Dog Tag - V for Victory

In January 1941, Victor De Lavaleye, a Belgian politician in exile, appeared on the BBC European Service. He proposed the letter V as a rallying emblem for the Belgian people under occupation. At the time of the war, Germany had taken control of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and many other European states. For him, the letter "V" stood for "Victoire" in French, but also for "vrijheid" in Flemish, meaning "freedom". He called on the Belgian people to mark the letter with chalk and make V signs wherever they could.

The occupier, he said, would see this sign, always the same, repeated endlessly, and would understand that he was surrounded, encircled by an immense crowd of citizens impatiently awaiting his first moment of weakness.

And it worked - the symbol was suddenly everywhere, not just in Belgium, but also in the Netherlands and northern France.

The BBC quickly realised the success of this campaign and launched its own campaign called "V for Victory". It was the brainchild of Douglas Ritchie, who called himself "Colonel Britton" for the purposes of the programme. His intention was to extend the campaign across Europe and perhaps beyond, and he started calling his listeners the V Army.