§ Mr. Parkerasked the Secretary of State for War what was the reason for the issue, by General Scobie just before the end of hostilities in Europe, of a warning that 722W the British military police might be ordered to destroy copies of Greek newspapers and to close their printing offices; what was the form and wording of this warning; and when will the powers therein assumed be relaxed.
§ Sir J. GriggThis warning was issued on 1st May in a letter from Lieut.-General Scobie to the Greek Under-Secretary for the Press, who transmitted it to the Greek Press. The operative words of it were
immediately on the publication of any article or news item likely to prejudice the security of Allied Forces in any theatre of the war, British Military Police will be instructed to confiscate all copies of the offending paper and to seal their presses for a specified period.The reason for the warning was the publication of a series of articles in the Greek Press. Some of these articles dealt with British operations in Greece during the German occupation and mentioned the names of British officers who were at that date still prisoners in German hands; others mentioned the movements of His Majesty's ships and also of British formations. These articles were therefore quite clearly of a character prejudical to military security in time of war; in addition they might have imperilled the personal safety of the captured British officers. Despite previous protests the Greek Press had continued to issue articles of this type. As a result of this warning the offending articles ceased at once and there was no case of action having to be taken against any paper. As the German war has now ended the problem is unlikely to arise again.