"How Recordings were made and Despatched during the Libyan Campaign". Narrated by Lawrence H. Cecil and introduced by Chester Wilmot

Chester Wilmot introduces the segment describing how recordings are conducted in the field by the ABC: writing a script and then producing the recording in the desert. The unit's "CO", ABC producer Lawrence H. Cecil, describes a simple studio in the field; problems with sandstorms; recording Christmas greetings from a dugout; problems with acoustics; ingenuity of engineer Bill MacFarlane; recording from a cave outside Bardia; describes an air raid as bombs are dropped nearby; mentions the Italian "Flying Circus"; comments that actuality recordings are often occur through luck and opportunity; describes aerial combat between Gladiators and the "Flying Circus"; moved to Bardia to get a recording of the artillery barrage; set up equipment in a Roman cistern; describes the bombardment at Bardia on the 3 January 1941; at Tobruk equipment set up in a gully surrounded by British and Australian guns, record the sounds of Italian shells exploding around them; interview with an Australian Brigadier in Tobruk about the battle; recordings conducted in a fort at Benghazi and houses at Barraca; problems with dust; scripts written by Chester Wilmot with limited time and record only what can be verified; discuss how recordings are sent to Australia; recordings transported by truck from the front line to Mersa Matruh, then flown to Cairo by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF); all work is vetted and censored and then sent to the BBC via radio telephone. Censorship is a problem with gramophone recordings and often a censored version of the recording is made before it is sent to air.
A transcript of this recording may be available. For further information please contact the Sound section.