Tension Released

In the House of Lords Brigadier General Sir Henry Page Croft made an admission: signposts were being restored in rural Britain; tank-traps, ditches and trenches had been filled in; cement and iron roadblocks were no longer considered "operationally necessary." The Lords nodded solemn approval. Britons, in the 201st week of war, took scant notice of what would have been amazing news a year ago.

With nearly two million wellarmed, uniformed Home Guards, improved fire services and trained armed forces more than able to beat off any German attack, wartime tension on the home front had visibly relaxed. The evidence was abundant throughout England.

Aged cars and outworn farm machinery, long parked on flat acres to make them unhealthy for landing enemy aircraft, had been removed for salvage. Stout wires hung alongside broad highways for the same purpose had disappeared. Plate glass was replacing boarded-up shop windows. The Great Western Railway had restored 510 station names erased during the invasion scare. Trams, busses, subways and autos were removing some shades from their lights. Lord Beaverbrook's Evening Standard called for abolition of the blackout.

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