Lord Haw-Haw.....

“Jermany Calling, Jermany Calling”………….

The infamous call sign during the Second World War of ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, broadcasting German propaganda to the world…..

Many people will immediately think of William Joyce when the ‘nickname’ is quoted. However, the name was given to several announcers at the time, and one in particular, Wolf Mitler, had a voice similar to that which is joked about as the ‘English Upper Class’ accent. Joyce was unable to say ‘Germany’ correctly and the call always came across as ‘Jermany calling’.

Throughout the war years, broadcasts were made in English and were listened to by over a million British and Irish citizens. In fact during the early years, it was the best source of reliable information as that given out by the British War Department was usually delayed several days and heavily censored. In contrast, towards the middle and end of the war, Germans, including some of their generals listened in to British broadcasts for the same reason.

Another interesting fact is that the name Lord Haw-Haw was first given to James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan, and a 19th Century British General – (he who led The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava), by a British journalist after the ‘Charge’.

The name was resurrected when the German broadcasts started on 18th September 1939. They continued until 30th April 1945 when the British Army took Hamburg. For all intents and purposes, the nickname Lord Haw-Haw now refers to William Joyce and a couple of other announcers whose voices could be confused with Joyce.

Joyce’s life and indeed his death are very interesting for several reasons. Most people thought him to be Irish but in fact he was American. He was born on 24th April 1906 in Herkimer Street, Brooklyn, New York City. His mother was an English Protestant and his father an Irish Catholic who had taken out American citizenship. When he was young, the family returned to Galway in the West of Ireland.

He received a good quality Catholic education but nonetheless he and his father were fiercely Unionist and pro-Britain. Joyce later claimed that he had assisted the dreaded ‘Black and Tans’ in his early years and had become a ‘wanted’ target by the IRA.

He claimed that after a failed assassination attempt on him in 1921 when he was 16, he left Ireland for England where he continued his education. His family followed two years later. During his college education, he became deeply interested in all aspects of fascism and in fact joined the British Fascisti of Rotha Lintorn-Orman. At one of their meetings in 1924 whilst acting as a steward, he was attacked and slashed with a razor. This left him with a permanent deep scar from his ear to the corner of his mouth. This made him more committed to the fascist cause as he believed that the attackers were "Jewish communists".

In 1932, he joined the British Union of Fascists under Sir Oswald Mosley and became a frequent speaker at their meetings. He quickly gained a name for his power of oratory. In 1934, he was made director of propaganda and later deputy leader. Not only was he a prolific speaker but he was also good with his fists and boots. He was regularly seen to be in the thick of the many fights that followed their meetings and speeches.

In 1937 he was sacked from his paid position with the BUF and he tried to set up a breakaway party, the National Socialist League. It never gained strength unlike Mosley’s BUF.

In August 1939, having received a tip that it was intended to arrest and detain him under Defence Regulations, he fled with his wife to Germany. He became a naturalised German in 1940. He could not find any employment until he met a Mosleyite sympathiser who got him an audition as a radio announcer and scriptwriter at German radio’s English service.

In 1939 he began ‘his’ broadcasts and although the nickname ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ had been given to another broadcaster, it quickly became Joyce’s trademark. His regular call for the British to ‘surrender’ was generally met with jeering by the British public and Joyce became the butt of many Music Hall comedians’ jokes.

His broadcasts continued until almost the end of the war and the final one was transmitted on 30th April 1945. It was believed that it had been tape-recorded earlier whilst Joyce made good his escape. The next day, British soldiers made their own broadcast from the station - ‘Germany calling’ including the fact that it was the British Army speaking……

Besides his broadcasting, Joyce had also tried to persuade British Prisoners of War to form the British Free Corps but was basically unsuccessful.

Not long afterwards, he was captured by British forces near the German-Denmark border. He was thought to be German until his voice betrayed him. During his arrest he was shot in the leg when the soldiers thought he was going for a gun. He was in fact reaching for a false passport after one of the soldiers asked if he was ‘Lord Haw-Haw’.

He was returned to Britain where he was charged with three counts of HighTreason: 1. ‘aid and assist the enemy’: 2. ‘aid and comfort the King’s enemies’: 3. ‘aid and assist the enemy’. However, this is where it gets interesting.

When processing the court papers, Joyce’s American nationality came to light. This gave him every chance of being acquitted as he could not be convicted of betraying a country that was not his own. However, as with a previous Treason trial (See Sir Roger Casement), the Attorney General found a ‘loophole in the law’. He argued that Joyce had used a British Passport and until it had expired he was entitled to Diplomatic Protection even in Germany. This argument was accepted and all appeals, including to the House of Lords, failed. He was sentenced to death……..

It was further argued that ‘the punishment did not fit the crime’ as his death sentence equated him with those in charge of the various concentration camps.

Joyce was hanged on 3rd January 1946 at Wandsworth Prison. He was aged 39. His wife Margaret returned to England but was never charged with any offence. She died in Soho in 1972 reportedly from alcohol abuse.

Finally, in 1976, Joyce’s body was reinterred at the Bohermore Cemetery in County Galway, Ireland.

---------------Mike----------------