The resistance to awareness of cigarettes being harmful is amazing. It wasn't just lobbyists, but the public who fought the knowledge. It was the equivalent of covering your ears and saying, "I can't hear you..." Even today, a friend of mine buys American Spirit tobacco and her position is that it's safe.. it's not tobacco that's harmful, but the pesticides they spray on it.
The packs of cigarettes given out with rations during WW II was a response to demand. You've got hundreds of thousands of men all over Europe and the Pacific who are heavy smokers, they wanted those cigarettes and they wouldn't take no for an answer. The men who didn't smoke could trade their packs for chocolate or whatever. Sort of like prison, where cigarettes are a form of currency. (I'm sure the tobacco companies were happy at the thought of getting new smokers and guaranteed sales, of course, but it's not like they weren't making money by the truckload anyway.)