Telling the world of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

[Owen]

Just reading in Fourth Indian Division that just before they launched an attack during Operation Crusader in the late afternoon of 7th December 1941 news came through of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

"Just before the advance began , news arrived of the incredible treachery of Pearl Harbour and all hearts were buoyed with the knowledge of a great new Ally."

Going by info on wiki it says the first attacks started at 07.48 .

"The air portion of the attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time "

Attack on Pearl Harbor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've worked out that time would be 17.48 GMT.

When was the world told of the attack?
Would a British Unit fighting in North Africa actually know that quickly what was going on in the Pacific?
Would they have learnt of it through official channels or listening to the BBC?
If so what time on 7/12/41 did the BBC break the news?
What time would British units in North Africa be using in 1941?

[Ron Goldstein]

Owen

As I've already explained in a pm to you, my wartime diaries did not start until 1942 but I can give a little insight into the way the troops heard the news.

I'm equally sure that every unit, in or out of the line, had access to the BBC news and this was always the way we kept in touch with world events. As you've probably realised there was always a bit of a time lag between the actual "happening" and the reporting.

For a brief period of one month my unit was atationed in Ulm in Germany running a transit camp and I found myself passing on news bulletins, not always very accurately, and I wrote about it here:

My own particular job was the cushy one of camp librarian and my duties were simple, to say the least. At the beginning of the "run" in Italy all troops were given opportunities to purchase paperback books from the NAAFI canteen. As they arrived at each staging camp in turn, they could swap on a one-for-one basis and so they had plenty to read en route. As librarian I was only on duty from seven in the evening until 9pm and then the rest of the day was my own. One other small duty was taking down the news from the BBC broadcasts and posting it on the canteen notice board.

The giggle was the fact that on some occasions reception was bad and the announcer spoke too fast. When this happened I used to fill in my own version of the news, regardless of the accuracy of the statements, but I don't think that anyone was ever the wiser and the next bulletin was always updated.

The full story can be read here:
BBC - WW2 People's War - Running a Staging Camp in Germany, August 1945

[Tom Canning]

Owen /Ron
The nine o'clock news was always listened to from the BBc - no matter where we were - Africa - Italy - Austria - there was always one 19 set tuned into the BBc in each squadron - so we all knew what was going on in the other theatres - including the football scores !
Cheers