Godfrey Talbot: The Voice of the Desert and the 8th Army.

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	This page: includes diary extracts and audio clip.
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Before Alamein September 1942

Difficulties Revealed

This is the first evidence in the diaries of the real problem of war reporting in the 1940's, as indeed in most 20^th century wars. Correspondents could only go where the Authorities allowed them to, unless they were particularly evasive, and Godfrey, in his massive truck full of equipment, was never this! Had he tried to be so, of course, he would immediately have jeopardised the growing trust that was to be established between himself and 'Monty'.

In later October and early November of 1942, this problem is even more graphically illustrated in a series of diary entries at the time of the decisive second Battle of El Alamein. In his 1944 account Speaking from the Desert (op. cit.) Godfrey devotes a long chapter to this, and indeed why not, for it was at this time that he established his reputation with a series of recordings of sounds of battle and interviews with those concerned with it; but he also says in the Preface to the book: "Anybody looking for a military history of the Desert War had better shut this book up at once".

This is no more than honest, and the diaries confirm that, even in his truck near the front line, he was never really in a position to know how the battle was going. (Compare this perhaps with his 1944 account of the struggle to gain Monte Cassino in Italy where he had more of a 'grandstand view').

At Alamein Godfrey was frustrated for lack of news, for all his 'front-line' status. His only information on how the battle was actually going came from a series of 'briefings', so much so that a cynic might observe that he could tell his listeners no more of the battle than his predecessor, Dimbleby, had done, sitting securely in Cairo. This, however, misses the point completely. What Godfrey conveyed in those far-off days was the atmosphere, the noise, almost the 'feel' and the smell of the nearby battle. Exposure to the sound of guns and bombing were an essential part then for all his broadcasts, however thin the factual information coming his way.

Godfrey Talbot Audio Clip:
Regarding the 2^nd Battle of El Alamein

Audio Clip Requires Real Player - free download here

Transcript of Audio Clip

I knew it was going to happen that night mind you, but it was dramatic all the same. Absolutely dramatic, absolutely quiet, when the signal was passed and somehow, at any rate, it was passed straightaway, simultaneously, right along the Alamein front, until a voice, or whatever it was, some signal, was given, "Fire", or whatever the word was, and then whether you were a soldier, civilian, whatever you were, suddenly all hell, absolutely cracked and nowhere in any war has there been such a barrage at dawn. Something like 900 field guns along miles and miles of front simultaneously burst into flames. The most dramatic, theatrical thing you had ever seen.

Diary page illustrating the entry for Friday 23 October 1942 'The Day'

And yet successive diary entries reveal a man 'grasping at straws' to make the bricks of an authoritative war report. These are some examples:

Friday October 23:

General Montgomery holds a press conference, eve-of-battle at 8^th Army HQ. Made memorable speech - No surrender - We're going to kick him out of North Africa - No failure - We shall win - It starts at 10 tonight - it'll be a 'terrific battle' - Army and Air Force are one - We've waited for this day.

All most exciting and memorable.

Monty's message to 8^th Army is terrific - says they are starting one of the most decisive battles in history and turning-point of the war. 'It will swing OUR way'. No surrender - fight and kill...

The offensive started tonight just before 10, with terrific barrage that lasted fairly well all night...

Saturday October 24

Today's Cairo communiqué gives very briefly the news that we have attacked. Awful business with censors over-cutting the stories of this offensive. 8^th Army says one thing and GHQ in Cairo another. A general says 'OK, you may use this', but other censor people say no. So out it goes!

Really one thinks that a war can best be covered by sitting in Cairo rather than dashing and working here in discomfort in the desert.

Sunday October 25

Bloody battle still going on. It's no easy thing. We're still showing terrific strength in the air. We don't know yet how it's going.

Tuesday October 27

In morning went forward to 10 Corps, who reported tank fighting with mixed results. German defences are good and hard to crack. . . back to camp. News generally seems a bit better. Recorded long Battlescene dispatch and sent up, with an unscripted interview in ambulance, to PR 8^th Army by Dispatch Rider tomorrow early.

Thursday October 29

Censors tell me that all "meat" and concrete reporting in dispatches is still being cut to hell. Some people optimistic over this battle; some more pessimistic. It's still a hard frontal struggle, with two sides locked together and slamming hard, and fairly heavy casualties. But we can't say much.

Monday November 2

Learned at 30 Corps this morning that last night's big attack had been a success. Infantry made a bridgehead through enemy lines for the tanks to move through. News then is good. We're crushing them, or hitting them hard, it seems. Shall I go back to Cairo? Shall I dash off and get winter things and return?...

Tuesday November 3

News again good. We did another successful attack last night. We've enlarged the bulge in their positions. We're attacking again tonight.

Wednesday November 4

Went to Alex and then by train (very comfortable Pullman) to Cairo... Tonight in Cairo, back again, was plunged into terrific work at this end: for the Good News is out. The enemy is on the run. All elation and clattering typewriters. The beginning of victory?

Friday November 6

News still good. We're chasing the Boche right out of Egypt. Wish I were at the front now.

Where the desert coast road reached the Alamein front line

Quite obviously, had Godfrey been fully in the picture, he would not have dreamed of leaving the battle just on the eve of the massive victory for the mundane reason "to get winter clothing".

Not until November 16 did he manage to get back to "Belinda", where he had left a fellow reporter in charge, as the 8^th Army advanced rapidly into Libya, but, ever cautious, Montgomery was never quick enough to trap the bulk of Rommel's forces.

Letters from England

Meanwhile, another facet of Godfrey's career, and fame, as a war correspondent had begun to develop, the letters and airgrams from home, usually from complete strangers. Perhaps they convey, far better than any secondary comments, just how much his broadcasts were beginning to mean to people anxiously listening at home for the progress of the battle, and, even more, for news of the well-being of their loved ones. Here are two examples:

Liverpool
31.12.42

To Godfrey Talbot, BBC Announcer, MEF

It is the last day of the old year. Please accept my wishes for a blessed and victorious New Year. It has been a pleasure to hear your cheery voice so full of Christian hope and faith. It is so very different that in the Great War 1914-18 we just had to buy Echos to see if our loved ones were safe. Now as our dear boys go forward to victory, we can hear your voice right from the desert, yes the battle front, for you are in the front line with no easy task.

May I add that I sit right up to the loud speaker with my ear almost in the set (as I am a little deaf). You are so real and feel so near that I forget all and am just in the desert with you all waiting for your message. I thank you for the precious link you bring from our dear ones. God grant you health and strength to carry on. God keep you safe and may you soon have a happy reunion with your loved ones.

Please convey to all connected with BBC my grateful thanks for all they do for us.

Yours very sincerely,

A Soldier's Mother - 8^th Army

Croydon 15^th IV 1943

Dear Godfrey Talbot,

I listened to you a short while ago when you asked wives and relatives to write to their men as they did enjoy having letters. Well, if it makes them happy, you may like to know how happy you make people feel, and how they listen to your lovely broadcasts. You would probably be very surprised.

You cannot imagine how many people say to me, 'Have you heard Godfrey Talbot?' or 'Do you listen to Godfrey Talbot?' And the many lovely things they say about you. I have a friend who's [sic] boy is with the 8^th Army, and who is now in hospital. She said I feel very happy and do not worry about him because of Godfrey Talbot's broadcasts. So you see, we all think of you too - no doubt thousands of mothers, wives and sweethearts feel like we do.

I am not putting my address. I do not want you to write. But I do want you to know what we think of you, and every night and morning I pray that God will keep you safe, and now Goodnight and God Bless.

Yours sincerely,

DBW 'A Red Cross Nurse'.

Many more similar letters exist. They lose a little of their emotion and potency, when one is not actually handling the flimsy originals, still so well preserved; and yet what could be better evidence of the really vital job, not just in reporting, but also in boosting morale at home that Godfrey was able to do?

German wreckage surveyed by Talbot after the battle

The manuscript diaries, being handed over to the Centre, continue after Alamein right up to the end of the war in 1945. Mostly with the 8^th Army. They form the background to the report on Vesuvius, quoted earlier, the highly regarded dispatches (printed in the Listener at the time) on the assault on German positions on Monte Cassino, and "There never was such a Roman holiday", in which thousands of Italians mobbed Godfrey's recording truck in Rome.

Decyphering such diaries, jotted down in very difficult conditions, is a major task, and, as yet, has barely reached the end of 1942. Research, for instance, is necessary to determine that the word that looks like 'Mary' in describing Air Vice Marshal Coningham, really was Mary, and why he was so called. The writing is so difficult, moreover, as stated previously, that probably only a close member of the family, familiar with it, can attempt to transcribe it.

As this task progresses, with the advance of the 8^th Army across North Africa and up the Italian peninsula, it will remain interesting to see how this compares with, and relates to, the broadcasts, the autobiographies and the taped interview from the summer of 2000, just before Godfrey's death. These diaries are the most basic of primary sources and provide the hidden 'nuts and bolts' that underpinned his recorded and written work. They show, first and foremost, a hard-working and honest 'wordsmith' taking the first steps in his meticulous preparation for 'speaking from the desert' and for the 8^th Army, to everyone at home.

Article by David Talbot.

	Overview & general experience.
	This page: includes diary extracts and audio clip.
	Glories, grand occasions and generals.