Clare Hollingworth, British war correspondent who broke the news that the World War II had started, died in Hong Kong at the age of 105.
Hollingworth, who was born in Leicester in 1911, was the first to break the story of Nazi invasion of Poland that triggered the World War II.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong announced her death, calling her a beloved member with a remarkable career including “the scoop of the century”, NBC New York reported.
She was a rookie reporter for Daily Telegraph when she came up on with the “scoop of the century”.
Hollingworth was the journalist who spotted the German forces amassed on the Polish border while travelling from Poland to Germany in late August 1939. Only diplomatic vehicles were allowed to cross the border, so she borrowed a British consulate official’s car to drive into German-occupied territory. She saw tanks, armored cars and artillery massing.
Returning to Poland, she filed a story with the headline- “1,000 tanks massed on Polish border. Ten divisions reported ready for swift strike”. The story did not carry her byline.
Her second scoop came three days later on September 1 when the Nazis invaded Poland.
Hollingworth spent much of her career on the front lines of major conflicts, including in the Middle East, North Africa, Algeria and Vietnam.
She won major British journalism awards including a “What The Papers Say” lifetime achievement award and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
