Axis Sally

Axis Sally was the generic nickname given to women radio personalities who broadcast English-language propaganda on behalf of the European Axis Powers during World War II. These included:

  • Mildred Gillars, a German-American who broadcast for Germany.[1][2] She was "the first woman in US history to be convicted of treason"[3] by the United States and "on 8 March 1949 was sentenced to ten to thirty years' imprisonment."[3]
  • Rita Zucca, an Italian-American who broadcast for Italy.[4][5]

On their radio shows, the two Axis Sally personalities would typically alternate between swing music and propaganda messages aimed at American troops. These messages would emphasize the value of surrender, stoke fears that soldiers' wives and girlfriends were cheating on them, and point out that the Axis powers knew their locations. American soldiers listened to Gillars' broadcasts for the entertaining music even as they found her attempts at propaganda "laughable".[4]

See also

References
  1. Dear, Ian; Foot, M. R. D. (2001). "Axis Sally". The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198604464. OCLC 47356289.
  2. Lucas, Richard (2010). Axis Sally: the American voice of Nazi Germany. Philadelphia, Pa.: Casemate. ISBN 9781935149804. OCLC 748408055.
  3. Crofton, Ian (2009). Traitors & Turncoats: Twenty Tales of Treason from Benedict Arnold to Ezra Pound. London: Quercus. pp. 131. ISBN 9781848660113. OCLC 298185611.
  4. Lucas, Richard (2010). "With a sweet kiss from Sally: fantasy and reality collided when Allied investigators hunted down the seductive Nazi broadcaster known to GIs as Axis Sally". World War II. 24 (5): 48 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  5. Wireless (8 June 1945). "Americans Seize Axis Sally in Italy". New York Times. p. 9. ProQuest 107273858.
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