The Battle of the St. Lawrence by Nathan M. Greenfield Page A
Authors: Nathan M. Greenfield
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in which the prime minister reminded his members of the need for both cabinet and caucus unity in dealing with the contradictory vote in the April 7 plebiscite that freed King from his 1940 campaign promise not to bring in conscription, he made a most uncharacteristic detour into technical military matters: 8
I then went on to say that I had pretty good evidence of what I had said about space and time being eliminated. Matters were moving very rapidly and distance being overcome. I drew from my pocket a brown envelope with red seals and said that they would be surprised to learn that therein was word that an enemy submarine had torpedoed a ship in the waters of the St. Lawrence west of Gaspé and that this morning the survivors were being landed on the shores of the river in the province of Quebec. I said that I hoped they would not imagine that this was an isolated happening, and that they might expect to find it followed by further raids and the probable approach of the enemy into our country both on the waters and overhead, with the probable destruction of Canadian lives, homes, etc.
Vague as ever, King’s words did more than tell his MPs that new technologies were altering the time and space of war. His words were preparing them—and through them, ultimately, the nation—for something entirely new: battle deaths in Canada.
* * *
The stories pieced together by reporters grabbed the attention not only of the Canadian public but also of the German and Canadian governments. Even before Thurmann radioed his report to Admiral Dönitz at U-boat Command (
Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote
, or BdU), Germany knew of the sinkings from Canadian sources, published on the twelfth. At 9:15 a.m. on May …, hours before young Gaétan saw
Leto
’s survivors arrive on land, Berlin radio broadcast the (somewhat fictionalized) report, which indicates, incidentally, that Radio Berlin’s wordsmiths did not fully understand the geopolitical division of North America:
German U-boats are now operating in the St. Lawrence River, the nearest approach to land. A German U-boat sank an American 6,000-ton freighter yesterday, carrying a cargo of jute from India for Montreal. The ship had made the long voyage from India safely, only to be sunk in the St. Lawrence. This is the first time that U-boats have operated so far from the sea. The news broke like a bombshell in Canada and the United States. The United States Navy Department announced that no further report will be given of any future sinkings that may occur in this region. 9
Concerned about the extent of detail published in the aftermath of the sinkings—including the naming of survivors and such information as “we never used watches in the St. Lawrence river and we were only due to start them the morning after we were sunk”—the director of censorship of the Canadian naval staff prepared guidelines that told news editors what types of information should not be published. The legal foundation for Memorandum No. 1, prepared by Walter Scott Thompson and entitled “Sinkings in the St. Lawrence, May 11, 1942: Notes on Publication of News Stories,” was an Order in Council passed on September 1, 1939, nine days before King George VI signed Canada’s Declaration of War: “No person shall print, circulate or distribute a book, newspaper, periodical, pamphlet, picture or documentary of any kind containing any material, report or statement, false or otherwise, intended or likely to cause disaffection to His Majesty, or to interfere with the success of His Majesty’s forces … or which might be prejudicial to the safety of the state or the efficient prosecution of the war.”
Sent to news editors on May 21, Memorandum No. 1 recognized the impossibility of imposing a complete news blackout when the battle front extended hundreds of miles into the country. The director of censorship’s goal was, rather, to convince the nation’s news editors to censor their own news and thus,
I then went on to say that I had pretty good evidence of what I had said about space and time being eliminated. Matters were moving very rapidly and distance being overcome. I drew from my pocket a brown envelope with red seals and said that they would be surprised to learn that therein was word that an enemy submarine had torpedoed a ship in the waters of the St. Lawrence west of Gaspé and that this morning the survivors were being landed on the shores of the river in the province of Quebec. I said that I hoped they would not imagine that this was an isolated happening, and that they might expect to find it followed by further raids and the probable approach of the enemy into our country both on the waters and overhead, with the probable destruction of Canadian lives, homes, etc.
Vague as ever, King’s words did more than tell his MPs that new technologies were altering the time and space of war. His words were preparing them—and through them, ultimately, the nation—for something entirely new: battle deaths in Canada.
* * *
The stories pieced together by reporters grabbed the attention not only of the Canadian public but also of the German and Canadian governments. Even before Thurmann radioed his report to Admiral Dönitz at U-boat Command (
Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote
, or BdU), Germany knew of the sinkings from Canadian sources, published on the twelfth. At 9:15 a.m. on May …, hours before young Gaétan saw
Leto
’s survivors arrive on land, Berlin radio broadcast the (somewhat fictionalized) report, which indicates, incidentally, that Radio Berlin’s wordsmiths did not fully understand the geopolitical division of North America:
German U-boats are now operating in the St. Lawrence River, the nearest approach to land. A German U-boat sank an American 6,000-ton freighter yesterday, carrying a cargo of jute from India for Montreal. The ship had made the long voyage from India safely, only to be sunk in the St. Lawrence. This is the first time that U-boats have operated so far from the sea. The news broke like a bombshell in Canada and the United States. The United States Navy Department announced that no further report will be given of any future sinkings that may occur in this region. 9
Concerned about the extent of detail published in the aftermath of the sinkings—including the naming of survivors and such information as “we never used watches in the St. Lawrence river and we were only due to start them the morning after we were sunk”—the director of censorship of the Canadian naval staff prepared guidelines that told news editors what types of information should not be published. The legal foundation for Memorandum No. 1, prepared by Walter Scott Thompson and entitled “Sinkings in the St. Lawrence, May 11, 1942: Notes on Publication of News Stories,” was an Order in Council passed on September 1, 1939, nine days before King George VI signed Canada’s Declaration of War: “No person shall print, circulate or distribute a book, newspaper, periodical, pamphlet, picture or documentary of any kind containing any material, report or statement, false or otherwise, intended or likely to cause disaffection to His Majesty, or to interfere with the success of His Majesty’s forces … or which might be prejudicial to the safety of the state or the efficient prosecution of the war.”
Sent to news editors on May 21, Memorandum No. 1 recognized the impossibility of imposing a complete news blackout when the battle front extended hundreds of miles into the country. The director of censorship’s goal was, rather, to convince the nation’s news editors to censor their own news and thus,
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