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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Establishing Broadcast Monitoring as Open Source Intelligence The BBC Monitoring Service during the Second World War Johnson, Laura Marie Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 Establishing Broadcast Monitoring as Open Source Intelligence: The BBC Monitoring Service during the Second World War Laura Marie Johnson Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of War Studies, King’s College London 2013 1 Abstract Given the recent surge of interest in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), surprisingly little attention has been devoted to existing open source agencies or their historic role. As the first full length academic study of the BBC Monitoring Service, this thesis seeks to examine one of the earliest historic attempts to systematically manage and exploit publicly available, open source information for intelligence purposes. It utilises the Imperial War Museum’s rarely used collection of BBC Monitoring transcripts, in conjunction with traditional archival sources and oral interviews, to trace the origins, processes and institutional structure developed by the Monitoring Service during its formative years. This study further assesses the collection priorities of BBC Monitoring during World War Two, traces the historic flow of monitored material around the wartime Government and BBC, and establishes the institutional role of BBCM in the conduct of Britain’s war effort. Three case study chapters, focusing on the outbreak of war, Dunkirk and D-Day, particularly assess the process and detailed collection priorities of the Monitoring Service during key events throughout the war. This study thus makes a contribution to the historic picture of British intelligence during World War Two, and is bound to encourage future study of the BBC Monitoring Service and its archives. Overall, the BBC Monitoring Service is judged a historic success story. This thesis argues that this success can be attributed to three key qualities developed during the wartime period: trust, breadth, and adaptability. The organisation established a relationship of trust with the Government; developed and maintained a remarkable breadth of broadcast coverage; and showed a constant ability to adapt to both customer demands and changing strategic priorities. 2 Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................2 Table of Contents.................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................4 List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................6 Introduction..........................................................................................................8 1. Locating the BBC Monitoring Service: Analysis and Applications..........33 2. Establishment.................................................................................................72 3. Collection Priorities and Station Coverage ...............................................113 4. The Monitoring Process ..............................................................................135 5. Case Study One: Poland, 29 August - 17 September 1939.......................165 6. Case Study Two: Dunkirk, 4 - 14 June 1940 .............................................196 7. Case Study Three: D-Day, 1 - 10 June 1944..............................................228 Conclusion ........................................................................................................263 Bibliography.....................................................................................................277 Appendices........................................................................................................295 Appendix 1: BBC Research Unit Long-term Campaigns ........................296 Appendix 2: List of Supervisors and Monitors, August 1939..................297 Appendix 3: Digest Contents, September 1939.........................................298 Appendix 4: Digest Part I Contents, June 1940 ........................................301 Appendix 5: Digest Part II Contents, June 1940.......................................305 Appendix 6: Digest Part I Contents, June 1944 ........................................308 3 Acknowledgements The biggest thank you must go to my supervisor Dr Peter Busch for his support, guidance, patience and editing skills. I am also grateful to him, and to Richard Golland of the Imperial War Museum, for giving me the opportunity to undertake research on such an interesting topic and archive. For the guidance, encouragement and opportunities they have provided over the years, I’d further like to thank Richard Golland and Suzanne Bardgett who acted as supervisors at IWM. I would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Imperial War Museum and King’s College London without which this work would not have been possible. For agreeing to be interviewed and for offering so freely of their time and ideas, I’d like to extend an especial thank you to Karl Lehmann, Ewald Osers, Alan Sanders, Lorna Swire and Lord Weidenfeld. For first bringing the BBC Monitoring Service to life, I’d also like to acknowledge Olive Renier and Vladimir (Vova) Rubinstein, and I thank the late Vova Rubinstein and his wife for their correspondence in the early years of this project. I am further appreciative of the advice and suggestions offered by the faculty and research students of the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. I should particularly like to thank Dr Michael Goodman and Professor Joseph Maiolo for their welcome to the department, and for their comments at upgrade stage I’d like to acknowledge Dr Alan James and Dr Petra Dolata. I would like to thank the members of the London Collaborative Doctoral Award network for the ideas and support they have offered over the years. I am further appreciative of the help in editing offered by my mum, and my sister Emma; any remaining mistakes are my own. A longer-term academic debt is owed to Professors Richard Whiting and Simon Burrows at the University of Leeds, for providing me with the initial inspiration and courage to undertake doctoral study. 4 The employees of many archives and libraries have further made an invaluable contribution to the completion of this work. At IWM Duxford, I’d like to thank Stephen Walton, Brenda Collings and especially Pam Wright, for their assistance, companionship and frequent lifts to the station on wintry days. At IWM London I’d like to extend a general thank you to those, far too many to mention, who have been so generous with their interest, help and advice. At the BBC Written Archives Centre I received the dedicated assistance of Trish Hayes in locating files, and also the help of Jacquie Kavanagh in contacting former Monitoring Service employees. Thanks must also go to the staff of The National Archives, Chatham House and the British Library. For keeping me going and putting up with me over the last few years, I’d like to acknowledge the friendship of Faekah Gohar, Emma Hearle, Alex Wilcox, Rachel Chapman, Chris Kempshall, Mark Prouse, Sarah Grant and Alexander Walker. I’d like to thank my brother Drew and his family for providing a home away from home in London. Most of all I am grateful to my parents, Kate and Andrew, for their unfailing support, advice and encouragement. Finally, for being a constant reminder of what’s most important in life, and for being some of the best company around, I’d like to thank my niece and nephews: Francis, Joseff, Evan, Rose and Charlie. 5 List of Abbreviations BBCM BBC Monitoring Service BBC MSI BBC Monitoring Service index, held by IWM BBC MST BBC Monitoring Service transcript collection, IWM BBC MSD BBC Monitoring Service collection of Daily Digests, IWM BBC RU BBC Research Unit Daily Synopsis of Releases, IWM BBC:WAC BBC Written Archives Centre BL:SA British Library Sound Archive BST British Summer Time CAB British Cabinet Office CBS Colombia Broadcasting Station CHQ Country Headquarters, Woburn Abbey