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Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F005102-0003, Lager Friedland, britischer Journalist Sefton Delmer

Soldatensender Calais (G.9) (, ''Soldiers' Radio Calais'') was a British

black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propagan ...

broadcaster during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

operated by the

Political Warfare Executive During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of countries occupied ...

. It pretended to be a station of the German military broadcasting network. The station was in operation between 14 November 1943 and 30 April 1945, when it ceased operations. ''Soldatensender Calais'' operated on the mediumwave band on 833 kHz (360 metres), 714 kHz (420 metres), and 612 kHz (490 metres), with an associated shortwave station ''Kurzwellensender Atlantik'' created to broadcast to U-boat crews. The station used a 500 kilowatt transmitter originally built for American broadcaster WJZ, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

imposed a 50 kW power limit on all U.S. stations, and so

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

was glad to sell it overseas and the British Secret Service bought it for £165,000. Codenamed

Aspidistra ''Aspidistra'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia, particularly China and Vietnam. They grow in shade under trees and shrubs. Their leaves arise more or le ...

, it was installed in a huge, underground bunker near Crowborough in Sussex, England, where it was briefly the world's largest medium wave station, perfect for deceptive "black" operation. ''Soldatensender Calais'' operated from 6 p.m.

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

to dawn. Unlike its predecessor '' Gustav Siegfried Eins'', the programmes were live from the purposely-built broadcast studio at

Milton Bryan Milton Bryan is a village and civil parish located in Central Bedfordshire (the spelling Milton Bryant was previously common and is still recognised by postal services). It lies just off the A4012 road, near to its junction with the A5 at Hockl ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

''Bletchley Park's Secret Sisters: Psychological Warfare in World War II'', John A. Taylor, The Book Castle 2005, and presented by Agnes Bernelle using the codename "Vicky". The method of propaganda used by ''Soldatensender Calais'' was described by

Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904, Berlin, Germany – 4 September 1979, Lamarsh, Essex) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Fluent in German, he became friendl ...

, its creator, in his book, ''Black Boomerang'', as "cover, cover, dirt, cover, dirt"; that is, using good music and providing coverage of sports and other events of interest to a German serviceman, the station made that listener receptive to propaganda items aimed at decreasing morale. An example was a warning of

confidence men ''Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President'' is a book by journalist Ron Suskind, published by HarperCollins on September 20, 2011. Having obtained an advance copy of the book, ''The New York Times'' published a re ...

swindling German soldiers being transferred from France to the Russian front. This approach could be compared to those used by

Tokyo Rose Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to all female English-speaking radio broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The programs were broadcast in the South Pacific ...

and

Axis Sally Axis Sally was the generic nickname given to women radio personalities who broadcast English-language propaganda on behalf of the European Axis Powers during World War II. These included: * Mildred Gillars, a German-American who broadcast for Ge ...

, without the heavy-handedness of the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

programs. ''Soldatensender Calais'', as part of its cover, relayed speeches by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and other Nazi officials. During the D-Day invasion of 6 June 1944, ''Soldatensender Calais'' broadcast information that was intended to impress German intelligence officers that the invasion area was wider than it actually was. After the

Pas de Calais The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continent ...

area was overrun, the station changed its callsign to ''Soldatensender West''. ''Soldatensenders broadcast was repeated in print the next day in the PWE/ OSS ''Nachrichten für die Truppe'' air-dropped newspaper for German troops. The station closed on 30 April 1945 without any official announcement. Other clandestine radio stations operated by the Political Warfare Executive and its forerunners during the war included ''Das wahre Deutschland'' (G.1), '' Sender der Europäischen Revolution'' (G.2), '' Gustav Siegfried Eins'' (G.3), ''Wehrmachtssender Nord'' (G.5) and the ''German Priest'' (G.7) station. The Soviet-based

German People's Radio German People's Radio (German: ''Deutscher Volkssender'') was a German-language radio station operating out of Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, during World War II. History In January 1937 German Freedom Radio was established by the Communist ...

also known as ''Deutscher Volkssender'' was inspired, in part, by Soldatensender Calais.

References

Bibliography

*''Black Boomerang—An Autobiography, Volume Two'', (Secker & Warburg, 1962), D Sefton Delmer. *''The Black Game—British Subversive Operations Against the Germans During the Second World War'', (Michael Joseph, 1982), Ellic Howe. *''The Secret History of PWE—Political Warfare Executive 1939–1945'', (St Ermin's Press, 2002), David Garnett. {{ISBN, 1-903608-08-2

External links

G.9 Kurzwellensender Atlantik / Soldatensender Calais Daily Transcripts

The controversy between the British Broadcasting Corporation and Political Warfare Executive over Soldatensender Calais

Black Boomerang
Sefton Delmer's out-of-print book.

Extensively illustrated paper describing the Allied effort in World War II to undermine Germany through unidentified or misidentified radio broadcasts.
Policy and Methods of Black Propaganda against Germany
Official Memorandum signed by Brigadier-General Robert A. McClure, Chief of PWD/SHAEF, regarding policy and methods of black propaganda against Germany. Although signed by McClure the author of the memo is almost certainly Sefton Delmer. Black propaganda organisations British propaganda organisations Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Foreign Office during World War II History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Military history of Bedfordshire Radio during World War II Radio stations in Bedfordshire World War II propaganda Radio stations established in 1943 Radio stations disestablished in 1945

See also

References

Bibliography

External links