0:00:04 > 0:00:08The Second World War was reaching towards its climax.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12The Red Army was turning the tide on the Eastern Front.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15The Western Allies were on the offensive.
0:00:15 > 0:00:16GUNFIRE
0:00:16 > 0:00:20The shells are whistling overhead now, just listen to them.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24The Paratroops are landing. They're landing all round me, as I speak.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28So put up the "V" where they'll see it, as the sign of the V Army.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35The BBC were starting to win the war of words against the enemy abroad,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38but it had yet to win the trust of the politicians
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and the generals at home,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44or the hearts and minds of the British people.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46These are today's main events.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49It knew what it wanted to tell them,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52but not always what they wanted to hear.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58The BBC were still remote - "theirs" not "ours".
0:00:58 > 0:01:02The broadcasters faced a multitude of challenges on every front -
0:01:02 > 0:01:06many barriers to breach, and there was not much time.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11It was 1943.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Britain had been at war since September 1939 -
0:01:14 > 0:01:18more than three years in which the BBC had sought to establish itself
0:01:18 > 0:01:20as a vital public service.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23It had made some progress, but not enough.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28It had acquired a huge audience in Britain and around the world,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31but it was still regarded with suspicion by politicians
0:01:31 > 0:01:34and as a threat by the military.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38The stage was set for a drama that would shape the world
0:01:38 > 0:01:41and could be the making or the breaking of the BBC.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05On the 16th of January, 1943,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08a young man who happened to have a fear of flying became
0:02:08 > 0:02:13the first BBC correspondent to be assigned to the Royal Air Force.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19My father, Richard Dimbleby,
0:02:19 > 0:02:24was deputed by the BBC to fly with 106 Squadron in a Lancaster bomber,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26piloted by a man who would soon acquire fame
0:02:26 > 0:02:29as the leader of the Dambusters' raid -
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Precociously aware of the potential of radio,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Gibson insisted that the BBC man
0:02:37 > 0:02:40should fly in his aircraft and none other.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47The Berlin raid was a big show, as heavy bomber operations go.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51For me, it was a pretty hair-raising experience,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54though I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
0:02:58 > 0:02:59To get a good view of the squadron
0:02:59 > 0:03:02as it flew over the North Sea towards Berlin,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Dimbleby sat down at the front of the plane, with the bomb aimer.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09As they got up towards cruising height,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12he switched on his oxygen supply.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16A little later, he felt drowsy and soon afterwards, slumped sideways.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19One way or another, he had managed to kink the line
0:03:19 > 0:03:23linking the cylinder of oxygen to his face mask.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26He soon recovered, but it was not a very auspicious beginning.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31We knew well enough when we were approaching Berlin.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34There was a complete ring of powerful searchlights.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36There was also intense flak.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40For a moment, it seemed impossible that we could miss it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Score after score of firebombs went down,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47and all over the dark face of the German capital,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51these great incandescent flower beds spread themselves.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54But I couldn't help wondering whether anywhere
0:03:54 > 0:03:56in the area of its devastation,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59such a man as Hitler might be cowering in a shelter.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07We turned away from Berlin at last.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09It seemed we were there for an age.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12It was not only an eye-opener for the correspondent,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14but for his listeners.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16We came back across the North Sea,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18exchanged greetings of the day with...
0:04:18 > 0:04:21It was their first chance to hear on radio what it was like
0:04:21 > 0:04:24to witness Germany under bombardment from the air.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30"Through hardship to the stars" is the RAF motto.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I understand the hardship now,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36and I am proud to have seen the stars with them.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Dimbleby's account of the bombing raid on Berlin
0:04:45 > 0:04:47was judged a success,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49notably by those who mattered in the military.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53One more barrier had toppled.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Gibson, who at the age of 24
0:05:00 > 0:05:03was a powerful voice already in Bomber Command,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06was well pleased with Dimbleby's broadcast.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08So too was the RAF.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12As a result, his maiden flight was the first of many he was to take.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17A little later, he was joined by two more BBC Air Correspondents,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19but he was the only one of them to survive
0:05:19 > 0:05:22in what was the most dangerous and later,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24the most controversial campaign of the war.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28For the BBC at war,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32there was another barrier to batter - on the Home Front.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35To earn the blessing as well as the respect of those
0:05:35 > 0:05:37who kept the home fires burning,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40the broadcaster had to offer what they wanted,
0:05:40 > 0:05:42as well as what they needed.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45And that meant entertainment, as well as news -
0:05:45 > 0:05:48a little pleasure to assuage the pain.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55For this reason, the BBC's talent -
0:05:55 > 0:05:58men and women who could offer a measure of light relief
0:05:58 > 0:06:00from the tribulations of war -
0:06:00 > 0:06:03were evacuated en masse from London,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07for fear that a stray bomb might fall on Broadcasting House
0:06:07 > 0:06:08and take them off air.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14The team found themselves on a train to Wales.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18432 comics, actors, singers, musicians,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21their assorted wives and children
0:06:21 > 0:06:27and 17 dogs, an unspecified number of cats and a parrot.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28Their destination, Bangor.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31This is the Happidrome!
0:06:31 > 0:06:34MUSIC: Happidrome Theme
0:06:47 > 0:06:51When the motley crew of metropolitan talent alighted here,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54they were not universally greeted with open arms.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58In particular, the chapel-goers of North Wales
0:06:58 > 0:07:00apparently were not at all enamoured
0:07:00 > 0:07:04by the sight of women wearing trousers
0:07:04 > 0:07:06and smoking in public.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16# It's that man again It's that man again
0:07:16 > 0:07:20# Yes Tommy Handley is here
0:07:20 > 0:07:23# He'll do his best With all his zest
0:07:23 > 0:07:26# To lift your troubles Right off your chest... #
0:07:27 > 0:07:29To meet popular demand,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33the variety department had to put on more and more programmes.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Some performers did up to ten shows a week...
0:07:37 > 0:07:39..all with hardly any rehearsal.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Listeners loved them.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45- TTFN.- EIEAMS.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46What's that, sir?
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Ee, If Ever A Man Suffered!
0:07:48 > 0:07:49LAUGHTER
0:07:51 > 0:07:56Tommy Handley's gently subversive show, It's That Man Again,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58made him the most popular comedian in the land.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02- Oh, I say, Sam! This is a bit thick. - What is, boss?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04It's an envelope full of fog!
0:08:06 > 0:08:11# Rise and shine and say good morning... #
0:08:11 > 0:08:14When it came to popular music, however,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17the BBC found it far harder to accommodate the nation's taste.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23To a great degree, the BBC was still permeated
0:08:23 > 0:08:27by the austere prejudices of its founder, John Reith -
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and the controller of programmes, one Basil Nicholls,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34shared his mentor's conviction
0:08:34 > 0:08:36that the BBC should be
0:08:36 > 0:08:40"a moral, spiritual and aesthetic guardian of the nation".
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Music is an ennobling, spiritual force
0:08:45 > 0:08:47which should influence the life of every listener.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53It is the BBC's policy to exclude crooning.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Difficult to define, but easily recognisable in various forms,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00such as sub-tone, falsetto and other modes of effeminate singing.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05The jazzing of dance and classical tunes,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08or the borrowing or adaptation of them -
0:09:08 > 0:09:09this is normally quite unacceptable.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Each example must be reviewed
0:09:11 > 0:09:15and arbitrary decisions taken regarding inclusion or exclusion.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Recognising that there are degrees of adaptation,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20ranging from the innocuous to the obscene.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25MUSIC: V Stands For Victory by Margaret Eaves
0:09:38 > 0:09:41In the case specifically of dance music,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43the BBC was confronted by a dilemma.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48Dancing had become the rage.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Ministers were delighted.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Here was an innocent pleasure that would cheer the masses
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and with a bit of luck, inspire them to work harder, as well.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04The BBC's top brass did not share this enthusiasm.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08As it was government policy
0:10:08 > 0:10:12to promote this form of mass entertainment,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15the BBC had no choice but to embrace it as well.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17But it did so reluctantly -
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and when, from their high-minded perspective,
0:10:20 > 0:10:25music seemed suggestive, or liable to promote licentiousness,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28the nation's moral guardians pounced with a vengeance.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34Now, this you could hear.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38JAUNTY DANCE TUNE PLAYS
0:10:44 > 0:10:47So, that was fine.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54But this - wait for it - wasn't.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00# There's a star spangled banner waving somewhere
0:11:00 > 0:11:05# In a distant land so many miles away
0:11:05 > 0:11:09# Only Uncle Sam's great heroes get to go there... #
0:11:12 > 0:11:14The Star-Spangled Banner, banned.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18The BBC's taste tsars may have had rhyme or reason,
0:11:18 > 0:11:23but in the spirit of "never apologise, never explain",
0:11:23 > 0:11:24they didn't.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27MUSIC: We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn
0:11:29 > 0:11:32There were few limits to the censoriousness
0:11:32 > 0:11:36that infected the upper echelons of Broadcasting House.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38Even Vera Lynn did not escape.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40The controller of programmes, Basil Nicholls,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44judged that performances by women singers like her
0:11:44 > 0:11:48were "insincere" and "overly sentimental".
0:11:48 > 0:11:50The board of governors went further.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54Her very popular programme Sincerely Yours
0:11:54 > 0:11:57provoked these denizens of good taste to sniff,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00"Sincerely Yours, deplored.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02"Popularity noted".
0:12:02 > 0:12:06But, perhaps because of the possible backlash,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10they refrained from taking an axe to the Forces' favourite.
0:12:10 > 0:12:17# There'll be bluebirds over
0:12:17 > 0:12:20# The white cliffs of Dover... #
0:12:22 > 0:12:25There'll Be Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs Of Dover
0:12:25 > 0:12:29was written to sustain the hard-pressed morale of a nation standing alone.
0:12:32 > 0:12:33But by 1942,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36the nation was no longer alone.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38There had been an invasion -
0:12:38 > 0:12:40not from Germany, but the United States.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44MUSIC: Over There by Glenn Miller
0:12:44 > 0:12:45# Over there, over there
0:12:45 > 0:12:48# Send the word, send the word over there
0:12:48 > 0:12:51# That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming
0:12:51 > 0:12:53# The drums rum-tumming everywhere. #
0:12:53 > 0:12:58Soon after Pearl Harbor, the first GIs began to pour into Britain
0:12:58 > 0:13:01to prepare for the eventual liberation of Europe.
0:13:01 > 0:13:07By 1943, South Devon was a billet for at least 30,000 US servicemen.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13The village of Slapton became a US dormitory.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18To make way for the strangers from the New World,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20the residents resigned themselves to moving out
0:13:20 > 0:13:22and finding a bed elsewhere.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28For the BBC, this influx of young Americans
0:13:28 > 0:13:31posed a challenge of a rather different kind.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39When the American troops arrived, they were given radios -
0:13:39 > 0:13:42one for every 100 soldiers.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44The radios could only pick up the BBC -
0:13:44 > 0:13:46news, entertainment, music.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Music while you work will be played to you
0:13:49 > 0:13:51by AJ Pearl and his banjo octet.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57The GIs were not impressed.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58News, OK.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Music, dire.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Entertainment, dreary.
0:14:03 > 0:14:04Something needed to be done.
0:14:10 > 0:14:11All information is that
0:14:11 > 0:14:15American troops consider the BBC's programmes "lousy".
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Even the news, which one might suppose would form a common ground
0:14:19 > 0:14:21to all English-speaking peoples,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23is unacceptable to American troops
0:14:23 > 0:14:25when presented in the British manner.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31How to give a party, including how not to.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Also, how and how not to be a guest.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37The GIs weren't impressed.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Indeed, so powerful was their disaffection
0:14:41 > 0:14:44that their commanding officers feared they would seek out
0:14:44 > 0:14:45enemy radio stations.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Anything, except the BBC.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54The Corporation's cultural tsars were at a loss.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56The BBC was in a quandary.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00On the one hand, it wanted to preserve its broadcasting monopoly.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03On the other, it was important, not least for their morale,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07that the GIs actually enjoyed listening to the radio.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10The solution - let the Americans have their own station, which was
0:15:10 > 0:15:14fine until word got out and British listeners started to tune
0:15:14 > 0:15:19into the American Forces Network as well, and loved what they heard.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21The BBC was losing out.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26ANNOUNCER: This is the American Forces Network.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28It's one big package of words and music and laughter,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32delivered to you by the stars from whom you want to hear.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35BIG BAND MUSIC PLAYS
0:15:35 > 0:15:38The great attraction was the big band sound, which the
0:15:38 > 0:15:41BBC's audience had rarely, if ever, heard before.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46The likes of Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Count Basie
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and Duke Ellington, household names in America,
0:15:49 > 0:15:54mesmerised those who tuned in to the American Forces Network, AFN.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Word spread, and before long the BBC found itself with a rival,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03which, ironically, it had helped establish and operate.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Soon, some five million British citizens, many of them young
0:16:09 > 0:16:14men and women, were deserting the BBC for the new American station.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Facing this haemorrhage of listeners,
0:16:21 > 0:16:26one BBC panjandrum proposed a desperate remedy.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28"The BBC should take every step to check
0:16:28 > 0:16:32"up on the number of civilian listeners, but discreetly,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35"so as not to draw attention to the rival network.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37"If it was found the numbers were considerable,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41"then we should ask the Americans to take steps to reduce the power
0:16:41 > 0:16:44"of the transmitters, or take whatever steps may be appropriate."
0:16:49 > 0:16:50But that didn't work.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56In the end, the BBC would have to face an unpalatable truth -
0:16:56 > 0:17:01it would not be possible to control public taste for much longer.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05To stay in business, the national broadcaster would have to go
0:17:05 > 0:17:10with the flow and not play Canute with the tide of popular taste.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16CHORAL MUSIC
0:17:18 > 0:17:21While their bosses in Broadcasting House wrestled with their
0:17:21 > 0:17:26personal prejudices, the BBC's war correspondents were in the county
0:17:26 > 0:17:31of Oxfordshire, on the cusp of a new era in broadcast journalism.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34AIR RAID SIREN WAILS
0:17:34 > 0:17:37ARTILLERY FIRE
0:17:37 > 0:17:42On the 1st of March 1943, the Allies mounted a secret military exercise
0:17:42 > 0:17:45across great swathes of southern England -
0:17:45 > 0:17:48a trial run for the liberation of occupied Europe.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55The BBC team was with them, embedded with the British Army.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59But this was only because the military had finally given them
0:17:59 > 0:18:02a chance to prove themselves.
0:18:02 > 0:18:03It had not been easy.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09The secret exercise was codenamed "Spartan", and Oxfordshire
0:18:09 > 0:18:14was chosen as the location for a mock battle against a mock enemy.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18The BBC had to fight the military to get permission for its
0:18:18 > 0:18:22reporters to cover the operation, and when the authorities finally relented,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Richard Dimbleby was deputed to lead the reporting team.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33It was a crucial moment - a chance for the BBC to prove itself.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Get it right, and the way would be opened to an entirely new
0:18:36 > 0:18:38kind of front-line reporting.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Get it wrong, and the BBC would be out in the cold.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Almost a year earlier, the broadcaster had
0:18:48 > 0:18:52come in for severe censure from those with authority over it.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56One of the BBC's senior controllers, AP Ryan,
0:18:56 > 0:19:01who had himself been seconded from Whitehall, noted gloomily -
0:19:01 > 0:19:04"We have been criticised by the Board of Governors,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07"by the Minister of Information and by Number 10,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11"for not having a high enough standard of news observing.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16"We must, you will agree, admit that this criticism is justified."
0:19:17 > 0:19:20ARTILLERY FIRE
0:19:21 > 0:19:26Ryan's rebuke had galvanised the BBC into a far more coherent
0:19:26 > 0:19:29approach to the task of covering the conflict.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33By the time of Spartan, the Corporation had established
0:19:33 > 0:19:36a much larger team of professional correspondents.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Better organised, better trained and better equipped.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Everything was done as though for real.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Engineers recorded the sounds of battle.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Reporters gave eyewitness accounts which were flashed through to
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Broadcasting House.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56There, every word was scrutinised, passed through the censors
0:19:56 > 0:20:00and then condensed into a radio newsreel which was rushed
0:20:00 > 0:20:03through to meet the mock deadlines of a mock bulletin.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09In the pile of scripts thus processed,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12was one my father sent back from a liberated city.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17"I am talking at a street corner in Oxford...
0:20:17 > 0:20:21"which was entered by our forces, last night, after the enemy
0:20:21 > 0:20:22"had evacuated the city.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28"The people of Oxford are taking it with admirable calm.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31"While the enemy was withdrawing from the city,
0:20:31 > 0:20:36"they remained inside their homes, hearing the crushing explosions as
0:20:36 > 0:20:40"the lovely old bridges of the city are destroyed, one after another."
0:20:44 > 0:20:49After it was over, the BBC played back its Spartan war report
0:20:49 > 0:20:53to the Secretary of State for War, and the military high command,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56and then waited anxiously for their verdict.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59It was unanimous.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03After three and a half years from the start of the Second World War,
0:21:03 > 0:21:08the BBC was now free to report the war on a far greater scale.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10It was a real breakthrough.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15The BBC's War Reporting Unit, as it was called,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18could now plan for the next phase of the war.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27With Supreme Allied Headquarters set up on the edge of London
0:21:27 > 0:21:28in Bushy Park,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and more than a million and a half American troops assembling
0:21:32 > 0:21:37in Britain to rehearse for D-Day, the BBC's men were also in training.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40STAG BELLOWS
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Learning how to interpret signals, distinguish between different types
0:21:43 > 0:21:48of weaponry, and to negotiate rough country with a pack on their backs.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52It was, though, one thing to be an officer and to wear uniform,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54another to play the part to perfection.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01The BBC reporters were instructed in military etiquette -
0:22:01 > 0:22:02the general salute.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04On the command, "Salute",
0:22:04 > 0:22:09you salute on the third and last movement of the present,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11and you drop the salute on the second
0:22:11 > 0:22:13and last movement of the slope.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Thus, sergeant major says, "Present arms."
0:22:20 > 0:22:21"Slope arms."
0:22:23 > 0:22:26History doesn't record whether anyone ever got it right.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31But this attention to detail paid off.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35The radio men had been regarded as meddlesome amateurs.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Now they were increasingly treated with respect,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41as valued comrades in a common venture.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47The BBC boss who had been on the receiving end of that
0:22:47 > 0:22:51coruscating review of the BBC's war coverage two years earlier,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55now held his head high as he prepared his team for battle.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"We have a world audience...
0:22:58 > 0:23:00"and we mean to give it the fullest and the most vivid
0:23:00 > 0:23:04"and alive account of coming operations that we can.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07"Let pride in the achievement of our armies come through,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09"but never seek to 'jazz up' a plain story.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12"Events will contain their own drama.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15"You handful of men have been chosen to undertake the most
0:23:15 > 0:23:18"important assignment so far known to broadcasting.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20"Good luck."
0:23:24 > 0:23:26- ANNOUNCER:- General Overseas Service of the BBC,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28broadcasting to the Far East,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31the Middle East, the Near East...
0:23:31 > 0:23:34ANNOUNCER SPEAKS IN DANISH
0:23:34 > 0:23:36For the BBC,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39the war was not only about its reporters on the Allied front-line.
0:23:39 > 0:23:46There were also the men and women on the other side of the line,
0:23:46 > 0:23:52entombed by the Nazi Occupation and longing to be free.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54ANNOUNCER SPEAKS IN SPANISH
0:23:54 > 0:23:58By 1944, the number of foreign language services
0:23:58 > 0:24:01operated by the BBC had grown from seven at the start
0:24:01 > 0:24:05of the conflict to no less than 46 networks.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12And it was one of these that inspired what became perhaps
0:24:12 > 0:24:15the war's most memorable symbol of resistance.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20It began here, in the Ministry of Information
0:24:20 > 0:24:21when a young Belgian refugee,
0:24:21 > 0:24:26fleeing from the Gestapo for helping the Resistance, met an official
0:24:26 > 0:24:30from the Ministry, and said, "What we need is something to unite us.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32"Something like a symbol."
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Word of that reached the head of the BBC's Belgian service,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Victor de Laveleye, and he came up with the idea of the letter V.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45First letter of his Christian name, Victor, and of course, victory.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49# When the Fuhrer says We is the master race
0:24:49 > 0:24:50# V heil, heil
0:24:50 > 0:24:53# Right in the Fuhrer's face... #
0:24:53 > 0:24:56De Laveleye urged his listeners to adopt the V sign as their own
0:24:56 > 0:24:59form of silent resistance.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06MUSIC: Symphony Number 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Another member of the BBC staff took this campaign a step further.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, very familiar, of course.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21It reverberated across the airwaves with a very special resonance.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27A BBC news editor, Douglas Ritchie, had noticed that the
0:25:27 > 0:25:32"b-b-b-boom" precisely replicated the "dot dot dot dash"
0:25:32 > 0:25:36of the Morse code for the letter V - V for victory.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39So he turned it into a jingle at the start of his programme,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43and thus the German composer's famous Fifth became
0:25:43 > 0:25:46an indelible symbol of British defiance.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50MUSIC: FIFTH SYMPHONY JINGLE
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Ritchie broadcast on the BBC's European Service under
0:25:53 > 0:25:56the pseudonym, Colonel Britton.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03You in Europe who listen to me now...
0:26:03 > 0:26:06know that we are working and preparing for the day
0:26:06 > 0:26:08when we shall cross that narrow strip of Channel
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and the North Sea, and help you drive the Germans out.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16If you and your friends are in a cafe and a German comes in,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18tap out the V sign all together.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Have you got it?
0:26:20 > 0:26:21HE TAPS OUT V SIGN IN MORSE
0:26:21 > 0:26:26The response was remarkable. The V went viral,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29spreading across all occupied Europe.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33A chance to scrawl a secret "up yours" to the Nazis.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37Inspired by this, Ritchie wrote a pamphlet entitled,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Broadcasting As A Weapon of War.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43"After 20 months of war, it is now clear that there are in Europe
0:26:43 > 0:26:48"an enormous majority of people who wish to see the Allies win the war.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52"The BBC's broadcasts to the occupied countries are listened
0:26:52 > 0:26:56"to by a remarkably high percentage of the population.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58"It is almost impossible to exaggerate
0:26:58 > 0:27:00"the significance of these two facts.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03"We have here, if we develop it, and make use of it,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06"a weapon of war of an entirely new kind.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09"No such power has ever been in the hands of man before."
0:27:12 > 0:27:16For Ritchie, the possibilities seemed boundless.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18"The Germans are short of oil.
0:27:18 > 0:27:19"At a word from London,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23"sugar can be slipped into petrol tanks all over Europe,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26"and buildings where oil and other petrol are stored
0:27:26 > 0:27:28"can be set on fire.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31"The Germans are short of rubber. At a word from London,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34"motor tyres can be slashed across the Continent."
0:27:34 > 0:27:37It was a trifle far-fetched,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and in fact those ideas were never broadcast.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Nonetheless, Ritchie, aka Colonel Britton,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47was able to promote the V campaign on air,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51by suggesting a somewhat subtler campaign of sabotage.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Colonel Britton liked to call his growing number of listeners his
0:27:54 > 0:27:58"V Army", and he gave them a vital task to perform.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Amongst other things,
0:28:00 > 0:28:05urging factory workers under German occupation to cut their output.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06A go-slow to beat Hitler.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11In a belated counterattack, the Germans tried to claim that the
0:28:11 > 0:28:15V for Victory sign was in fact theirs, which fooled no-one.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20However, Colonel Britton's radio campaign eventually ran
0:28:20 > 0:28:23out of fresh ideas and it was dropped.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Not that that mattered too much.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30By this time, it had played its part in securing a European
0:28:30 > 0:28:33audience of at least 35 million people a day,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37who defied the Nazis by tuning in to the BBC.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43And with Beethoven's help, the solemn V for Victory drumbeat
0:28:43 > 0:28:47continued to echo across the airwaves for the rest of the war.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55MAN SINGS IN FRENCH TO TUNE OF FIFTH SYMPHONY
0:29:01 > 0:29:06The BBC's European Service also had a more tangible purpose,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08notably for the French.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12MAN ON RADIO: Ici Londres, et vive la France.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Ici Londres gave refugees in Britain a chance to send
0:29:19 > 0:29:21messages back to their loved ones in France.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26But some of these began to sound very odd indeed.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30MAN SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:29:34 > 0:29:37One evening in the summer of 1943,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41listeners to the BBC's French service heard a most peculiar message -
0:29:41 > 0:29:45"Le sucrier est entre les deux tasses."
0:29:45 > 0:29:48The sugar bowl is between the two cups.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51It may have sounded like any other personal message from refugees
0:29:51 > 0:29:56in Britain, back home to their loved ones in occupied France.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58But this one was different.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03In this case, the sugar bowl and the two cups,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07a coded message to the Resistance in this area that a cache
0:30:07 > 0:30:11of weapons was soon to be dropped in a field just outside this town.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21The codename for the drop was Operation Roach,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24which was masterminded by the Special Operations Executive.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30Established in 1940, the SOE's mission was sabotage.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Blowing up trains, bridges and factories,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37and promoting subversion and guerrilla warfare.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41It was a high-risk enterprise.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45On the night of the 14th of July,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49a small group of resistance fighters led by a local teacher,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Marcel Herard, was waiting at the drop site.
0:30:53 > 0:30:54AEROPLANES DRONE
0:30:54 > 0:30:57The sound of aeroplane engines.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Then the parachutes floating to the ground.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Seven crates laden with pistols, grenades, explosives
0:31:04 > 0:31:09and Sten guns, to be collected up and carted off well before dawn.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14The following morning, Marcel Herard's wife,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18who was also a teacher, brought her pupils to the same field,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22but while they played, she scoured the area to make sure that
0:31:22 > 0:31:26all evidence of the previous night's haul had been removed.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31As the preparations for D-Day intensified,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35the SOE wanted more and more airtime to contact the Resistance.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39But with the airwaves reaching saturation point,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41the announcers threatened mutiny.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48"I rather think this is getting beyond a joke.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51"It seems the general opinion that any announcer, good,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54"bad or indifferent, can stand up in front of the microphone for 30
0:31:54 > 0:31:58"to 40 minutes and read, without a break, some 300 to 400 messages.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02"It is an established fact that a really first-class announcer
0:32:02 > 0:32:05"at the BBC has had enough after 20 minutes."
0:32:08 > 0:32:12By this time, listeners to the BBC's French Service were being
0:32:12 > 0:32:14deluged with personal messages.
0:32:14 > 0:32:20Some genuine, some coded. It was an avalanche of gobbledegook.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23For instance, what were they to make of random nonsenses like
0:32:23 > 0:32:28"Le lapin a bu un aperitif" - the rabbit has drunk an aperitif?
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Or "Mademoiselle caresse le nez de son chien" -
0:32:32 > 0:32:35Mademoiselle is kissing the nose of her dog?
0:32:45 > 0:32:48In London, the Ministry of Information set up
0:32:48 > 0:32:52a meeting between the BBC and the SOE, to solve the conflict
0:32:52 > 0:32:56between the secret saboteurs and the public broadcasters.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01In a really significant shift of attitude,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04the Minister of Information, Brendan Bracken,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07who took a refreshingly unorthodox view of his role,
0:33:07 > 0:33:12sided with the BBC against his government colleagues in the SOE.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16The BBC was right, he argued, to insist that its principal role
0:33:16 > 0:33:20was to report the news, not to send secret messages.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22And the Minister prevailed.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36On the other side of the line in Berlin,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39the Ministry of Propaganda was up against it,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43though the Nazi call sign sounded as confident as ever.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48ANNOUNCER: Germany calling, Germany calling, Germany calling.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55The notorious voice of William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw-Haw.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Once a thorn in the BBC's, side, his lies
0:33:58 > 0:34:00and distortions no longer carried conviction.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Though the German armies were on the retreat,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Lord Haw-Haw continued to claim the opposite.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11German troops have succeeded in surrounding
0:34:11 > 0:34:14and annihilating a large enemy force.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20The Soviet losses in dead have been at least three or four
0:34:20 > 0:34:22times as great.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27In fact, the Red Army had turned the tide on the Russian Front.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34By the summer of 1943,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38only the most gullible listener believed anything the Nazis said.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Thanks, not least, to the BBC,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43which was now winning the war of words hands down.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49On all fronts, the Allies were on the offensive.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53They destroyed the Axis armies in North Africa.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55By July, they were in Sicily.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59In September, the Italian army laid down its arms.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06The Germans were left on their own to hold the Third Reich's southern flank.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08The Allies began to advance on Rome.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14The Wehrmacht mounted a stubborn resistance
0:35:14 > 0:35:17and held the high ground to the south of the capital.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21To break through, the Allies needed reinforcements.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35On the 22nd of January 1944,
0:35:35 > 0:35:40Allied troops stormed ashore here on the beach at Anzio, and which
0:35:40 > 0:35:43was a measure of the new respect with which the military regarded
0:35:43 > 0:35:47the broadcaster, the BBC's Wynford Vaughan-Thomas was with them.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55VAUGHAN-THOMAS: Then down went the ramp and we stepped off.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58I braced myself for the shock because not far from us,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01the men were going in up to their armpits, but we were lucky.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07As the troops landed, they advanced into thick woodland,
0:36:07 > 0:36:09but soon came under heavy fire.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Suddenly, there came a high-pitched whistle,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18and a dull shaking thud among the pines.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21It was shells. The Germans had woken up at last.
0:36:21 > 0:36:22SHELLS THUD
0:36:26 > 0:36:30To record the Anzio landings, the BBC had a new piece of kit
0:36:30 > 0:36:34that was to transform radio's coverage of the war.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36It was called The Mighty Midget.
0:36:39 > 0:36:45And this was it. Mighty perhaps, but not exactly a midget.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50It weighed in at 42lbs, just about you could carry it on your back.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53But they were also very fragile.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57You had to cut the disc as you were speaking through the microphone.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01It had to be wound up, but otherwise it was quite sophisticated.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03It had two settings.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08Normal, which is if you wanted to be heard over the sound of battle,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12and Distant, if you wanted to hear the entire pandemonium of war.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18The Mighty Midget transformed radio war reporting.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22You could be with the soldiers in a slit trench at the front,
0:37:22 > 0:37:23right in the thick of it.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27It was a real broadcasting revolution.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29Now I'm going to lift the microphone over the parapet
0:37:29 > 0:37:31and hold it up for you to hear
0:37:31 > 0:37:35the actual sound rhythm of the Anzio beachhead front at night.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39GUNFIRE AND SHELLING
0:37:48 > 0:37:51As the Allies pressed the offensive,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54the BBC correspondents were with them all the way,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57notably at the Battle of Monte Cassino.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01The Germans held the monastery on the commanding heights
0:38:01 > 0:38:04which blocked the way to the capital.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09It was not only a massive obstacle, it was also virtually impregnable.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17It was four months before the Allies were in a position
0:38:17 > 0:38:19to make the final assault on the summit,
0:38:19 > 0:38:20but on the 18th of May,
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Godfrey Talbot was with the Polish Second Corps
0:38:23 > 0:38:26as it made the final fight to the top.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30Men fought till they dropped.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Dropped exhausted, or dropped killed or wounded.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:38:37 > 0:38:41They had to get through appalling mountain tracks
0:38:41 > 0:38:45with the Germans pouring streams of fire upon them at every move.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47GUNFIRE CONTINUES
0:38:50 > 0:38:52In many positions,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56you could by day remain alive only in a hole in the ground.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00To show yourself and move in daylight
0:39:00 > 0:39:02in these forward positions was death.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Eventually, on the 18th of May,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Monte Cassino was taken by the Allied forces.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16I was at a Polish headquarters on the morning of the capture
0:39:16 > 0:39:17when the news came through.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19"We're in the abbey.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22"Monastery Hill is occupied."
0:39:22 > 0:39:26It was a historic moment and the drama was heightened
0:39:26 > 0:39:30when an officer put the good news right in front of my eyes.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33He handed me a small piece of paper.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37"It's come from the monastery by one of our carrier pigeons," he said.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40And I looked at the crumpled scrap of paper.
0:39:40 > 0:39:45All that was on it was one large V for Victory.
0:39:47 > 0:39:5218 days later, Rome was liberated.
0:39:52 > 0:39:53TRIUMPHANT SHOUTING
0:39:53 > 0:39:57I'm standing in the middle of the Piazza Venezia,
0:39:57 > 0:39:59on this day of our occupation.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01The windows have been opened
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and there's come out onto the balcony, not Mussolini,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06but three Allied soldiers
0:40:06 > 0:40:10and they're waving the Italian and the Allied flags.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19But this victory was rapidly overshadowed
0:40:19 > 0:40:22by the moment for which everyone had waited - the launch of D-Day.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34For the BBC's War Reporting Unit, it would be the test to beat all tests.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Just after midnight on the 6th of June, 1944,
0:40:42 > 0:40:46my father was on the edge of this runway at RAF Harwell
0:40:46 > 0:40:50to record the departure of troops from the 6th Airborne Division
0:40:50 > 0:40:52as they took off for Normandy
0:40:52 > 0:40:58to become the first Allied soldiers to land in occupied France.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00ENGINES HUM
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The first aircraft that is going to lead the very front
0:41:03 > 0:41:05in the early hours is turning onto the end of the tarmac
0:41:05 > 0:41:07to make its takeoff.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Taking off from here, loaded with parachutists.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Taking with it perhaps the hopes and the fears
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and the prayers of millions of people in this country,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17who sleep tonight not knowing
0:41:17 > 0:41:19that this mighty operation is taking place.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21- ENGINES ROAR - There she goes now.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24The first aircraft leading the attack on Europe.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Dimbleby was one of the 17 BBC correspondents
0:41:42 > 0:41:45who sailed with the Navy, flew with the RAF,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47jumped with Paras, landed with gliders,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50or hit the Normandy beaches with the Allied troops.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57In the history of radio, there'd been nothing like it.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01GUNFIRE
0:42:01 > 0:42:03We're over the enemy coast now.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Red light, green light and out, out.
0:42:05 > 0:42:06Get on! Get out! Get out!
0:42:06 > 0:42:08Out, out into the air over France.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13We're jumping, in fact, into fields covered with poles,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16but I hit my 'chute and lower my kit bag
0:42:16 > 0:42:19which suspends on the end of a 40-foot rope from my harness
0:42:19 > 0:42:21and then the ground comes up to hit me.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28On the evening of the 6th of June, 1944,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32the British public heard the first edition of a new programme
0:42:32 > 0:42:34that was to go out every night
0:42:34 > 0:42:36immediately after the nine o'clock news.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38It was called War Report -
0:42:38 > 0:42:43first-hand accounts from BBC correspondents on every front.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Vivid, accurate, and authoritative,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51the programme had an electrifying impact and in the process,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54served hugely to enhance the BBC's status
0:42:54 > 0:42:58as a genuine public service broadcaster.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08War Report number one - the story of D-Day.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14The Paratroops are landing.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16They're landing all round me as I speak.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19GUNFIRE
0:43:19 > 0:43:23They've come in from the sea, showering in.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25There's no other word for it.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34On D-Day, the BBC's correspondents sent back
0:43:34 > 0:43:36more than 50 reports to London.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41Vivid and up to the minute, War Report was a must-listen programme.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45Hello, BBC. This is Richard Dimbleby.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47The British, Canadian and American troops
0:43:47 > 0:43:50who landed on the coast of France in broad daylight this morning,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53are already several miles inland.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55They're pushing steadily on,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57backed by the tremendous firepower
0:43:57 > 0:43:59of heavy British and United States warships,
0:43:59 > 0:44:04and covered by an ever-changing, but ever-present umbrella of fighters.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Within days of the landing,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18General Montgomery, commanding the Allied forces on the ground,
0:44:18 > 0:44:22had established his headquarters in a chateau in the village of Creully.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28It was crucial for the broadcasters to site themselves nearby
0:44:28 > 0:44:30to get the news back fast.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Montgomery gave permission for the BBC
0:44:35 > 0:44:38to take over part of another chateau in the village,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41a base from which front-line reports could be transmitted
0:44:41 > 0:44:44almost immediately to radio stations all over the world.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01I'm lying down at full length here, in the cornfield.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Just in the hedges around me, I can see many men taking shelter
0:45:05 > 0:45:07behind a bank while this terrific barrage goes on around us.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11The shells are whistling overhead now. Just listen to them.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15GUNFIRE AND SHELLING
0:45:17 > 0:45:18By this point,
0:45:18 > 0:45:22the little studio here had become a global broadcasting hub -
0:45:22 > 0:45:24the only way of telling the world
0:45:24 > 0:45:26what was going on on the Normandy front.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31The road into Tilly is a road of devastation.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33It's lined at intervals with soldiers' graves.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Some British, but mostly German.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Every yard of this road was shouting at you
0:45:39 > 0:45:42that it had been fought for bitterly.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45It was a ghastly, a sickening sight.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48I've never seen a place so completely obliterated.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Tilly has just ceased to exist.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53Allied broadcasters trooped in here
0:45:53 > 0:45:57to tell their stories to millions upon millions of listeners,
0:45:57 > 0:45:59in the United States, in Canada,
0:45:59 > 0:46:04Australia, India, the Pacific and not least into occupied Europe.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07The BBC was broadcasting in more than 40 languages
0:46:07 > 0:46:11and in Britain alone, it had at least 15 million listeners.
0:46:15 > 0:46:21The BBC not only served a worldwide audience, but Montgomery as well.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24The BBC's Frank Gillard was the go-between.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Soon after D-Day, Montgomery summoned Gillard
0:46:28 > 0:46:32and said, "I want to use the BBC to reach my troops quickly."
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Gillard said, "Can I use your phone?"
0:46:34 > 0:46:37He was put through to the War Office, to the BBC,
0:46:37 > 0:46:38who recorded the pep talk
0:46:38 > 0:46:40and the two men sat and listened to it
0:46:40 > 0:46:43as it went out half an hour later.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47To every officer and man,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50whatever may be his rank or employment,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I send my grateful thanks
0:46:53 > 0:46:56and my best wishes for the future.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01Much yet remains to be done, but together, you and I,
0:47:01 > 0:47:06we will do it and we will see this thing through to the end.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12The BBC had come a long way since the beginning of the conflict
0:47:12 > 0:47:13when it had been regarded by the military
0:47:13 > 0:47:16with suspicion and hostility.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Montgomery now called it "the fourth arm of the war."
0:47:22 > 0:47:27As the Allies advanced slowly but inexorably towards Germany,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29the peoples of occupied Europe
0:47:29 > 0:47:31came to rely on the BBC's European Service
0:47:31 > 0:47:34to discover when they might be liberated.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Within Germany itself,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44sensing that they were doomed,
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Hitler's subjects began to do likewise.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53RADIO BROADCASTS IN GERMAN
0:48:04 > 0:48:05By the autumn of 1944,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09the German people were tuning their People's Radios
0:48:09 > 0:48:11away from Berlin towards London,
0:48:11 > 0:48:16from where the BBC's German Service was reaching an audience
0:48:16 > 0:48:18estimated at some 15 million people.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22But to listen to the BBC was a risk.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25The radio carried a health warning.
0:48:25 > 0:48:26"Think of this.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30"It is a crime against the national security of our people
0:48:30 > 0:48:32"to listen to a foreign broadcast.
0:48:32 > 0:48:38"It is a Fuhrer order punishable by imprisonment and hard labour."
0:48:40 > 0:48:43No hint that Hitler might lose the war
0:48:43 > 0:48:46was ever allowed to seep onto the German airwaves.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48No setbacks were reported.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Victory remained inevitable, if somewhat delayed.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58If you were British, it was a nonsense to relish
0:48:58 > 0:49:01and the BBC made the most of it.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05With the Allies now all but assured of victory,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08the BBC German Service was taunting its listeners
0:49:08 > 0:49:11by reminding them how many months had passed
0:49:11 > 0:49:16since the year in which Hitler had promised them final victory - 1940.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21Only the most besotted Nazi could now ignore the facts,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23however unpalatable they might be.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28As the Allies drove more deeply into Europe,
0:49:28 > 0:49:30the BBC teams were with them.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33Paris has been liberated. A communique just received...
0:49:33 > 0:49:37And now that that they were more often reporting success than failure,
0:49:37 > 0:49:39far freer to tell it how it really was.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46In March 1945, as the Allies began the crossing of the Rhine,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49BBC correspondents were on the ground and in the air.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55The engines are being revved up to their full peak and we're off.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59My father was in an RAF plane, towing a glider,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01filled with Airborne troops.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03This time, in marked contrast
0:50:03 > 0:50:06to the bombing of Berlin over two years ago,
0:50:06 > 0:50:11he had the Mighty Midget to record his impressions directly onto disc.
0:50:11 > 0:50:12It made a huge difference.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17The Rhine lies left and right across our path below us,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19shining in the sunlight,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21and the whole of this mighty Airborne army
0:50:21 > 0:50:25is now crossing and filling the whole sky.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Our glider's gone. We'd better go.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30There she goes, down behind us.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34I'm sorry if I'm shouting. This is a very tremendous sight.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38Ahead of us, another pillar of black smoke marks the spot
0:50:38 > 0:50:41where an aircraft has gone down and yet another one.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43It's a Stirling, a British Stirling.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46It's going down with flames coming out from under its belly.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52A few days after crossing the Rhine,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56the British Second Army was on its way towards the port of Hamburg.
0:50:59 > 0:51:00On the 15th of April,
0:51:00 > 0:51:04my father was relaxing with other correspondents at a forward base
0:51:04 > 0:51:09when word reached them of a German prison camp a little way up the road
0:51:09 > 0:51:11that was about to be liberated.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15He decided to go there with the British troops.
0:51:16 > 0:51:17They entered the gates of Belsen.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23Belsen was still in the hands of the SS,
0:51:23 > 0:51:25but the Camp Commandant, Josef Kramer,
0:51:25 > 0:51:29who was later to be hanged as a war criminal, had agreed to surrender
0:51:29 > 0:51:33to allow soldiers and doctors from Montgomery's Second Army
0:51:33 > 0:51:38to come in here with food and medical supplies for the inmates.
0:51:43 > 0:51:49Inside they found a charnel house of sick, dying and dead people.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55My father bore witness to it all
0:51:55 > 0:51:59and then returned to the forward headquarters of the Second Army
0:51:59 > 0:52:03to record in unsparing detail what he had seen and heard.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Here, over an acre of ground, lay dead and dying people.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14You could not see which was which,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16except perhaps by a convulsive movement
0:52:16 > 0:52:21or the last quiver of a sigh from a living skeleton too weak to move.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24A mother, driven mad,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28screamed at a British sentry to give her milk for her child
0:52:28 > 0:52:32and thrust the tiny mite into his arms and ran off, crying terribly.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36He opened the bundle and found the baby had been dead for days.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41This day at Belsen was the most horrible of my life.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48It was the first time that any such thing had been broadcast by the BBC
0:52:48 > 0:52:52and those who heard it would never forget it.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54But it very nearly wasn't transmitted.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57At first, Dimbleby's bosses in London
0:52:57 > 0:53:00thought that the truth that he had spoken was so terrible
0:53:00 > 0:53:03that it shouldn't be shared with the British public.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06It was only when my father, who was by then a household name,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09said that he would never broadcast again
0:53:09 > 0:53:13unless they changed their minds, that they finally relented.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18Belsen was the first camp to be liberated by the British.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23Tens of thousands perished, a great many of whom were Jews.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26My father's report was testament to the Holocaust.
0:53:29 > 0:53:35Just over two weeks later, the Third Reich finally crumbled.
0:53:37 > 0:53:38Hello, BBC. This is Chester Wilmot,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42speaking from Field Marshal Montgomery's tactical headquarters
0:53:42 > 0:53:44on a high, windswept hill
0:53:44 > 0:53:47on the wild Luneburg Heath near the River Elbe.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50It's 10 minutes past six on Friday, May the 4th.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55The commanders of the German forces opposing Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group
0:53:55 > 0:53:58have come to this headquarters today to surrender.
0:54:03 > 0:54:10Another private war had also been won - the BBC versus Lord Haw-Haw.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15William Joyce had retreated to Hamburg just before the surrender.
0:54:17 > 0:54:22Lord Haw-Haw had finally given up predicting a mighty Nazi triumph.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27Instead, he started to ramble on about the threat posed to Britain,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29not by Hitler's 1,000 year Reich,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32but by the United States and the Soviet Union.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34To support him in this volte face,
0:54:34 > 0:54:38he took to drinking prodigious quantities of alcohol.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41Indeed, he took to the bottle big-time,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45a fact which some listeners were to detect in his very final broadcast.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54- SLURRING:- This evening,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58I am talking to you about Germany.
0:55:00 > 0:55:08That is a concept that many of you may have failed to understand.
0:55:08 > 0:55:14Let me tell you that, in Germany, there still remains
0:55:14 > 0:55:19the spirit of unity and the spirit of strength.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Once he'd got all that off his chest,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27William Joyce lay down his microphone and fled the city.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Soon afterwards, the Devonshires were here
0:55:30 > 0:55:33with the BBC's Wynford Vaughan-Thomas in attendance.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35Vaughan-Thomas could not resist.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39He saw the Haw-Haw microphone and picked it up.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42This is Germany calling.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Calling for the last time from Station Hamburg.
0:55:46 > 0:55:51And tonight, you will not hear Views On The News by William Joyce.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55For Mr Joyce, Lord Haw-Haw to most of us in Britain,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58has been most unfortunately interrupted
0:55:58 > 0:55:59in his broadcasting career.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02And in his place, this is the BBC,
0:56:02 > 0:56:05calling all the long-suffering listeners in Britain
0:56:05 > 0:56:09who, for six years, have had to put up with the acid tones of Mr Joyce,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13speaking over the same wavelengths that I'm using to talk to you now.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19William Joyce would be no more than a footnote in the history
0:56:19 > 0:56:24of the Second World War, but for the BBC, he had been an important one -
0:56:24 > 0:56:27a real threat and a formidable challenge.
0:56:27 > 0:56:32Now on behalf of his colleagues, Vaughan-Thomas had got his own back.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40In Britain, the nation waited for the moment
0:56:40 > 0:56:43when, no longer a matter of wonder or surprise,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47the Prime Minister would take to the airwaves
0:56:47 > 0:56:49to announce that the war was over.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53BIG BEN STRIKES THE HOUR
0:56:53 > 0:57:00The German State signed the act of unconditional surrender
0:57:00 > 0:57:04of all German land, sea and air forces.
0:57:04 > 0:57:11Advance, Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom!
0:57:11 > 0:57:13God save the King!
0:57:13 > 0:57:14CHEERING
0:57:14 > 0:57:18My father was the BBC's man on the spot.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20And the crowd is singing,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23and this suddenly has become a very moving moment,
0:57:23 > 0:57:25for Mr Churchill too is singing
0:57:25 > 0:57:27and he is conducting the singing of this song.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29Will you listen, please?
0:57:29 > 0:57:35CROWD SINGS "LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY"
0:57:35 > 0:57:36Here they come.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39First, Her Majesty the Queen comes into view. Then the King.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47The BBC did its bit.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49Battered by bombs,
0:57:49 > 0:57:53Broadcasting House was nonetheless bedecked with flags -
0:57:53 > 0:57:55the emblems of the 22 nations
0:57:55 > 0:57:59which had helped destroy the tyranny of Nazism.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09For the BBC, as for the nation, it was a beginning as well as an end.
0:58:09 > 0:58:14The nation had been transformed by the war and so had the BBC.
0:58:14 > 0:58:15At the start of the conflict,
0:58:15 > 0:58:20it had very little idea of where it was going or how to get there.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23By the end, it had found the ways and means
0:58:23 > 0:58:26to articulate the story of a nation at war
0:58:26 > 0:58:28and had the confidence to do it.
0:58:28 > 0:58:32In the process, the BBC had become embedded in the national psyche
0:58:32 > 0:58:35as a genuine public service broadcaster.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38The BBC had been moulded by the war.
0:58:38 > 0:58:41Now, it faced the challenges of peace.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44But that, as they say, is another story.