§ Captain Gammansasked the First Lord of the Admiralty why particulars of the convoy to Russia in 1942 were not published until erroneous and misleading statements had appeared in the American Press; and if he will take steps to make known a full account of all these convoy operations.
Mr. AlexanderWhen this convoy operation took place, and far a long time after, valuable information would have been given to the enemy by the publication of any particulars. By the time this consideration had lost its force, the episode was already long past. For this 1411W reason, and since many general references had meanwhile been made to the sacrifices and dangers of the passage to North Russia, there appeared to be no advantage in the belated disclosure of the details. A special situation was, however, created by the sudden appearance in many American papers of erroneous and Misleading accounts, which clearly required the facts to be placed on public record. I will consider my hon. Friend's suggestion in the second part of his Question; but I would point out that from time to time a good deal of information has already been published about the North Russian convoys and that for security reasons a good deal could not he told even now about the more recent.