Harold Cardozo

Harold Gordon Cardozo (1888–1963) was an English journalist, soldier, war correspondent, and author.

During the First World War, Cardozo enlisted as a private into the Rifle Brigade and on 26 June 1917 was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Royal Irish Rifles.^[1] In November 1921 he was serving as a temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Ulster Rifles and was made up to Lieutenant.^[2]

Cardozo’s main career was as a Daily Mail correspondent. He covered the Spanish Civil War for the newspaper, and George Orwell commented on his reports “ the Daily Mail, amid the cheers of the Catholic clergy, was able to represent Franco as a patriot delivering his country from hordes of fiendish Reds”.^[3] In his book March of a Nation (1937), Cardozo told the story of the war from a point of view supportive of Franco.^[4] This was chosen as the Right Book Club’s book of the month for November 1937.^[5]

In 1940, Cardozo was the first British journalist allowed to enter France after its capitulation to Germany and reported for the Mail from Vichy, quickly publishing a new book, France in Chains, to describe the situation of France.^[6] He stated that France had no freedom left and looked forward to Britain returning France to “her former sovereign power”.^[7]