George Steer

George Steer

George Lowther Steer (1909 – 25 December 1944) was a British journalist and war correspondent who reported on wars preceding World War II, especially the war against Ethiopia by Mussolinis armies and the Spanish Civil War. He was employed by The Times of London, and his eye-witness reports did much to alert western nations of the war crimes committed by the Italians, although little was done to prevent them by the League of Nations.

Career

George Steer was born in South Africa in 1909 as a son of a newspaper manager. He studied classics in England, at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford. He later became a journalist and war correspondent.

In 1935 Steer covered the Italian invasion of Ethiopia for "The Times" and reported that Italian forces used mustard gas. He became friendly with Emperor Haile Selassie; the Emperor later stood as godfather to Steer's son. In 1937 he was sent to report on the Spanish Civil War. He won prominence with his report on the bombing of Guernica on April 26 1937. His telegram to London described German bomb casings and the use of thermite as an incendiary to create a firestorm in the center of the town. His reporting did much to inspire Picasso to record the atrocity for posterity in his massive painting. He returned to Souht Africa and reported on German attempts to subvert their former colonies. Next he was dispatched to Finland to cover the Winter War. He saw the effects of aerial bombing of several Finnish towns by the Soviets, attempts made to intimidate the population, just like at Guernica.

econd World War

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Steer joined the British Army and led an Ethiopian Forward Propaganda unit when British troops began to fight Italian troops in the country. After the defeat of the Italians in Ethiopia in 1941, Steer was influential in restoring Haile Selassie to the throne. [ [http://www.newstatesman.com/200303240039 Review of "Telegram from Guernica: the extraordinary life of George Steer, war correspondent] " in the New Statesman 24 March 2003.] Later Steer was sent to India to lead a Field Propaganda Unit in Bengal. The unit tried to break Japanese morale by loudspeakers with speeches and sentimental music.

George Steer died in the crash of an Army Jeep, which he was driving, in Burma on December 25, 1944.

References

Books

* Nicholas Rankin - "Telegram from Guernica: The Extraordinary Life of George Steer, War Correspondent" ISBN 0-571-20563-1, 2003


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