War Correspondent

Page 1

War


If a war correspondent can be defined as a journalist who is sent by a news-gathering organization to provide eyewitness reports from a conflict zone, Special Correspondent William Howard Russell of the Times, who described himself as ‘the miserable parent of a luckless tribe’, has a good claim to be the first. His first forays into journalism came when he was a struggling young barrister, but in 1850 he covered a battle at Idstedt, an

A correspondent’s first duty, within the bounds of honour and decency, is to his newspaper. Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) in Edgar Wallace by Himself, 1932

almost forgotten engagement in the political and military quagmire known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question. Four years later, the Times dispatched him with the

‘expedition to the East’ to report for the newspaper on the Crimean War (1854–56) in which, for strategic reasons, French and British forces supported Turkey against Russia. Although Russell travelled with the British troops and lived among them, he was not embedded, nor were his dispatches censored. Shocked by the conditions endured by the soldiers, he asked his editor, John Thadeus Delane, if he should report or ignore what he

the rise of the war correspondent saw, and, to his credit, Delane urged him to report the truth. The consequent exposure of the inadequate medical facilities and the administrative incompetence infuriated senior commanders in the field, and their resentment extended to denying Russell all assistance, even food rations, when his baggage was lost.

above: Captain J.M. Knap’s Independent Battery ‘E’ Light Artillery, a Union unit at the Battle of Antietam, 1862, during the American Civil War. Photographed by Alexander Gardner.

Russell, however, was a genial man who made friends among the troops. One soldier reportedly described him as ‘a vulgar low Irishman, [who] sings a good song, drinks anyone’s brandy and water and smokes as many cigars as a Jolly Good Fellow. He is just the

the rise of the war correspontent 11


If a war correspondent can be defined as a journalist who is sent by a news-gathering organization to provide eyewitness reports from a conflict zone, Special Correspondent William Howard Russell of the Times, who described himself as ‘the miserable parent of a luckless tribe’, has a good claim to be the first. His first forays into journalism came when he was a struggling young barrister, but in 1850 he covered a battle at Idstedt, an

A correspondent’s first duty, within the bounds of honour and decency, is to his newspaper. Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) in Edgar Wallace by Himself, 1932

almost forgotten engagement in the political and military quagmire known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question. Four years later, the Times dispatched him with the

‘expedition to the East’ to report for the newspaper on the Crimean War (1854–56) in which, for strategic reasons, French and British forces supported Turkey against Russia. Although Russell travelled with the British troops and lived among them, he was not embedded, nor were his dispatches censored. Shocked by the conditions endured by the soldiers, he asked his editor, John Thadeus Delane, if he should report or ignore what he

the rise of the war correspondent saw, and, to his credit, Delane urged him to report the truth. The consequent exposure of the inadequate medical facilities and the administrative incompetence infuriated senior commanders in the field, and their resentment extended to denying Russell all assistance, even food rations, when his baggage was lost.

above: Captain J.M. Knap’s Independent Battery ‘E’ Light Artillery, a Union unit at the Battle of Antietam, 1862, during the American Civil War. Photographed by Alexander Gardner.

Russell, however, was a genial man who made friends among the troops. One soldier reportedly described him as ‘a vulgar low Irishman, [who] sings a good song, drinks anyone’s brandy and water and smokes as many cigars as a Jolly Good Fellow. He is just the

the rise of the war correspontent 11


sort of chap to get information, particularly out of youngsters’.

The newspaper industry in the USA became thoroughly estab-

Officers and men warmed to him, not least for his fearless willing-

lished during the second half of the nineteenth century,

ness to describe their suffering:

particularly in the towns and cities of the East Coast. While large newspapers had their own salaried correspondents for home news, in 1849 the major New York titles had pooled their resources to set up a news-gathering service that would later become the Associated Press. This innovation significantly reduced the bill for telegraphy; an average ‘letter’ – as American dispatches were called at that time – from Washington, DC, to New York cost in the region of $100. The outbreak of civil war in 1861 created a surge in public demand for information. The bigger newspapers dispatched their professional reporters, known as ‘specials’, to accompany the armies, while small-town papers may have taken advantage of freelances and enthusiastic volunteers who were following, or serving with, a locally recruited unit. While these amateurs relied on returning soldiers and the postal service to carry their material home, the professionals could afford to take their own It took 20 days for that dispatch about the cavalry action at Bal-

dispatches or use the telegraph, if they had something that was

aklava to reach the newspaper-reading public. Most of Europe was

top priority.

linked by telegraph, and a submarine cable connected France to

top: Men of 8th Hussars at the

above: Photograph by Roger

cooking house, photographed

Fenton showing the tents in the

by Roger Fenton, whose

camp at Sebastopol.

Despite government attempts to discredit them, Russell’s dis-

Britain, but the nearest telegraph to the Crimea was at Bucharest.

Censorship was limited, with only telegraph messages from Wash-

patches caused an outcry that brought down the government and

Army dispatches travelled nearly 300 miles (500 kilometres)

ington,

led to massive changes in the Crimean campaign. Florence

across the Black Sea to Varna on the coast of Bulgaria, from where

themselves part of their chosen side’s war effort and never inten-

actively

vetted.

War

correspondents

considered

Nightingale was sent out to reorganize medical services at Scutari

a mounted messenger undertook the 60-hour journey to

tionally betrayed useful information to the enemy, though in their

and Times’ readers donated thousands of pounds to a fund that

Bucharest. By the end of the war a temporary submarine cable

enthusiasm they were sometimes guilty of including sensitive

purchased supplies to ameliorate the conditions in which the

across the Black Sea and the linking of Varna and Bucharest

data such as troop movements and levels of ammunition. Accord-

troops existed. No other individual war correspondent can claim so

reduced transmission time to and from London to around five

ing to the Commercial4 in Cincinnati, one Union general believed

much influence – partly for the simple reason that, after the

hours. However, the electric telegraph routes were rarely made

that the government would not achieve much until it had hanged a

Crimea, governments and military chiefs generally went to great

available to Russell and the other correspondents: their dis-

few spies ‘and at least one newspaper reporter’. Both sides tried at

lengths to manage the reporting of conflicts.

patches went by sea via Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).

various times to ban correspondents.

Russell was never afraid to put himself in harm’s way in order to

After more than a year and a half reporting for the Times from the

When William Howard Russell travelled to the United States in

photographic van can be seen

observe the action, and at the Battle of Alma he came close to

Crimea, Russell handed over to William Stowe, who died of cholera a

1861, he was a welcome visitor as far as the Union side was con-

at the left edge of the image.

being hit by shrapnel and killed when his refuge suffered a direct

month later. Russell went on to cover the remaining conflicts of the

cerned because its supporters believed that the kind of fearless,

hit. That determination earned him a second claim to enduring

Indian Mutiny, the American Civil War and the Franco–Prussian War.

independent reporting he had displayed in the Crimea would show

fame when his eyewitness description of the charge of the Light

The first war correspondent to be knighted, Russell died in 1907.

their cause to advantage, particularly in Britain. However, frank-

Brigade created the definitive image of the episode, directly inspir-

ness proved to be a double-edged sword. At the first major

ing the poem by Tennyson that immortalizes it.

engagement of the war, the First Battle of Bull Run (known to the Confederacy as the First Battle of Manassas) in July 1861, Russell

The American Civil War – brothers to arms

found himself caught up in the panic-stricken retreat of the Union soldiers in the rear and he made no attempt to play down the ensuing chaos:

12 war correspondent

the rise of the war correspondent 13


sort of chap to get information, particularly out of youngsters’.

The newspaper industry in the USA became thoroughly estab-

Officers and men warmed to him, not least for his fearless willing-

lished during the second half of the nineteenth century,

ness to describe their suffering:

particularly in the towns and cities of the East Coast. While large newspapers had their own salaried correspondents for home news, in 1849 the major New York titles had pooled their resources to set up a news-gathering service that would later become the Associated Press. This innovation significantly reduced the bill for telegraphy; an average ‘letter’ – as American dispatches were called at that time – from Washington, DC, to New York cost in the region of $100. The outbreak of civil war in 1861 created a surge in public demand for information. The bigger newspapers dispatched their professional reporters, known as ‘specials’, to accompany the armies, while small-town papers may have taken advantage of freelances and enthusiastic volunteers who were following, or serving with, a locally recruited unit. While these amateurs relied on returning soldiers and the postal service to carry their material home, the professionals could afford to take their own It took 20 days for that dispatch about the cavalry action at Bal-

dispatches or use the telegraph, if they had something that was

aklava to reach the newspaper-reading public. Most of Europe was

top priority.

linked by telegraph, and a submarine cable connected France to

top: Men of 8th Hussars at the

above: Photograph by Roger

cooking house, photographed

Fenton showing the tents in the

by Roger Fenton, whose

camp at Sebastopol.

Despite government attempts to discredit them, Russell’s dis-

Britain, but the nearest telegraph to the Crimea was at Bucharest.

Censorship was limited, with only telegraph messages from Wash-

patches caused an outcry that brought down the government and

Army dispatches travelled nearly 300 miles (500 kilometres)

ington,

led to massive changes in the Crimean campaign. Florence

across the Black Sea to Varna on the coast of Bulgaria, from where

themselves part of their chosen side’s war effort and never inten-

actively

vetted.

War

correspondents

considered

Nightingale was sent out to reorganize medical services at Scutari

a mounted messenger undertook the 60-hour journey to

tionally betrayed useful information to the enemy, though in their

and Times’ readers donated thousands of pounds to a fund that

Bucharest. By the end of the war a temporary submarine cable

enthusiasm they were sometimes guilty of including sensitive

purchased supplies to ameliorate the conditions in which the

across the Black Sea and the linking of Varna and Bucharest

data such as troop movements and levels of ammunition. Accord-

troops existed. No other individual war correspondent can claim so

reduced transmission time to and from London to around five

ing to the Commercial4 in Cincinnati, one Union general believed

much influence – partly for the simple reason that, after the

hours. However, the electric telegraph routes were rarely made

that the government would not achieve much until it had hanged a

Crimea, governments and military chiefs generally went to great

available to Russell and the other correspondents: their dis-

few spies ‘and at least one newspaper reporter’. Both sides tried at

lengths to manage the reporting of conflicts.

patches went by sea via Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).

various times to ban correspondents.

Russell was never afraid to put himself in harm’s way in order to

After more than a year and a half reporting for the Times from the

When William Howard Russell travelled to the United States in

photographic van can be seen

observe the action, and at the Battle of Alma he came close to

Crimea, Russell handed over to William Stowe, who died of cholera a

1861, he was a welcome visitor as far as the Union side was con-

at the left edge of the image.

being hit by shrapnel and killed when his refuge suffered a direct

month later. Russell went on to cover the remaining conflicts of the

cerned because its supporters believed that the kind of fearless,

hit. That determination earned him a second claim to enduring

Indian Mutiny, the American Civil War and the Franco–Prussian War.

independent reporting he had displayed in the Crimea would show

fame when his eyewitness description of the charge of the Light

The first war correspondent to be knighted, Russell died in 1907.

their cause to advantage, particularly in Britain. However, frank-

Brigade created the definitive image of the episode, directly inspir-

ness proved to be a double-edged sword. At the first major

ing the poem by Tennyson that immortalizes it.

engagement of the war, the First Battle of Bull Run (known to the Confederacy as the First Battle of Manassas) in July 1861, Russell

The American Civil War – brothers to arms

found himself caught up in the panic-stricken retreat of the Union soldiers in the rear and he made no attempt to play down the ensuing chaos:

12 war correspondent

the rise of the war correspondent 13


On the last day of August 1939, German tanks were massed on

hotel, Associated Press’s (AP) Lynn Heinzerling had: ‘… heard a

the Polish border ready for the following day’s invasion, veiled from

German officer, who usually slept late, leave a call for 3:15 the next

the eyes of curious motorists by a hessian screen next to the road

morning – Friday, Sept. 1. I realized then that it was coming. It was

to Katowice. The border was closed to all but diplomatic vehicles,

4:47 a.m. by my watch when the firing started. I ran down the

and the Daily Telegraph’s Clare Hollingworth had borrowed the

hotel stairs several steps at a time. The night watchman said:

British consul’s car and driven into Germany to do some shopping.

“Es geht los.” (It’s started.) I ran toward the Vistula River. There I

‘I got to the border with Germany, they were a

What a nuisance that man Hitler makes of himself. An anonymous lady in Liverpool speaking to Sir Philip Gibbs in 1940, from The Pageant of the Years, 1946

saw what it was – the German warship Schleswig-Holstein.’2

bit surprised to see the Union Jack, but they let me in, and I went in to the nearest town. … For-

On 3 September, after Germany had ignored ultimatums

tunately for me, as I was driving along, a sudden

from both Britain and France, the Second World War began.

strong gust of wind blew the screen away from

Carleton-Green was hoisted onto the shoulders of jubilant

its moorings and I looked into the valley and saw scores, if not hun-

Poles. The official at the Foreign Office to whom Beattie

dreds, of tanks lined up ready to go into Poland.’ On her return she

was talking to broke down in tears of relief when the news

briefed the consul, and urged him to get on to the telephone

flash came that Poland was not alone.

immediately to Warsaw and London. ‘And I got in touch with Hugh Carlton-Greene who was my boss … for the Telegraph in Warsaw.’1

The Polish campaign ended on 5 October. Sixteen days after Hitler attacked from the West, the Soviets invaded

At 08:00 on 1 September, Ed Beattie was on the phone to Amster-

from the east. The Allied journalists had no choice other

dam when he heard the first bombs fall on Warsaw. In a Danzig

than to leave. Patrick Maitland of the Times and Carleton-Greene drove south in a convoy led by the Daily Express’s Sefton Delmer. Richard Mowrer was detained at Zaleszczyki in the Russian-occupied zone, but he escaped by swimming the Dniester River and making his way to the Romanian town of Czernowitz in just his under-

the second world war

wear. Beattie held on until the US military attaché was told to leave, when together they found an abandoned car and headed for Romania. The correspondents made it to Bucharest, most with no more than a rucksack and typewriter. Clare Hollingworth drove the consul general’s car out of Katowice, Union Jack flying, and the consul general drove a second diplomatic car. The roads were packed with desperate Poles evacuating their cities. Coaxed out of self-imposed retirement by Frank Gervasi, 37-yearold Robert St. John, who was supposedly too old to be a war correspondent, travelled to Budapest where he was snapped up by AP on the day that Poland was invaded.

THE ‘FOURTH SERVICE’ Many of the ‘warcos’, as they became known, who witnessed those first weeks of the war were the less experienced ones. The veterans were fretting in London, waiting for official accreditation

opposite: German tanks crossing

above: Warco’s uniform. The

to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) now established on the

into Poland, September 1939.

‘C’, designating ‘correspondent’,

continent, which was accompanied by just one token journalist,

embroidered on the cap can

Alexander Clifford.

clearly be seen.

the second world war

77


On the last day of August 1939, German tanks were massed on

hotel, Associated Press’s (AP) Lynn Heinzerling had: ‘… heard a

the Polish border ready for the following day’s invasion, veiled from

German officer, who usually slept late, leave a call for 3:15 the next

the eyes of curious motorists by a hessian screen next to the road

morning – Friday, Sept. 1. I realized then that it was coming. It was

to Katowice. The border was closed to all but diplomatic vehicles,

4:47 a.m. by my watch when the firing started. I ran down the

and the Daily Telegraph’s Clare Hollingworth had borrowed the

hotel stairs several steps at a time. The night watchman said:

British consul’s car and driven into Germany to do some shopping.

“Es geht los.” (It’s started.) I ran toward the Vistula River. There I

‘I got to the border with Germany, they were a

What a nuisance that man Hitler makes of himself. An anonymous lady in Liverpool speaking to Sir Philip Gibbs in 1940, from The Pageant of the Years, 1946

saw what it was – the German warship Schleswig-Holstein.’2

bit surprised to see the Union Jack, but they let me in, and I went in to the nearest town. … For-

On 3 September, after Germany had ignored ultimatums

tunately for me, as I was driving along, a sudden

from both Britain and France, the Second World War began.

strong gust of wind blew the screen away from

Carleton-Green was hoisted onto the shoulders of jubilant

its moorings and I looked into the valley and saw scores, if not hun-

Poles. The official at the Foreign Office to whom Beattie

dreds, of tanks lined up ready to go into Poland.’ On her return she

was talking to broke down in tears of relief when the news

briefed the consul, and urged him to get on to the telephone

flash came that Poland was not alone.

immediately to Warsaw and London. ‘And I got in touch with Hugh Carlton-Greene who was my boss … for the Telegraph in Warsaw.’1

The Polish campaign ended on 5 October. Sixteen days after Hitler attacked from the West, the Soviets invaded

At 08:00 on 1 September, Ed Beattie was on the phone to Amster-

from the east. The Allied journalists had no choice other

dam when he heard the first bombs fall on Warsaw. In a Danzig

than to leave. Patrick Maitland of the Times and Carleton-Greene drove south in a convoy led by the Daily Express’s Sefton Delmer. Richard Mowrer was detained at Zaleszczyki in the Russian-occupied zone, but he escaped by swimming the Dniester River and making his way to the Romanian town of Czernowitz in just his under-

the second world war

wear. Beattie held on until the US military attaché was told to leave, when together they found an abandoned car and headed for Romania. The correspondents made it to Bucharest, most with no more than a rucksack and typewriter. Clare Hollingworth drove the consul general’s car out of Katowice, Union Jack flying, and the consul general drove a second diplomatic car. The roads were packed with desperate Poles evacuating their cities. Coaxed out of self-imposed retirement by Frank Gervasi, 37-yearold Robert St. John, who was supposedly too old to be a war correspondent, travelled to Budapest where he was snapped up by AP on the day that Poland was invaded.

THE ‘FOURTH SERVICE’ Many of the ‘warcos’, as they became known, who witnessed those first weeks of the war were the less experienced ones. The veterans were fretting in London, waiting for official accreditation

opposite: German tanks crossing

above: Warco’s uniform. The

to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) now established on the

into Poland, September 1939.

‘C’, designating ‘correspondent’,

continent, which was accompanied by just one token journalist,

embroidered on the cap can

Alexander Clifford.

clearly be seen.

the second world war

77


Aspiring ‘warcos’ trooped off to Austin Reed or Moss Brothers to

ever came to hand; and the marksmanship of Captain Gerry Dunn

be kitted out in off-the-peg uniforms complete with breeches,

secured the liberty, and perhaps saved the lives, of four ‘warcos’ in

leather boots, peaked caps, berets and Sam Browne belts, but

France.

with leather buttons which the correspondents sometimes surreptitiously changed for brass. Later in the war, Stanley Baron of

Censorship was tight. Everything written had to be submitted in

the News Chronicle encountered a group of American soldiers on

triplicate or quadruplicate to the censors, creating delays to which

the Siegfried Line who greeted him with: ‘Jesus Christ, look what’s

official communiqués were not subject. American reporters were

3

been left over from the last war!’ Ed Beattie, who thought he

particularly critical of a censorship policy that seemed to be based

looked like an old cavalry officer or chauffeur, remembered the ‘C’

on an assumption that the enemy was so stupid that even a

embroidered in gold on the caps, and the designation ‘War Corre-

simple phrase describing the River Thames as ‘pointing the way to

spondent’, also in gold, on the shoulder tabs. This was an

London’ had to be struck out. Photographs of bomb sites had to

improvement on the 1938 design in which the cap was embla-

show at least one property still standing; the Germans could be

zoned with a gold ‘W.C.’ encircled by a chain. Black-and-white

hated from Monday to Saturday, but not on Sunday; RAF losses

striped armbands marked ‘PRESS’ were issued – but not worn.

were embargoed – an untenable policy during the Battle of Britain, of which journalists and anyone resident in the southeast of

The press accredited to British forces now came under the control

England often had a grandstand view.

of the Ministry of Information’s department of public relations. Correspondents again enjoyed honorary officer rank (captain, in

The French were equally paranoid – they refused Richard Dimbleby

the case of those accredited to British forces), which obliged them

permission to state that he was reporting from the French Army in

to salute but did not entitle them to be saluted. However, when

France, despite his expostulation that everyone knew that both he

In the decades since the First World War, technology had devel-

correspondents accompanied the Dieppe Raid in 1942, they

and the French Army were in France. When the USA joined the war,

oped to the extent that the BBC now had transportable

received temporary commissions and, to their consternation,

press correspondents under its control – and not just the Ameri-

disc-recording machines that could be operated from a car or a

were ordered to carry arms. Frank Gillard, who boarded the train in

can ones – were allowed far more freedom to travel around (right

truck. A steel or sapphire cutter would transcribe the electrical

London, alighted from it in Bristol as Major Gillard complete with

to the front) and were extended greater trust. According to

impulses created by the voice into modulated grooves on

requisite crown on his shoulder; Quentin Reynolds became a lieu-

Alexander Berry Austin, the Canadians were particularly good to

‘acetates’, the name given to the double-sided recording discs

tenant colonel in the US forces.

any correspondent accredited to them: ‘…They will be fully trusted,

made out of aluminium and coated with a thin layer of nitrocellu-

treated with complete frankness, and given every proper facility

lose lacquer. The discs would then be sent to London or played

above: Alan Moorehead,

Continuing the practice introduced in the First World War, the Min-

for their work. The sole restriction on their writings will be that they

back at 78rpm over a radio link to BBC receiving stations in

photographed in 1944, wearing

istry of Information assigned ‘conducting officers’ to look after

shall not contain information of value to the enemy.’4 And the devil,

England. In October 1939 a report on the BEF was sent back, from

the war correspondent’s uniform

small groups of ‘warcos’. O’Dowd Gallagher of the Daily Express

as always, was in the detail.

an undisclosed location in France, by Richard Dimbleby:

and beret.

stigmatized those he met as caricatures of army officers, fre-

right: Herbert David Zinman’s dogtag, indicating he was part of the press corps. Zinman worked for the British government’s propaganda arm, the Political Warfare Executive, and famously wrote the francophile Instructions for British Servicemen in France 1944.

quently if not invariably drunk. Others spoke more kindly of their

To limit the numbers on specific operations and ensure that every

chaperons: George, Marquess of Ely, made a good fourth in

media organization could carry the story, correspondents were

a rubber of bridge; the BBC’s Godfrey Talbot was

often assigned to pools, obliging them to share their information.

blessed with a captain on first-name terms with

Where competition existed, it flourished, and not always hon-

all the corps commanders, although his

ourably. Universal News’s Ronnie Noble scooped the first footage

map-reading skills were such that in the

of the Free French forces at Bir Hakeim in 1942, under Luftwaffe

desert Talbot was obliged to navi-

attack, only to be informed that the news had been sent two days

gate; Frank Gervasi and his friends

earlier. He subsequently learned that the footage had been faked

were glad to team up with Alan

Moorehead

Alexander Clifford, whose ducting was

78 war correspondent

50 miles (80 kilometres) behind the lines.

and conofficer

Captain

Kim

American war reporters were issued with wire recorders. These were forerunners of the tape recorder, which captured sound onto fine magnetic wire wound onto a spool. By 1943 the BBC had developed the Midget disc recorder, which was sufficiently

Mundy, renowned for

portable, at 40 pounds (18 kilograms), to be carried into action.

creating gourmet food in the desert out of what-

Furthermore, the correspondent could operate it without an engi-

the second world war

79


Aspiring ‘warcos’ trooped off to Austin Reed or Moss Brothers to

ever came to hand; and the marksmanship of Captain Gerry Dunn

be kitted out in off-the-peg uniforms complete with breeches,

secured the liberty, and perhaps saved the lives, of four ‘warcos’ in

leather boots, peaked caps, berets and Sam Browne belts, but

France.

with leather buttons which the correspondents sometimes surreptitiously changed for brass. Later in the war, Stanley Baron of

Censorship was tight. Everything written had to be submitted in

the News Chronicle encountered a group of American soldiers on

triplicate or quadruplicate to the censors, creating delays to which

the Siegfried Line who greeted him with: ‘Jesus Christ, look what’s

official communiqués were not subject. American reporters were

3

been left over from the last war!’ Ed Beattie, who thought he

particularly critical of a censorship policy that seemed to be based

looked like an old cavalry officer or chauffeur, remembered the ‘C’

on an assumption that the enemy was so stupid that even a

embroidered in gold on the caps, and the designation ‘War Corre-

simple phrase describing the River Thames as ‘pointing the way to

spondent’, also in gold, on the shoulder tabs. This was an

London’ had to be struck out. Photographs of bomb sites had to

improvement on the 1938 design in which the cap was embla-

show at least one property still standing; the Germans could be

zoned with a gold ‘W.C.’ encircled by a chain. Black-and-white

hated from Monday to Saturday, but not on Sunday; RAF losses

striped armbands marked ‘PRESS’ were issued – but not worn.

were embargoed – an untenable policy during the Battle of Britain, of which journalists and anyone resident in the southeast of

The press accredited to British forces now came under the control

England often had a grandstand view.

of the Ministry of Information’s department of public relations. Correspondents again enjoyed honorary officer rank (captain, in

The French were equally paranoid – they refused Richard Dimbleby

the case of those accredited to British forces), which obliged them

permission to state that he was reporting from the French Army in

to salute but did not entitle them to be saluted. However, when

France, despite his expostulation that everyone knew that both he

In the decades since the First World War, technology had devel-

correspondents accompanied the Dieppe Raid in 1942, they

and the French Army were in France. When the USA joined the war,

oped to the extent that the BBC now had transportable

received temporary commissions and, to their consternation,

press correspondents under its control – and not just the Ameri-

disc-recording machines that could be operated from a car or a

were ordered to carry arms. Frank Gillard, who boarded the train in

can ones – were allowed far more freedom to travel around (right

truck. A steel or sapphire cutter would transcribe the electrical

London, alighted from it in Bristol as Major Gillard complete with

to the front) and were extended greater trust. According to

impulses created by the voice into modulated grooves on

requisite crown on his shoulder; Quentin Reynolds became a lieu-

Alexander Berry Austin, the Canadians were particularly good to

‘acetates’, the name given to the double-sided recording discs

tenant colonel in the US forces.

any correspondent accredited to them: ‘…They will be fully trusted,

made out of aluminium and coated with a thin layer of nitrocellu-

treated with complete frankness, and given every proper facility

lose lacquer. The discs would then be sent to London or played

above: Alan Moorehead,

Continuing the practice introduced in the First World War, the Min-

for their work. The sole restriction on their writings will be that they

back at 78rpm over a radio link to BBC receiving stations in

photographed in 1944, wearing

istry of Information assigned ‘conducting officers’ to look after

shall not contain information of value to the enemy.’4 And the devil,

England. In October 1939 a report on the BEF was sent back, from

the war correspondent’s uniform

small groups of ‘warcos’. O’Dowd Gallagher of the Daily Express

as always, was in the detail.

an undisclosed location in France, by Richard Dimbleby:

and beret.

stigmatized those he met as caricatures of army officers, fre-

right: Herbert David Zinman’s dogtag, indicating he was part of the press corps. Zinman worked for the British government’s propaganda arm, the Political Warfare Executive, and famously wrote the francophile Instructions for British Servicemen in France 1944.

quently if not invariably drunk. Others spoke more kindly of their

To limit the numbers on specific operations and ensure that every

chaperons: George, Marquess of Ely, made a good fourth in

media organization could carry the story, correspondents were

a rubber of bridge; the BBC’s Godfrey Talbot was

often assigned to pools, obliging them to share their information.

blessed with a captain on first-name terms with

Where competition existed, it flourished, and not always hon-

all the corps commanders, although his

ourably. Universal News’s Ronnie Noble scooped the first footage

map-reading skills were such that in the

of the Free French forces at Bir Hakeim in 1942, under Luftwaffe

desert Talbot was obliged to navi-

attack, only to be informed that the news had been sent two days

gate; Frank Gervasi and his friends

earlier. He subsequently learned that the footage had been faked

were glad to team up with Alan

Moorehead

Alexander Clifford, whose ducting was

78 war correspondent

50 miles (80 kilometres) behind the lines.

and conofficer

Captain

Kim

American war reporters were issued with wire recorders. These were forerunners of the tape recorder, which captured sound onto fine magnetic wire wound onto a spool. By 1943 the BBC had developed the Midget disc recorder, which was sufficiently

Mundy, renowned for

portable, at 40 pounds (18 kilograms), to be carried into action.

creating gourmet food in the desert out of what-

Furthermore, the correspondent could operate it without an engi-

the second world war

79


The job of the war correspondent has expanded to embrace much of the ‘Spectrum of Conflict’, but the depth of coverage of any one of the 150-plus conflicts of the

I went into journalism towards the end of the most violent century in human history, and the new one is already going bad. If I wanted to do the big stories, it was impossible not to go to wars, and compulsory to understand them. Some wars are necessary, vital, unavoidable. But they are all seducers. They must be, or humans would not make war, dread war, enjoy it, even love it in the way that they do. It can be sickening, exciting, affirming and terrifying. It brings out the best in people, and the worst.

audience. Some wars remain in

Jeremy Bowen (1960–), British war correspondent, in War Stories, 2006

the public consciousness simply

post-Vietnam era has, as always, depended primarily on the ability of journalists to enter the zone and on the judgement of editors as to whether the events are internationally significant or of interest to a sizeable proportion of the

because of the coverage by just one or two journalists working in extraordinary conditions.

WARS OF THE WORLD The civil war in Lebanon dragged on from 1975 to 1990, and for a decade after 1979 Soviet forces unsuccessfully fought the

wars in a digital age peace-enforcement operations, but these interventions were

above: The crew of a coalition

fatally undermined by UN rules of engagement. When Kosovo,

Bradley Infantry Fighting

mujahideen in Afghanistan in order to maintain a pro-Soviet gov-

the autonomous region of Serbia, declared its independence in

Vehicle watch the smoke from

ernment in Kabul. In 1990, in what became known as the Gulf War

1991, there began a campaign by Serbian forces that was

burning oil wells sabotaged by

(or Persian Gulf War; later known as the First Gulf War), Iraq

directed against the majority population of ethnic Albanians.

the Iraqis during the First Gulf

invaded Kuwait, and was expelled the following year by a UN coali-

NATO was called in to drive out those troops, and Kosovo is still

War, 1990–91.

tion led by the USA and Britain, while in 1994 horrific genocide

administered by the UN, with peacekeepers protecting the

convulsed Rwanda.

Serbian minority.

A complex series of conflicts broke out in the Balkans from 1991

In response to the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on

onwards after the dismantling of the Soviet Union allowed long-

11 September 2001, by aircraft flown by Islamic terrorists acting on

repressed tensions in Yugoslavia to fracture the country along

behalf of Al-Qaeda, a US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan. The

ethnic and religious lines. Slovenia and Croatia both successfully

aim of what the USA termed ‘the war on terror’ was to destroy Al-

fought for their independence from Yugoslavia – effectively

Qaeda’s training camps and, as a secondary result, establish

Serbia and Montenegro – before civil war broke out in Bosnia

democracy in Afghanistan. Ten years later the war was still being

between the three main groups. The capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo,

fought, by troops from the USA, Britain, Germany, Canada, France,

was besieged from 1992 until 1995 by Serbian forces from within

Italy, Turkey and other countries, all assisting the Afghan Army.

and outside the state, and Bosnia was finally split into a Bosniak– Croat Federation and a Serbian Republic. During the Balkan wars,

A second strand of the so-called ‘war on terror’ saw another US-led

the UN’s efforts to keep the peace were supported by NATO

international coalition topple the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in

wars in the digital age

181


The job of the war correspondent has expanded to embrace much of the ‘Spectrum of Conflict’, but the depth of coverage of any one of the 150-plus conflicts of the

I went into journalism towards the end of the most violent century in human history, and the new one is already going bad. If I wanted to do the big stories, it was impossible not to go to wars, and compulsory to understand them. Some wars are necessary, vital, unavoidable. But they are all seducers. They must be, or humans would not make war, dread war, enjoy it, even love it in the way that they do. It can be sickening, exciting, affirming and terrifying. It brings out the best in people, and the worst.

audience. Some wars remain in

Jeremy Bowen (1960–), British war correspondent, in War Stories, 2006

the public consciousness simply

post-Vietnam era has, as always, depended primarily on the ability of journalists to enter the zone and on the judgement of editors as to whether the events are internationally significant or of interest to a sizeable proportion of the

because of the coverage by just one or two journalists working in extraordinary conditions.

WARS OF THE WORLD The civil war in Lebanon dragged on from 1975 to 1990, and for a decade after 1979 Soviet forces unsuccessfully fought the

wars in a digital age peace-enforcement operations, but these interventions were

above: The crew of a coalition

fatally undermined by UN rules of engagement. When Kosovo,

Bradley Infantry Fighting

mujahideen in Afghanistan in order to maintain a pro-Soviet gov-

the autonomous region of Serbia, declared its independence in

Vehicle watch the smoke from

ernment in Kabul. In 1990, in what became known as the Gulf War

1991, there began a campaign by Serbian forces that was

burning oil wells sabotaged by

(or Persian Gulf War; later known as the First Gulf War), Iraq

directed against the majority population of ethnic Albanians.

the Iraqis during the First Gulf

invaded Kuwait, and was expelled the following year by a UN coali-

NATO was called in to drive out those troops, and Kosovo is still

War, 1990–91.

tion led by the USA and Britain, while in 1994 horrific genocide

administered by the UN, with peacekeepers protecting the

convulsed Rwanda.

Serbian minority.

A complex series of conflicts broke out in the Balkans from 1991

In response to the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on

onwards after the dismantling of the Soviet Union allowed long-

11 September 2001, by aircraft flown by Islamic terrorists acting on

repressed tensions in Yugoslavia to fracture the country along

behalf of Al-Qaeda, a US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan. The

ethnic and religious lines. Slovenia and Croatia both successfully

aim of what the USA termed ‘the war on terror’ was to destroy Al-

fought for their independence from Yugoslavia – effectively

Qaeda’s training camps and, as a secondary result, establish

Serbia and Montenegro – before civil war broke out in Bosnia

democracy in Afghanistan. Ten years later the war was still being

between the three main groups. The capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo,

fought, by troops from the USA, Britain, Germany, Canada, France,

was besieged from 1992 until 1995 by Serbian forces from within

Italy, Turkey and other countries, all assisting the Afghan Army.

and outside the state, and Bosnia was finally split into a Bosniak– Croat Federation and a Serbian Republic. During the Balkan wars,

A second strand of the so-called ‘war on terror’ saw another US-led

the UN’s efforts to keep the peace were supported by NATO

international coalition topple the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in

wars in the digital age

181


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