Owing to a slight hiccup we are a couple of days late with this weeks upload. While the term ‘Fake News’ is prevalent in today’s news media, the phenomenon has been around since the ancient Romans. Here an article I did on Misinformation and the use of fake news throughout history.
Misinformation – Text only version
More and more of today’s headlines involve ‘Fake News’, as if this were some new phenomenon. In fact, ‘Fake News’ is a tool that has its roots as far back in history as the Ancient Romans and beyond. There are a couple of poignant quotes that perfectly illustrate this point in relation to this article.
“The first casualty of war is the truth” & “History is written by the Victor”
So while Winston Churchill and the BBC were busily exposing and decrying Nazi propaganda and lies it must be said that the Allies were busily spinning tales of their own. Here are a few of those tales.
Yankee guests outstay their welcome.
In Spring 1944, The Times newspaper printed letters to the Editor from various readers in Kent, most notably from a Vicar. He said he understood the need for the 10,000 US troops that were based near his Ashford parish, yet he was concerned about the moral integrity of the young ladies in the area having found used condoms in the church grounds and even in the graveyard. Another letter was from an outraged farmer whose fields had been destroyed by the tank and troop training manoeuvres.
“Surely they can use limited numbers of tanks? Do they really need to use 100 at a time? We are being told to dig for victory yet all my work has been undone in a matter of hours.” Fishermen in the area were complaining that they could not access docks because of the massed troops and artillery and the gathering of a huge fleet.
The commander on site. General Patton, was interviewed by BBC, his trademark barking voice booming over the sounds of troops and artillery in the background, assuring the locals that he would deal severely with any of his troops that misbehaved. The Nazi’s were paying attention. General Patton commanded the same fearful respect in their eyes as Rommel commanded in the eyes of the Allies. The massing of troops led by Patton in Kent surely meant that the impending allied invasion would come from Kent into Brittany? Didn’t it? We know today that it didn’t. The fact is that there was no massing of US troops in Kent. The letters were all works of fiction and published by The Times under instruction of The War Office. Furthermore, General Patton was suspended from duty at that time for striking a wounded soldier and calling him a coward. The interviews that the BBC played had actually been recorded by a specialist team drafted in from Hollywood. They had used recordings of troop and artillery movements in the background to give the impression that Patton was out on large scale manoeuvres.
While there is no accurate way to measure the effect of this subterfuge there can be no doubt that it did have an impact. The German’s could not rule out an invasion in Brittany which left their defending forces spread thinly over hundreds of miles of French coastline.
How carrots helped win the Battle of Britain.
The Luftwaffe were at a loss. They knew that their air force vastly outnumbered that of the British and yet every time they launched an attack it seemed that the Spitfires and Hurricanes were waiting for them. Poor old Fritz was flummoxed. The German’s kept suffering heavy losses. In reality, the British were using the first RADAR technology to spot the incoming attacks, but they needed to keep it secret. So some boffin at the War Office explained that they were feeding their coastal watch crews extra rations of carrots to improve their night vision! A rabbit’s night vision and penchant for carrots were cited as evidence. People still believe and quote this today. FAKE NEWS!
The true meaning of being ‘Sent to Coventry
The Blitz did not just affect London. German air raids targeted British industry across the country. Coventry was one of the most heavily bombed UK cities. One dark chapter involved the newly cracked Enigma Code. The War Office translated a message which warned of a huge air assault that was about to be launched on the city. This posed a dilemma for the War Office. Should they use the warning to evacuate the people? If they did they would be tipping their hand and letting the Germans know that their code had been cracked. The War Office chose to do nothing and let the raid carry on unimpeded. Hundreds were killed. Today, the phrase is still in use, to blank or ignore somebody is to “Send them to Coventry.”
Operation “Mincemeat
There could be a very good reason why this last story sounds like it could be straight from a James Bond novel. The whole idea was based on the Trout Memo of 1939 written by the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral John Godfrey and his assistant, one Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming! In 1943, the Allies were planning their invasion of Sicily and considering ways that they could disrupt the enemy defences. Operation Mincemeat was a complex plan with a number of movable parts. How could the Allies help the Nazi’s to discover Top Secret Plans? Two members of British Intelligence obtained the unclaimed body of a homeless man, Glyndwr Michael and dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines. The included identification papers and Dog-Tags naming him as Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. They handcuffed a briefcase to the wrist of their Captain that included various Top Secret memos and documents that indicated a planned Allied assault on the island of Corsica. The body was then taken by submarine to the Mediterranean and under cover of darkness it was left near the Spanish Coast, as if it had drifted ashore overnight. The level of thought and planning must be admired. The Allies chose the coast of Spain to drop the body, knowing that word would reach their target eventually – if they had made it too easy for the Nazi’s to discover, it could have aroused suspicion. Furthermore, the detail of the back story that this man was given is almost incredible. He wore jewellery and a watch that were engraved with personal messages. His wallet contained photos of his parents and his sweetheart. His briefcase contained a love letter from his sweetheart and he even had a receipt from a London Jeweller detailing a deposit he had paid on an engagement ring. How successful the operation was will never be known, however the subsequent invasion of Sicily was quicker than had been anticipated and the Allies suffered far fewer casualties than had been expected.
