Operation Overlord had been months in the planning. A vast
allied onslaught of men, machinery and armaments onto the beaches of Normandy
that eventually got the go-ahead on D-Day Tuesday 6 June 1944. The official
announcement on BBC radio came at 9.30 a.m. with the reading of Communiqué
Number 1.
"This is
London. London calling in the Home, Overseas and European services of the BBC
and through
United Nations Radio Mediterranean, and this is John Snagge speaking.
Supreme
Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force have just issued Communiqué No. 1.
Under
the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by
strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern
coast of
France".
Facing something on an editorial dilemma the Corporation had
already broken the news at 8 a.m. to forestall any rumours that may have
started to circulate following an early morning announcement on German radio
that had been recorded by the Monitoring Service in Caversham.
The logistical planning for Operation Overlord had started
in early 1943 with a target set for the following May. By the end of the year
SHAEF (the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) had been
established and General 'Ike' Eisenhower appointed as Supreme Commander.
The BBC was playing its part too and in May 1943 established
the War Reporting Unit with the team of correspondents undertaking courses of
physical training, reconnaissance, weapons training, signals, aeroplane and
tank recognition and map-reading. Before D-Day they were deployed so that they
could cover every phase of the landings. On the day itself the first eyewitness
accounts from onboard a bomber were heard after the one o'clock news.
That evening saw the first edition of War Report which pulled together first-hand reports from the War
Correspondents. The voice of John Snagge was heard again: "War Report
number one, the story of D-Day. Throughout the day the British Broadcasting
Corporation has been telling the world that allied forces have crossed the
Channel into France. With every arm of the liberating forces went a BBC
correspondent and soon after the assault was launched reports began to come
in."
The following day, D-Day+1 a new radio service, the Allied
Expeditionary Forces Programme, was launched by Franklin Engelmann complete
with its famous Orange and Lemons
theme.
Over the years BBC radio has regularly commemorated the
events of that day, most notably for the 50th anniversary in 1994 when there
was a whole bunch of extra programmes.
Some notables programmes over the years include:
The Story of D-Day
(Home Service 6 June 1948)- an account of events produced by Laurence Gilliam
of the BBC Features Department and written by former war correspondents Chester
Wilmott and Robert Barr. This retelling contained no actuality and accounts
were read by actors.
Five Years After
(Home Service 5 June 1949) -memories from the war correspondents who reported
at the time including Richard Dimbleby, Stanley Maxted and Colin Wills.
This Was D-Day
(Light Programme 7 June 1953) - "A sound-picture ... compiled entirely
from on-the-spot recordings made by War Correspondents and men of the Allied
Forces"
D-Day Anniversary
Programme (Light Programme, 6 June 1954) - a number of programmes
throughout the day to mark the 10th anniversary
Dawn of D-Day
(Home Service 14 June 1959) with Lt-General Brain Horrocks narrating
OK! Let 'Er Rip
(Radio 4 4 June 1974) - taking its title from the supposed invasion order given
by Eisenhower
D-Day: 6 June 1944
(Radio 4 6 June 1984) - see below
Overlord (Radio 4 18 & 25 May 1994) - Christopher
Cook tells the story of the military and diplomatic preparations
D-Day A Moment in
History (Radio2 6 June 1994) - a collection of eye-witness accounts from
British, allied and German ex-service personnel.
The People's D-Day
(Radio 4 5 June 2004) - a two-hour sequence, presented by Libby Purves, of "short
features and stories told by the people who made D-Day happen".
From Dunkirk to D-Day
(Radio 4 5 June 2004) - Charles Wheeler recalls "the epic of survival and
strategic success that made cross-Channel victory possible".
The finest of these commemorative programmes must be the
1984 documentary, D-Day:6 June 1944, compiled and written by Alan Haydock and Dan
Kelleher. It relies almost entirely on the voices of the men and women that
were involved in the planning, logistics and invasion of the Normandy beaches,
all recorded especially for the programme. They tell their story in a matter of
fact way, and is all the more powerful for it. There's minimal narration, in this case from
actor Frank Windsor (of Z Cars fame) and
only a little archive material with reports from Frank Gillard, Richard
Dimbleby, Chester Wilmot and Colin Wills.
From that same day, 6 June 1984, comes this clip from Radio
4's Six O'Clock News marking the 40th
anniversary of D-Day. Newsreader Eugene Fraser introduces reminisces from John
Snagge and reports by Philip Short, Geoffrey Wareham, Clive Small, Martin
Sixsmith and David Smeeton.