AFN Legend

You could say that Adolph Hitler's sexy, savvy and sadistic radio announcer, Axis Sally (Mildred Gillars) was the axis spark that lit the American Forces Network fuse with her German broadcasts. "Good Morning Yankees!" she would purr on the air. She followed this with spewed Nazi propaganda. The trouble is she also played great American 40's platters. Our American forces listened to her music because music reminded them of home, hearth and family. It must have been hard to block out her psychologically negative probing. Here is the AFN story in a nutshell. If she could offer false comfort to our GI's then, AFN could offer real comfort to our armed forces stationed over seas. It began slowly with the dawn of shortwave and broadcast services provided to the military services by the AFRS in May of 1942 in LA. This proved to be a launching pad for many forties radio stars and celebrities. American Forces Radio Services seemed to be a big hit in the states. The AFN story grew; American soldiers just loved Eddie Cantor's Command Performance (their special requests were preformed by Mr. Cantor). AFRS was born out of the Radio Division of the Bureau of Public Relations and the war department's need for a specific military office to take charge of radio entertainment for the troops. Germany's foray online spiele download into American Forces Network Radio started in 1945 when the German theater of war ended and London AFN signed off. Germany faced the prospects of rebuilding. At that time, Berlin was split between the USA, USSR, United Kingdom and France. The time was ripe for German/American radio.