The WW2 Radio Broadcast that Shocked the World
BBC’s war correspondent exposed millions to the horrors of the Nazi killing machine
Richard Dimbleby thought he had seen it all while escorting the British Army during their battles in northern Germany. It was April 1945, and by then Dimbleby was already an experienced and very well-respected journalist. As BBC’s first-ever war correspondent he covered the D-Day landings, the battle for El Alamein, and joined dozens of British air raids. Millions of radio listeners from Britain and all over the world followed events unfolding on the WW2 fronts through his words.
Dimbleby was accompanying the British 11th Armoured Division and was offered to join them into the Bergen Belsen camp. He wasn’t sure whether he should go. At that time, none of the men knew what was waiting for them inside the camp. Reports on concentration camps were very few, and as some of the larger Nazi death camps were only recently liberated by Soviet forces, most of the information did not reach western ears.
Dimbleby thought he might as well go in and have a look. He told his colleague that he doesn’t expect to be there long. The moment he stepped foot inside the camp though, Dimbleby realized that he is witnessing something he had never seen before.
