In the First World War, frontline censorship had been particularly systematic. Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes had an obvious edge when trying to control war news. The Japanese government moved increasingly to rationalize the media, working with the Newspaper Union to force mergers, while also licensing only those journalists whose stories grasped 'the national spirit'. Japanese newspapers had been producing special war editions ever since the Manchurian Incident. Across the Channel, with a possible German invasion imminent, British censorship remained stringent. America's entrance into the war initially exposed a major tension between the desirability of publicity and the necessity of censorship. Engaged in 'liberating' territory, the Allies launched a succession of amphibious assaults against Pacific, Mediterranean and Normandy targets.