Islande

Long telegram to the British Legation in Reykjavik from the Home Office in Whitehall instructing them on position to take with the press depending on the result of the impending 'GERMAN AIROFFENSIVE CONTRABRITAIN' i.e. the Blitz.

11803 — On 'Landssimi Islands' telegram form. From London to 'PRODROME REYKJAVIK' on 19 August 1940. From the papers of Rev. J. C. Fulton Hood who having been Chief Chaplain British Forces in Norway in 1940 worked in Iceland between 1940 and 1941. A pencil note on the telegram see below refers to 'The Midnight Sun' the troops’ newspaper in Norway and Iceland which Hood founded and edited. He was made a Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 1949. The telegram is in good condition on lightly-aged paper and bears an oval blue 'LANDSSIMINN' stamp. It is headed 'PRESSE PRODROME REYKJAVIK' 'Prodrome Reykjavik' being the British Icelandic Legation's telegraph address. It reads as follows: 'MOIPCB LONDON OBGS R146 77W 1902 19 = = CIRCULAR GUIDANCE STOP TIS IMPORTANT YOU SHOULD TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY NOW EMPHASISE CRITICAL NATURE PRESENT GERMAN AIROFFENSIVE CONTRABRITAIN SUCCESS OR FAILURE OF WHICH WILL CONSTITUTE MAJOR TURNING POINT WARWARDS STOP IF AND WHEN AS RESULT HEAVY LOSSES GERMAS COMPELLED OFFCALL OFFENSIVE YOULL THEN BE POSITIONWARDS TO POINT ITS CESSATION AS MAJOR BRITISH VICTORY AND EXPOSE GERMAN ATTEMPTS CONCEAL FAILURE BY PASSING OFF AS SIDESHOW OR MASKING WITH SPECTACULAR ADVANCE SOME OTHER POINT = EMPAX 577'. In pencil in the top right-hand corner of the telegram is the following pencil note referring to Hood's newspaper 'The Midnight Sun': 'Could Hood get this over in his paper signed C.M. 20/8'. Between July and September 1940 the Luftwaffe attacked RAF Fighter Command to gain air superiority as a prelude to invasion bombing English Channel convoys ports and RAF airfields and supporting industries; the Blitz began in earnest on 7 September. On 'Landssimi Islands' telegram form. From London to 'PRODROME REYKJAVIK' on 19 August 1940. unknown