My mother’s nearly ten-year career – from the late 1930s through most of the 1940s – had a strong information / radio theme (see Part 1 – A Lifetime Passion and Part 2 – The Roots of the VOA of this series). One of those pieces was the American Broadcasting Station in Europe (ABSIE), which was set up as a station by the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) in collaboration with the BBC, to counter Nazi propaganda, and to have a unique American voice in Europe. The seven ABSIE Country Desks broadcast eight hours of programming each day from London, targeting their respective country-specific audiences. Launched in the months leading up to D-Day, it ended fifteen months later – just ninety days after victory in Europe.
As a member of the OWI French Desk, mom began working to help launch ABSIE soon after she arrived in London in early 1944 – as they helped prepare for the imminent invasion of Europe. ABSIE was to be America’s big propaganda ‘gun,’ run as a complement to the Voice of America (VOA), but having its own mission to support the military goals of the Allied invasion of France. The ABSIE copy was specifically designed to raise doubt in the German psyche as to the sense of continuing an un-winnable war. ABSIE was also to be the authoritative voice that would inform people in occupied areas on how to be prepared for the coming invasion.
One of the overarching goals across the suite of OWI’s propaganda efforts – which included movies, posters, leaflets, newspapers, magazines and more – was to let the Germans know that overwhelming force was about to descend on them that would be too much for them to handle. The end was near. Defeat was inevitable. This type of language supported the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force’s (SHAEF) Commander General Dwight Eisenhower’s desire to win an unconditional surrender from Germany.
The messaging also emphasized that the US had no intention of permanently taking over countries. We had no imperial aims. Every country would be steered in the direction of a democratically elected government. Prisoners of war would be fairly treated as described in the Safe Conduct Passes, also one of OWI’s greatest hits. Countries would be rebuilt as quickly as possible so that they could get back up on their feet as self-governing, democratic entities.
OWI Overseas Director Robert Sherwood, an award-winning playwright and speechwriter for President Roosevelt, opened up the first broadcast on April 30, 1944 with the song “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and then proceeded to announce that ABSIE would tell listeners the truth, conveying news and other important messages underscored by the good faith and intentions of the US. The propagandists also wanted to project what life was like in America. Programs were described ‘as American as apple pie.’
Native language speakers and special guests were brought in to work the microphones, across all seven language desks – appealing to listeners to obey the directions of the authorities. Each desk was allotted 8.5 hours of programming per day, and they had to develop interesting and newsworthy material.
At the time of the ABSIE launch, the French Section spent most of its allotment per day by announcing all of SHAEF’s military guidance and directive copy. As the Allies moved east across France, after D-day, news reports of the day’s advance or battles was collected from all over the country. As time went on, the copy added segments about life in America and the story of the Allies in the war and how they are working together. The French Desk also aired programs from Radio Diffusion Francaise, the French public service broadcast organization.
ABSIE Examples
The German Desk created some outstanding material including:
- A German Forces Program – using intelligence about conditions from inside Germany, this program used pointed propaganda to show how bad things were going for the Germans.
- America Calling Europe – ran music and news, relayed over the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and Algiers, thus covering all of Germany.
Some great examples of America Calling Europe are still available, including:
- Music For The Wehrmacht – contained short news stories and conversation between Major Glenn Miller and Ilse, a German-speaking supporter of the Allied cause.
- Secret Recording of the show in German
- Glenn Miller’s Army Air Forces Orchestra – Songs like Long Ago and Far Away were sung with German lyrics which aided the delivery of our propaganda messages.
- ABSIE broadcast with Herr Bing Crosby and Fraulein Dinah Shore (he was known as Der Bingle).
Other important guest speakers included:
- Lady Louis Mountbatten, who was a high-ranking Red Cross official in Great Britain
- King Haakon of Norway, who refused to abdicate in the face of significant German pressure and lived in exile in London and was held in high regard, inspiring Norway to fight the Germans as best they could.
- Jan Masaryk of Czechoslovakia, Foreign Minister of the Czech government-in-exile, also lived in London during the war and spoke to his people directly over the radio.
Impact of ABSIE
While ABSIE was overshadowed by the VOA and the BBC, it was special purpose built and was never meant to be a high-powered radio station. It was largely understaffed, especially the French Section after D-day, when many on the team quickly migrated to France to reestablish themselves in the French media world. Yet despite its challenges, ABSIE persevered, and the quality of the programming was generally excellent, especially before D-Day.
Anecdotally, the propagandists heard many positive comments. Listeners loved the music programs and in Vichy France and Germany, they secretly listened to shows like Music for the Wehrmacht at great personal risk. When it came to the news and information segment, some audience research found that there was a fairly high level of confusion as to who was speaking: the British, the Americans and / or the military. In the end, though, the Resistance networks, the citizens of France and partisans who supported the Allied effort were ready for the invasion, a critical goal necessary for the success of Operation Overlord. Most importantly, with ABSIE, the military felt it had a direct channel to the audiences it needed to communicate with. In the end, though, no one is sure of its direct impact other than it was a good thing that the US had its own voice on the radio.
In the beginning of 1945, mom moved to Paris from London and transitioned to a new role as head of the Speakers Bureau for the OWI, which provided experts to talk about important people, places and society. She ended up giving several talks herself, focused on literature and the arts. More on that in another post.