Welsh Journals

covers the worst sustained period of air attacks on the whole country and falls naturally into two phases: the first from the outbreak of war until the summer of 1940 when a period of 'phoney war' existed and the anticipated raids failed to materialise, the second from the summer of 1940, when widespread raiding affected all parts of the country and air attacks on Swansea were frequent and sometimes heavy, until May 1941, at which time the attention of the Luftwaffe was directed away from this country and towards the Soviet Union. To facilitate and implement government policies in the event of war the country had been divided into twelve regions, each region presided over by a regional commissioner of the M.O.H.S. and the Home Office-a prestigious and potentially influential appointment. The regional commissioner appointed in April 1939 to Wales, Region 8, was Lord Portal, who held the appointment only until the end of the year when he left to become parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Supply. He was succeeded in January 1940 by Joint Commissioners. Mr. R. Richards dealt with North Wales; Colonel Sir Gerald Bruce, a deputy lieutenant of Glamorgan and a prominent industrialist in south Wales, dealt with south Wales and was the senior commissioner. At the outbreak of war the M.O.I, appointed a regional information officer in each region: Sir Robert Webber held the initial appointment in Wales but was soon to be succeeded by Mr. Caleb Rees. Reports from regional officials to their respective ministries contributed to policy-makers' understanding of public opinion and morale in the specific region, yet the paradoxical character of the term morale is evident from the uneven tenor and sometimes downright contradictions contained in their reports. The M.O.I., the government body charged with maintaining and sustaining public morale did not define morale until the heaviest period of air attack was over,7 and the M.O.H.S., also concerned to investigate and assess public morale, defined it in July 1940 as 'courage of mind, spirit and body'. Reports from Region 8 (as from other regions) sometimes reflect the particular experience and tempera- ment of the individuals who, with only this vague definition or no definition at all, took different views about the elements that constituted and affected public morale in their region. 'It was not until October 1941 that Sir Stephen Taylor, Director of M.O.I.'s home intelligence division, recommended a working definition. Morale must be 'ultimately measured not by what a person thinks and says but by what he does and how he does it'. Home Morale and Public Opinion': Sir S. Taylor, 1 October 1941, P.R.O., INF 1/292. Monthly Morale Report, June/July, 17 July 1940: P.R.O., HO 199/446.