After the defeat of June 1940, the radio will become the instrument of a war of the waves opposing the Resistance with Radio London on the one hand, and the German occupation forces and collaboration with Radio Paris and Radio Vichy on the other hand. It was General de Gaulle who opened hostilities on June 18 by inciting the French to resistance in his famous speech broadcast by the BBC. Soon, more and more French people were to try to tune in to French broadcasts from the BBC, where confidential messages and information broadcasts rubbed shoulders, led in particular by Maurice Schumann and Pierre Dac, who were among the best known of the "voices of France”.
Radio London:the voice of Free France
The armistice of May 10, 1940 marked the seizure of the occupants over part of the territory and the French radio landscape. Following General de Gaulle's appeal, on June 18, 1940, radio stations gradually reorganized across the Atlantic as well as in the colonies to offer a program of entertainment and support for resistance fighters.
Radio London begins in June 1940 and will offer 17 varied programs such as:The French speak to the French , Homage and Fatherland hosted by Maurice Schumann, Les Couriers de France or The little academy . In January 1942, Franck Bauer hosts his own radio show devoted to Jazz:Radio Swing Club. Before his adventure at the BBC, Franck Bauer had several facets:propagandist, host of a spy network and spy in the United States. After the defeat of June 40, he decided to embark for England and join the Free French Forces. He refused the post of commissioner of the navy to devote himself to radio and joined the Radio London team in March 1941. It was then that he became a speaker for the program "the French speak to the French".
The French talk to the French
Initiated on June 19, 1940 following General de Gaulle's speech, the famous program The French speak to the French is then called Ici la France and will start on July 14, 1940 at 8:15 p.m., the symbolic day of the national holiday. Jacques Duchesnes, Jean Oberlé and Pierre Lefèvre decide to form a team that will host the show until 1944. Franck Bauer also pays tribute to his former colleagues in this book:Maurice Schumman, Pierre Bourdan (Pierre Maillaud), Jacques Duchesnes (Michel Saint-Denis), Jean Oberlé, Pierre Lefèvre, to name a few. The twenty or so journalists presenters are the subject of a short personal biography describing their involvement within the team and their links with our author.
Radio London aims to be entertaining and denounces collaboration and the STO (Compulsory Labor Service). She does not hesitate to read good and bad news as well as letters from listeners. Radio London was also a means of relaying coded messages intended for resistance fighters and of organizing psychological campaigns against the Germans. The Turtle Campaign encourages the French to work slowly and the campaign of V in 1941 encouraged them to cover the walls and cars with the "V" for victory.
Gradually, colony radios are being used more and more. This is the case of Radio Brazzaville , created at the request of General de Gaulle in October 1940 thanks to which he organized the May 11 demonstration and Radio Alger offering quality programs. Franck Bauer also talks about his career at Radio Tananarive in Madagascar where he commented, for a year, on current affairs, literary and musical programs from June 1943 to May 1944.
The BBC message "The long sobs of autumn violins hurt my heart with a monotonous languor" broadcast on June 5, 1944 will announce the Allied landing in Normandy the next day.
Radio Paris and Vichy propaganda
WithRadio Vichy and Radio-Paris , German propaganda, led by Reich Minister Goebbels, intensified in France. The occupier will do everything to block the radio of the Free French, in particular through censorship, unsuccessful attempts at jamming, seizure of TSF stations and anti-Semitic broadcasts. In October 1940, the state banned listening to the BBC and punished it with a fine and a prison sentence. Radio Vichy created on August 8, 1940 offers 20 hours of variety per week and 16 hours of daily news including programs dedicated to family, music, cooking and culture as well as intoxication shows.
Programs are also relayed on private radios in Toulouse, Montpellier, Nîmes, Agent, Lyon or on Radio Méditerranée. Private French radio stations that depend on subsidies of the Vichy State are obliged to broadcast propaganda broadcasts. This grant allowed them to record 60 hours per month.
To face the BBC show called La Petite Académie , the Germans publish the primer for small children by inventing pejorative expressions. This is the case of the word "Dingaullism" directed against the BBC, the symptoms of which are described as "an epidemic characterized by a frenzied feverishness, an aggressiveness in total rupture with reality".
Radio-Paris, which mixes propaganda and entertainment, offers a wide musical program and programs on collaboration. It has its own symphony orchestra. We remember the famous slogan of Jean Oberlé who denounces the practices of this radio station:“Radio-Paris is lying, Radio-Paris is lying, Radio-paris is German to the tune of the cucaracha. When Paris was liberated, Radio-Paris ceased broadcasting on August 18, 1944. Two days later, it sounded the Marseillaise followed by a new message "Here broadcasting of the French nation."
To go further
- Bernard Crochet, Franck Bauer and the Radio London epic , Editions Ouest France, March 2013
- Radio London, by Aurélie Luneau. Tempus, 2010.