The War in Europe and D-Day

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We Interrupt This Program

Unlike the attack on Pearl Harbor, which surprised the nation and broadcasters alike, the invasion of Europe was eagerly anticipated: The only questions were when, where, and how it would happen. From pre-invasion rumors, to Germany's final surrender, this momentous chapter in American history played out on radio, and forever changed they way war would be reported.

The eight radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio Collection in the Marr Sound Archives.

Broadcast #1
After years of waiting, guessing, and worrying, the first official word that the Allies had invaded Europe was a near anticlimax. In a restrained 26-word statement that read like a weather report, Supreme Allied Headquarters announced the most significant war news since the attack on Pearl Harbor:

"Under the command of general Eisenhower, allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France."

Broadcast #2
Following official word of the invasion, no information seemed too trivial, incomplete, or speculative for broadcast, and news reports came in a torrent, varying from fragments to actual eyewitness accounts. With this report from June 6, 1944, elation gives way to reality, as the first eyewitness report of casualties and prisoners is aired.

Broadcast #3
Though lacking the images that we have come to expect from television, radio was no less visual and packed an equally descriptive a punch. This eyewitness recording made from the beaches of Normandy the afternoon of June 8, 1944, is a classic example of radio at its best: a colorful, descriptive word painting that informs while stirring the imagination. Notice how the reporter not only describes what he sees, but also the sounds, smells, and other sensations of the battlefront.  Read a Text Transcription of this Broadcast

Broadcast #4
Even before touching European soil, the Allies' sights had been set on the invasion of Germany. When the Allies finally crossed the Rhine River, this report, from April 27, 1945, called it "one of the biggest operations in Western Europe since D-Day last June."

Broadcast #5
As the Allies pressed east following D-Day, the liberation of French towns made for compelling news (not to mention endless opportunities to play the "Marseillaise"). Using a mobile transmitter, CBS correspondent Charles Collingwood filed this account of the Allies' "final drive to the Seine," which was a part of Columbia's "Report To the Nation" broadcast from August 20, 1944.

Broadcast #6
When the U.S.-Soviet armies met in Germany, the two European fronts became one final battle, and the end was clearly in sight. In this April 27, 1945, report correspondent Charles Collingwood describes Germany as being "split in two as completely as you'd saw through a log."

Broadcast #7
As the Allies stepped up their air assaults following the Normandy landings, Germany countered with their intensified use of "pilotless secret weapon planes," as the Nazi Vergeltungswaffen-1 "buzz bombs" were called in this June 16, 1944, report. Between June 13, 1944, and March 29, 1945, about 8,000 V-1s were launched against England, with nearly 2,500 hitting their targets.

Broadcast #8
Edward R. Murrow had been covering the European conflict for Columbia since 1937. On May 4, 1945, with his usual understated delivery, Murrow reported the imminent close of a long war, announcing the surrender of German troops to Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. This report also includes a fragment of Montgomery's remarks following the surrender.

Text by Scott O'Kelley, Marr Sound Archives
Digital Audio by Scott Middleton, Marr Sound Archives

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