came to form a vital link between the British public and the machinery of government. In the meantime, the War Office was deeply worried about the morale of the army, most of which was stationed in Britain until the cross-Channel invasion of June 1944. The adjutant-general's department thus set up its own system for gathering intelligence about the troops and, from January 1942 until May 1945, produced quarterly morale reports for the Army Council. Like the Home Intelligence reports, they offer us an unparalleled insight into the mindset of the troops at home as they prepared for overseas service.As outlined above, in May 2010 Dr Paul Addison and I published a co-edited volume containing an unabridged set of the daily home intelligence reports from 18 May to 27 September 1940 under the title 'Listening to Britain: Home Intelligence Reports on Britain's Finest Hour, May-September 1940' (The Bodley Head). We now wish to produce a major follow-up volume. This will include a selection of both the weekly home intelligence morale reports from October 1940 to December 1944 (when these reports terminate) and the quarterly army morale reports from January 1942 to May 1945. This new volume, together with the volume published in May 2010, will thus form a comprehensive survey of the morale of the British people on the home front from 1940-1945.