Clare Hollingworth and the discovery of Germany's preparations for its offensive against Poland in 1939
By Péter MARTON
The Google Doodle provided me with some instant inspiration for my scholarly work this morning. It is the late war and foreign affairs correspondent Clare Hollingworth's 106th birthday today. Sadly, she is not around to celebrate it, having passed away at the remarkable age of 105 this January.
Among the achievements of her long career most prominently mentioned by people remembering her is her supposed discovery of Nazi Germany's force build-up along the Polish frontier.
Time for some myth-busting!
Back in January, writing her obituary, newspapers were happy to cite an anecdotal version of the story, copying details of the legendary reconnaissance feat from each other.
Some of these details may come originally from a biography by Patrick Garrett ("Of Fortunes and War"), as referenced and quoted here:
For another example, this is Time Magazine's account, perhaps using the very same source -- possibly it is paraphrasal producing the information-chain mayhem it often does:
The accidental discovery or revelation of troop concentrations and troop movements is certainly possible when correspondents roam the countryside (or are embedded with troops in the first place). Here's an example from the Gulf War of 1991, from "The Next War: Live?" by Barrie Dunsmore (page 9). Quoted there (from Dunsmore's interview with him) is General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of US CENTCOM and the coalition force in 1991.
However, was Hollingworth truly helped by the wind in our WW2 case? Did "a fabric partition separating two countries flap in the wind," thus "revealing scores, if not hundreds of tanks"? Was this but a chance discovery by Hollingworth? Did she really need to go over to Germany "to stock up on wine and aspirin"?
Is writing such silly things a good way to praise one of the best-known correspondents of all time?
Here is the original reporting from August 29, 1939 by Hollingworth. As you might have guessed already, there was no flip-flopping frontier-lining fucking fabric involved.
Hollingworth was working, doing her job for The Daily Telegraph inside German Upper Silesia, finding, among other things, "three towns ... completely dead so far as the civil population is concerned. Streets, shops and cafés--all ... deserted." She relates: "In a chemist's shop I was told that they had to send the entire stock to Berlin." And she also observed: "in the two miles between Hindenburg and Gleiwitz I was passed by 65 military despatch (sic) riders on motor-cycles."
Add to this that she quoted the overall assessment of the situation ("ten mobile divisions, including 1,000 tanks massed on the Polish frontier") from a "reliable authority" and we can call it a myth busted.
Hollingworth was a good correspondent, in other words, and she was not using intuition when reporting what she saw. She went to see things for herself to corroborate what she heard from her contacts in Poland.
No need to tell tales, this is a good story in any case.
***
This file may be updated in the future. Any updates and corrections will be clearly indicated.
The Google Doodle provided me with some instant inspiration for my scholarly work this morning. It is the late war and foreign affairs correspondent Clare Hollingworth's 106th birthday today. Sadly, she is not around to celebrate it, having passed away at the remarkable age of 105 this January.
Among the achievements of her long career most prominently mentioned by people remembering her is her supposed discovery of Nazi Germany's force build-up along the Polish frontier.
Time for some myth-busting!
Back in January, writing her obituary, newspapers were happy to cite an anecdotal version of the story, copying details of the legendary reconnaissance feat from each other.
Some of these details may come originally from a biography by Patrick Garrett ("Of Fortunes and War"), as referenced and quoted here:
"Driving alongside a valley, where a hessian screen that blocked the view had been pitched alongside the road, suddenly there was a great gust of wind which blew the hessian sacking from its moorings. Clare looked down into the valley and saw for the first time scores, if not hundreds of tanks."
For another example, this is Time Magazine's account, perhaps using the very same source -- possibly it is paraphrasal producing the information-chain mayhem it often does:
"Knowing that war may be imminent, and bolstered by the presence of a diplomatic flag, she borrowed her host's car, and 'motored off alone into Nazi Germany' to stock up on wine and aspirin. As she drove back along the border, a fabric partition separating the two countries flapped momentarily in the wind, exposing 'scores, if not hundreds of tanks' in the valley below. And there was her first big scoop: the outbreak of World War II."
The accidental discovery or revelation of troop concentrations and troop movements is certainly possible when correspondents roam the countryside (or are embedded with troops in the first place). Here's an example from the Gulf War of 1991, from "The Next War: Live?" by Barrie Dunsmore (page 9). Quoted there (from Dunsmore's interview with him) is General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of US CENTCOM and the coalition force in 1991.
"It was reported (by a television network) that at this time, right now, we are witnessing an artillery duel between the 82nd Airborne Division and the Iraqis. If they (the Iraqis) had any kind of halfway decent intelligence, they would have made note of the time (...) and through their intelligence network they would have pinpointed the location of the 82nd Airborne. Until that time everything they ever saw of the 82nd was on the east coast. All of a sudden they would have found the 82nd way to the west and it would certainly have telegraphed something to them."
However, was Hollingworth truly helped by the wind in our WW2 case? Did "a fabric partition separating two countries flap in the wind," thus "revealing scores, if not hundreds of tanks"? Was this but a chance discovery by Hollingworth? Did she really need to go over to Germany "to stock up on wine and aspirin"?
Is writing such silly things a good way to praise one of the best-known correspondents of all time?
Here is the original reporting from August 29, 1939 by Hollingworth. As you might have guessed already, there was no flip-flopping frontier-lining fucking fabric involved.
Hollingworth was working, doing her job for The Daily Telegraph inside German Upper Silesia, finding, among other things, "three towns ... completely dead so far as the civil population is concerned. Streets, shops and cafés--all ... deserted." She relates: "In a chemist's shop I was told that they had to send the entire stock to Berlin." And she also observed: "in the two miles between Hindenburg and Gleiwitz I was passed by 65 military despatch (sic) riders on motor-cycles."
Add to this that she quoted the overall assessment of the situation ("ten mobile divisions, including 1,000 tanks massed on the Polish frontier") from a "reliable authority" and we can call it a myth busted.
Hollingworth was a good correspondent, in other words, and she was not using intuition when reporting what she saw. She went to see things for herself to corroborate what she heard from her contacts in Poland.
No need to tell tales, this is a good story in any case.
***
This file may be updated in the future. Any updates and corrections will be clearly indicated.
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