Mar 23, 2010
This is Part Two of a two-part documentary about black clandestine propaganda from the UK towards Nazi occupied Europe. The late Harold Robin explains why Canadian soldiers dug a hole in one of hills near Crowborough, Sussex and how the high power mediumwave transmitter sent from the US was buried underground. George Jacobs explains the mysterious Glenn Miller Jazz programmes made for German soldiers. Aspidistra, as the transmitter was called, could change frequency quite quickly and did more than broadcast fake German forces radio programmes. This must be the ultimate in "fake news" networks.
After the war, the transmitter was handed over to the BBC and later sent to Orfordness, Suffolk. Bits of the original transmitter survive in the transmission hall of that site. The original transmitter site in Sussex is now a police training ground. The photo shows the transmitter shortly after installation. The bunker was designed by an architect who built cinemas before the war.
You can find the first part of the documentary here.
Jonathan, thank you for making this material available on the internet. Here is part of what I wrote to you on Dec 17, 1988:
\"It is not true that the truck mounted transmitters had a standard broadcast power of 100 kW. Each transmitter had a power of only 20 kW. Up to 3 transmitters could be combined, resulting in a transmitting power of 60 kW.
Information on German mobile transmitters is available in the following book:
Buchbender/Hauschild, Geheimsender gegen Frankreich: Die Täuschungsoperation Radio Humanité 1940, published by Mittler in Herford in 1984 - ISBN 3-8132-0191-0
This book also repudiates the widespread assumption that Radio Humanité started its programmes in 1940. In reality the station went on the air on December 16, 1939.
You also said that the New British Broadcasting Station (NBBS) later became Workers\' Challenge. In fact both stations were different operations. NBBS was a shortwave operation lasting until April 1945. Workers Challenge was broadcast on 213 m medium-wave by the mobile transmitter \'A\', located at the Schelde estuary. The \'Loch Lomond\' song was used by the NBBS at sign on, not by Workers Challenge.\"
My comment was read out on the air in one of the following broadcasts.
Hi Kurt,
Yes I remember your comments now. Have ordered the book from a bookseller in Germany and look forward to reading more about those German clandestine stations. May be the reason the British missed the start of Radio Humanite was that they were rather late in starting a monitoring service. I wonder if the author, Mittler, is still alive?