Sefton Delmer
Denis Sefton Delmer was a correspondent for the Daily Express. To view one of
his early war reports, click here.
There were many brave and clever people involved with the propaganda produced during WWII. One of these was a man called Denis Sefton Delmer. The son of an Australian, Sefton Delmer was born in Berlin (1904), but he did not agree with Herr Hitler's policies. He was a correspondent for the British Information Secretary of State (they did like their long headings in those days!). Sefton Delmer arranged with the help of a man called Harold Robin, to set up a radio broadcast, recorded at Wavendon Towers. This radio show was broadcast to Germany. The announcer was a German, dissatisfied with Adolf Hitler's beliefs. Pretending to be a disgruntled German military man, he broadcast in German on a programme called Gustav Siegfried Eins. His nickname was 'Der Chef'. He convinced the German people that he was broadcasting from Germany and not England by pretending to call Winston Churchill names and spread nasty stories about him.
Sefton Delmer
An entry from the Department Log Records, of August 15th 11.00 recalls: 'Delmer rang. He had another report on GS1'. This one said it was difficult to receive in Germany, owing to a BBC transmission too close by. Could therefore GS1's frequency be changed to one of the others once used. 'I promised to investigate and report back'.
Click here to listen to Sefton Delmer talking about The Chef (302k file size).
After he had gained the German peoples' trust he started to say nasty things about Adolf Hitler and other German politicians. When his last broadcast was heard on air, the sound effect people in England managed to create the illusion that either the Gestapo or German storm troopers had found and shot Der Chef. The reason the show was finished off was that Sefton Delmer wanted to produce bigger and better shows.
Click here for more detailed information on Denis Sefton Delmer.
A Nazi Storm Trooper