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