"Daventry" broadcasts of USAAF + RAF losses

[Don Caldwell]

The BBC transmitter at Daventry apparently broadcast daily totals of USAAF and RAF aircraft losses over the continent. German intelligence picked this up & the RLM used "Daventry losses" as a useful quick check on victory claims. Does anyone know the details of what the BBC was doing, and why? Most of these numbers were quite close to actual losses (factoring in NYRs) & seemed to give the enemy useful information. Were the numbers fudged from time to time as part of a deliberate disinformation campaign, similar to the Double Cross program?

Any help appreciated.

Don

[Don Caldwell]

I can't believe this has stumped everyone. "Daventry Abschüsse" show up regularly on RLM documents. There's a column for them on the daily Luftlage maps at the BA-MA Freiburg (KART 44), right beside the regular "sicher Abschüsse". They're frequently surprisingly close (Daventry is always lower, of course.) I'm certain I read once that the Daventry BBC station broadcast a report every evening containing the USAAF and RAF NYRs for the previous 24 hours. Is this true? Did the Allies think it useful to broadcast accurate loss figures to the Continent?

Still hopeful for answers,

Don

[Icare9]

Don, in the absence of any answers, perhaps the BBC might be able to provide an answer? After all it was their broadcasts, so they make have an archive section that could provide more information. Just a thought....

[Don Caldwell]

OK -- the source of the "Daventry" reports that the Luftwaffe relied on is just a rumor at this stage, but I'll check out the BBC site for its historical content.

Don

[David N]

Some years ago, I owned a book by Alfred Price about the air war. The title was something like "Battle Over The Reich." This book had an appendix with a table called "Daventry figures." He wrote that the Allied loss figures were broadcast every day by this source and the German accepted them as accurate. As I recall, Price wrote that Daventry numbers or losses was what the Germans called them. I am certain that Price did not speculate why the BBC was giving out the Allied loss numbers.

By the way, American newspapers gave the loss figures. You can look at the microfilm of a major American newspaper of March 7, 1944 and it will list the American losses of the day before as 69 bombers and 11 fighters. Many years ago, I spent a day at a college library copying the numbers from a microfilm reader for the major 1944 raids.

[RodM]

Originally Posted by Don Caldwell

OK -- the source of the "Daventry" reports that the Luftwaffe relied on is just a rumor at this stage, but I'll check out the BBC site for its historical content.

Don

Hi Don,

a series reports prepared by the OKL FuSt Ic in 1945 for General Koller, and captured as a part of his document cache contains tabulated statistics on Luftwaffe and Allied aircraft losses as diseminated via 'Propaganda'. One of the columns in the Table is 'Reported by Daventry' and it shows for December 1944, 667 losses were admitted. For January 1945, the 'Daventry' losses were 389, of which at 260 were four-engined. See ADI(K) Report 351/1945 for a transcription of the documents.

Cheers

Rod

[Don Caldwell]

Thanks, David -- you've got the answer! (And if you're quoting Alfred Price's classic book from memory, you're to be congratulated.) There it is on p. 130 of the 1973 edition -- a summary table of Luftflotte Reich activity for Jan-Jun 44, with a Daventry column which Dr. Price states contains "the losses admitted by the Allies and broadcast over the BBC overseas transmitter at Daventry, figures generally accepted by the Germans as being accurate." So the Luftwaffe commanders had a daily check of true Allied losses, which were frequently much less than those broadcast on the daily Wehrmacht communiqué. The German population was forbidden to listen to the BBC, of course, but the commanders obviously had a "need to know".

Thanks again.

Don

[Don Caldwell]

Hi Rod --

Our messages crossed in the ether. The Koller report sounds much like some that I have, but with Jan 45 data it goes later than most, so I'll need to take a look at it. If it made it to the US, I've got the microfilm -- just need to get my tired eyes ready for it.

Thanks,

Don

[RodM]

Hi Don,

I figure that 'Daventry' may have been used colloquially by the Germans to refer to news and information broadcast by the BBC Empire Service and the BBC European Service.


In terms of losses, I suspect that British policy at least was to only admit to aircraft that were 'missing', and not aircraft that crashed in friendly territory.

Cheers

Rod

[Don Caldwell]

I've learned from the BBC website that Daventry was the site of the first BBC transmitter to broadcast to the Empire (long-wave, then short-wave), & was used for the first radar experiments, but was shut down soon after the war began & the broadcasts split among several new transmission sites. To the Germans, "Daventry" would have been synonymous with "BBC Overseas Service", whatever the literal truth once the war began.

I don't know how the losses given to the BBC were defined, & will never know -- the data are too sparse. But I have enuf info for my needs. Thanks again.


Don