Axis Sally

Mildred Gillars, AKA "Axis Sally", was a native of Portland, Main. She was studying music at Hunter College in Germany in the 1930s and fell in love with her professor. He later enlisted her for German radio propaganda programs from a Berlin radio station. After the war she was brought back to the U. S. where, in 1949, she was found guilty of treason for a broadcast made just before the Allied invasion of Europe. Sentenced to 10-to-30 years in prison, she was eventually released in 1962. Until her death in 1988, she was a music instructor at a Catholic girls school in Columbus, Ohio.

Click on symbol below to hear Sally during a broadcast to American soldiers in Italy. Visit EarthStation1 for complete broadcasts featuring Bruno and the Swinging Tigers - a swing band comprised of musicians taken from concentration camps.

77k mp3 file

"En route to the target for most missions we were entertained by Axis Sally broadcasting from Berlin. She had a very sexy voice and an excellent inventory of popular American music which was alternated with her intelligence reports. "Good morning Yankees. This is Gerry's Front calling with the tunes that you like to hear and a warm welcome from radio Berlin. I note that the 461st is en route this morning to Linz where you will receive a warm welcome. By the way, Sgt. Robert Smith, you remember Bill Jones, the guy with the flashy convertible who always had an eye for your wife Annabelle. Well , they have been seen together frequently over the past few months and last week he moved in with her. Let's take a break here and listen to some of Glen Miller." It was not a morale builder for the GIs even when she was wrong. We could only listen for a short time as we went on radio silence when approaching occupied territory." - Tom