Thank you to the staff of Wavescan - for another nostalgic look at radio history
Jeff: This week, we have a story about a shortwave station that was setup during World War II in a French Overseas Territory controlled by Vichy France. And once again we thank Dr. Martin van der Ven for contributing to this item.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. Following the Nazi invasion of France that began in May 1940, the French capital, Paris, was occupied without a fight on June 14. The remnants of the French government had left Paris four days earlier, and by agreement with the occupiers with whom they collaborated, they moved about 220 miles south to the central southern French town of Vichy, from where the southeastern part of the country was administered until August 1944. What is not widely appreciated is that all of the French overseas territories were also administered from Vichy during the war, not from Paris by the Germans.
Much of the French overseas territory in the Far East was quickly occupied by the Japanese, but elsewhere, the Vichy-controlled territories were viewed with much suspicion by the Allied Forces. For instance, the British were concerned that both the French island of St. Pierre off the south coast of Newfoundland and the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean might be used as refueling bases for the U-boats that were attacking merchant and allied shipping in the North Atlantic.
But, further afield off the east coast of Africa lay the much larger island of Madagascar, which from 1896 to 1958 was a French colony. The British had concerns in the early 1940’s that Madagascar could be used as both a refuge and a refueling base for Japanese submarines that were operating all over the Indian Ocean. And so, it was decided in London to initiate “Operation Ironclad,” to occupy the island of Madagascar. This operation began on May 5, 1942.
The primary objective was to neutralize the French naval base of Diego-Suarez (which is shown on maps these days as Antsiranana) at the very northern tip of Madagascar. The operation was launched from a small flotilla of ships – primarily the HMS Winchester Castle, accompanied by four smaller ships, Keren, Karanja, Llandaff Castle, and Sobieski, all escorted by the battleship HMS Ramilles.
The 20,000-ton HMS Winchester Castle had been constructed as a passenger ship in 1926, and before the war had been operated by the British Union-Castle Line for passenger and mail services between Great Britain and South Africa. Earlier in the war, she had been equipped with sonar and wireless direction-finding equipment, after which she was used as a training ship, and then as a troop transporter.
After the successful landings, the port of Diego-Suarez was in the hands of the British within two days, and on May 7, 1942, the Winchester Castle anchored in the bay.
700 miles to the south in the capital, Tananarive, the Vichy radio station then launched propaganda broadcasts to discredit the British and hinder their progress in occupying the southern part of the island. They claimed that Diego-Suarez had been destroyed by bombs and that there were many civilian casualties.
So to counter this, a British officer who spoke French decided to use a powerful transmitter on board the HMS Winchester Castle. A studio was set up in cabin 136, and a signals sergeant assisted with the technology. The ship’s transmitter was tuned to the frequency of Radio Tananarive, which operated on 6063 kHz, in the 49 meter band, with 5kW. As soon as the French station ended its broadcasts in the evening, the officer powered up the Winchester Castle transmitter and opened the microphone, saying in French: “Hello, hello, this is Radio Diego-Suarez, stay tuned. A British officer is speaking to you.” He then informed the residents of Madagascar that the situation in Diego-Suarez was normal, and that there were no civilian casualties. He even read 25 reports from civilians to reassure their families. This information was subsequently gratefully accepted and repeated by Radio Tananarive.
Originally, Radio Diego-Suarez was supposed to broadcast only a few times, but due to its success, it was decided to extend the experiment. The officer’s prepared texts were reviewed and refined linguistically by the French cook on board. Radio Diego-Suarez could eventually broadcast regularly. In the evening, Radio Tananarive concluded its programs with the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, and shortly thereafter, Radio Diego-Suarez started its program with La Marseillaise as well. Personal messages for the population were disseminated, along with useful information and a program called “Paroles de Churchill,” (or, Words of Churchill) aiming to correct the propaganda of the Vichy regime.
A land-based studio for the new Radio Diego-Suarez was set up in a former cinema, and three weeks after the landing, the HMS Winchester Castle left the port. She sailed first to Mombasa, Kenya and then on to New York. Radio Diego-Suarez continued to broadcast in French and Malagasy, and the music programs became more diverse. On November 5, 1942, six months after the operation had started, the British troops captured Tananarive and took over the main radio station there. Radio Diego-Suarez then ceased broadcasting, and three days later, on November 8th, the last fighting French forces in the south of the island surrendered.
Sadly, no recordings are known to exist of Radio Diego-Suarez, and it’s unlikely that any QSL cards would have been issued for reception reports from shortwave listeners to this temporary wartime station.
Back to you, Jeff.
(Ray Robinson/Jeff White-Wavescan)
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