Communication in the War

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Communication in The War

The deadliest conflict in the history of mankind is also the most important to communication technology. World War Two included the majority of the world nations, including all of the great powers. A time where the greatest powers in the world are at the edge their greatest minds are at their best. World War Two featured some of history’s greatest minds, including Alfred Einstein, the supposed smartest man ever. So its no wonder that communication rapidly evolved during this time.

The radio was the most important form of communication during world war two. A quote taken from Horten helps understand how much of an impact the radio was during World War Two.

“In general, what is becoming apparent is that we cannot fully understand American society from the 1920s to the late 1940s until there are more studies on radio's impact and its interaction with the society and culture at large. For one thing, no other medium changed the everyday lives of Americans as quickly and irrevocably as radio.” (Horten 1)

The radio had gone through its early phases during world war one and was much better during the Second World War as the quote shows. The radio helped deliver transmissions to many people in and outside of the war. Radio broadcasts could be transmitted to locals, across the border, and behind enemy lines. A survey was done in 1945 to see which medium of communication was most used magazines, newspapers, moving pictures or radio broadcasting. 2,500 people were surveyed during this time by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Denver. Sixty seven percent voted that radio broadcasts were what served them the best during World War Two.

Disadvantages to the radio were also large. Enemy restrictions allowed the radio’s target group to be censored to what they could hear. Providing them with only false information that seems believable. Radios could also be jammed, which kept the target group from receiving their radio broadcast. The signal may also be inaudible due to weather and atmospheric pressure. There was also a lack of receivers in many smaller countries that limited the information they were provided with. Also oral media sometimes doesn’t keep the information in someone’s because they weren’t able to review what was said unlike if it was printed on a paper.

One of the disadvantages was the enemy restriction on the radio. It introduced a new way for propaganda to be spread. Radio propaganda was especially large in Germany where the Nazi’s held the reigns to the horses. Here is where Germany was able to manipulate its people through the use of such easily delivered communication. A lot of propaganda spread through Germans broadcasts had to do with raising their pride and convinced the German public that the war was some sort of crusade. Therefore making them happy to fight for Hitler. This was accomplished by great minds such as Joseph Goebbels.

The radio gave people an advantage to spreading propaganda. It required no effort by the audience and had more appeal than visual media because not being able to see the persons face made it more believable when the speaker was lying. Also the audience’s illiteracy was overcome through the radio. Many people couldn’t read but could talk and understand so the radio helped them greatly. It helped when like in the U.S where ninety percent of families owned a radio and listened to the radio for three to four radios (Horten 2). Although at first the radio was rarely being used to broadcast news it wasn’t until the late 1930’s as shown by Horton here.

“The increased volume of news on the air is the greatest program change that has occurred in the last decade, ” wrote one analyst as he summarized recent developments in American radio. While news programs—news, commentary, and political talk shows—took up just over 5 percent of the program schedule in the late 1930s, their share had increased to almost 20 percent by the mid-1940s. The number of network news commentators had hovered at around half a dozen before World War II broke out in Europe; two years after the war's end, there were more than sixty national commentators on the air reporting the news and analyzing its significance.” (Horton 10)

This flooded people with more information about the war then any other type of medium because it was being listened to for approximately four hours a day at least one of those hours if not more were about the war. Although the radio was used to spread more then propaganda and news, it was also used to communicate code between armed forces. Such as in the U.S Native Navajos were being used to communicate code through the radio for the U.S marines. This was the only code to not been broken during the war. There were 450 Navajo that took place in the war and 170 were used as communicators. They took place in every Marine assault between 1942-1945. The Japanese who were the best code breakers during world war two remained baffled by the Navajo language. (Molnar 1)

During the 1941-1942 tug of war for North Africa, the British benefited from radio-intercept-derived Ultra information. They were able to intercept many of the German messages. Although the Germans did it much better then the British. “By the fall of 1941, the German Chiffrierabteiulung (military cipher branch) intercept stations were snatching the dots and dashes of the black code from the airwaves.” (Deac 1) Germans had 150 men on a 24-hour basis during these times to intercept and translate these messages sent through radio.

During world war two every force used radio as the main form of communication. Though it was always the best way for communication, it still had some problems. Sometimes communication lines would be cut off during battle from the fire. This was helped by the invention of the wireless radio. Although its advantages were short lived during the war because messages were so easily intercepted. Therefore wireless was only being used when the main radio lines were cut.

Every tank during world war two contained a radio. One main reason was because of the power of tanks. One friendly fire shot on a tank or a soldier would demolish them. Therefore they needed to be able to communicate strategy during the battle because the situation is always changing and tanks may get turned around and not know friend from foe because of the similarities between them. Radio was impacting all aspects of World War Two and new forms of radios were being invented as fast as they could during this time.

Such as The walkie-talkie radio was also invented during world war two for military use. Created by the Canadian government, specifically Donald Lewis Hings. When Canada declared war on Germany that the government went to Hings to ask him to create a newer walkie-talkie. Hing’s saw 18,000 walkie-talkies created for military use based on his design (Burke 2). For his achievements he earned the most excellent order of the British Empire. Hings accomplished a great achievement especially during the time.

The walkie-talkie allowed for faster more efficient communication. Many soldiers could communicate easier on the battlefield without needing a radio command post. They were able to communicate strategy during the war while it was changing in battle (Burke 3).

Without the radio the 1930’s and 40’s would have been completely different. Radio became the most popular entertainment medium for all the great nations during this time. People were more informed on the war during this time then ever before (Horton 25). Even know people are less informed on our wars then they were during World War Two. The radio defined this age and no one could know how the war could have turned out without the radios impact.

Works Cited

Burke, Morgan. "Donald Hings." Sitka. N.D. 15 Nov 2008 <http://sitka.triumf.ca/morgan/dlhings >.

Deac, Will. "The intercepted communications of an American in Cairo provided a secret ear for the Desert Fox.." History Net. N.D. 15 Nov 2008 <http://www.historynet.com/intercepted-communications-a-secret-ear-for-the-desert-fox-september-96-world-war-ii-feature.htm/3>.

Horton, Gerd. Radio Goes to War. University of California: Press, 2002.

"military communication." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008.

Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 18 Nov. 2008

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/382324/military communication>.

Molnar, Alexander. "Navajo Code Talkers: World War II Fact Sheet." Native American Contributions. 12 Aug 1997. 16 Nov 2008 <Navajo Code Talkers: World War II Fact Sheet>.