Listening to foreign radio was forbidden in the Protectorate from 1 September 1939 and was punishable by death. After the lost Battle of Stalingrad in March 1943, an order was given to remove the part of all receivers that allowed reception of London and Moscow short-wave radio signals. Even under the threat of maximum punishment, this order was often bypassed by fitting a short-wave receiving accessory, referred to as churchills.