Tag Archives: WWI

BBC Witness History: “Britain’s secret propaganda war”

Check out this brilliant BBC Witness History piece regarding the British propaganda effort during WWII:

How sex, jazz and ‘fake news’ were used to undermine the Nazis in World War Two. In 1941, the UK created a top secret propaganda department, the Political Warfare Executive to wage psychological warfare on the German war machine. It was responsible for spreading rumours, generating fake news, leaflet drops and creating fake clandestine German radio stations to spread misinformation and erode enemy morale. We hear archive recordings of those involved and speak to professor Jo Fox of the Institute of Historical Research about the secret history of British “black propaganda”.

Click here to listen to this program via the BBC Witness History website.

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On Remembrance Day…

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Today, November 11, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of The First World War.

The First World War–also known as World War I and the Great War–was a global war that originated in Europe and lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918.

It’s estimated that nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a direct result of the war.

Source: The National Archives

Please take a little time today to pause and reflect.

The Great War Project

If you like to learn more about about WWI history, I would also highly recommend following The Great War Project blog.

The Great War Project follows WWI as it unfolded and reads like a daily dispatch. Its archives are deep–follow the timeline through the dated links in the right sidebar. The Great War Project has a number of contributors and is hosted by journalist and blogger, Mike Shuster.

Click here to read through our WWI archives on the SWLing Post.

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Tuckerton Radio Tower’s rich history and once record-setting height

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(Image: RadioMarine.org)

(Source: The Sandpiper via Richard Langley)

Who knows how many Americans realize that 100 years ago the United States was at war? After all, when about 25 people on the street in Beach Haven in the summer of 2012 were asked for a SandPaper article what war the U.S. had been involved in 200 years previously, very few could answer the War of 1812. There seems to be a flaw in the way history is taught in the U.S., and maybe math as well.

So for those who don’t remember their high school history, in 1918 the U.S. was heavily involved – with well over 4 million troops in Europe – in World War I, the “War to End All Wars,” “The Great War.”

It is easy to imagine that even a world war wouldn’t very much affect what was then a remote and rural Ocean County. But it did, in many ways. German U-boats prowled the Atlantic off the Jersey Shore; nearby Fort Dix (at first Camp Dix) was created and became one of the premier U.S. Army basic training centers in the country for decades.

Nicholas Wood of the Ocean County Cultural Heritage Commission[…]discussed two aspects of Ocean County and WWI in his 75-minute lecture/slide show at the Long Beach Island Historical Museum on Monday evening.

[…]The second half of Wood’s presentation discussed the once-famous but now mostly forgotten Tuckerton Radio Tower, built in 1912 by the German government.

[…]The tower was 820 feet high, making it, at the time, the second tallest structure in the world, behind only the Eiffel Tower. It was one of the first and most powerful transatlantic radio stations ever constructed. It survived until 1955, when it was torn down and sold for scrap metal and today lends its name to Little Egg Harbor’s Radio Road.[…]

Click here to read the full story at The Sandpiper.

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The Great War: A look at WWI communications

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike, who shares the following from the YouTube channel The Great War.

This short video gives an excellent overview of communications methods and equipment used throughout World War I. I’ve included the video’s description below:

Click here to view on YouTube.

“If one thing was vital to the the new kind of modern warfare in the First World War, it was communications. The Industrial Revolution had brought wireless transmission of signals with it and the huge armies of World War 1 needed to be in contact constantly to be successful in the field. In this special episode we introduce you to the birth hour of modern military communication and signals.”

Thanks again, Mike! I’ll subscribe to The Great War channel on YouTube.

The Great War Project

If you enjoy reading about WWI history, I would also highly recommend following The Great War Project blog.

The Great War Project follows WWI as it unfolded 100 years ago. It’s an absolute treasure trove of information and brilliantly written.

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KCUR Interview: US Amateur Radio during The Great War

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Battleships of the Hochseeflotte, 1917. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

(Source: KCUR via the Southgate ARC)

When America declared war on Germany in 1917, most radio stations came under government control, reserved for war efforts. On this edition of Up To Date, we learn why HAM radio operators were prevented from broadcasting during The Great War.

Guests:

Jonathan Casey is the Edward Jones Research Center Manager at the National World War I Museum.

Herb Fiddick is the amateur radio voice of the National World War I Museum.

This weekend, the National WWI Museum will host special event station WW1USA. The station will be manned by amateur radio operators for 31 consecutive hours, beginning Saturday, December 12 at 10 a.m. through Sunday at 5 p.m. The event is free. For more information go to theworldwar.org.

Click here to listen to the interview on KCUR.

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Wartime radio: The secret listeners

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After publishing the post about Geoff Hanley and the Radio Security Service last week, I discovered this brilliant 1979 documentary from the BBC which highlights civilian involvement in radio-based intelligence during WWI and WWII.

Here’s a description from the East Anglian Film Archive:

“It was the tireless work of amateur radio enthusiasts during World War I, that initially convinced the Admiralty to establish a radio intercept station at Hunstanton. Playing an integral role during the war, technological advances meant that radio operators could pinpoint signals, thus uncovering the movement of German boats, leading to the decisive Battle of Jutland in 1916.

Wireless espionage was to play an even more important role during World War II, with the Secret Intelligence Service setting up the Radio Security Service, which was staffed by Voluntary Interceptors, a band of amateur radio enthusiasts scattered across Britain. The information they collected was interpreted by some of the brightest minds in the country, who also had a large hand in deceiving German forces by feeding false intelligence.”