Read Online Axis Sally: The American Voice of Nazi Germany by Richard Lucas - Free Book Online
Authors: Richard Lucas
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hired as a radio announcer for the EIAR (Radio Roma) in February 1943. The station wanted fluent English announcers for a new program aimed at American and British soldiers in Tunisia. The Sally and Phil Show (a.k.a. Jerry’s Front Calling ) was immensely popular among Allied troops on the North African front, and Zucca was the recipient of military intelligence for use on her show.
In one instance, it was Rita Zucca on Jerry’s Front who addressed the Allied troops on the night before the invasion of Sicily (July 8, 1943). Calling “the wonderful boys of the 504th Parachute Regiment,” “Sally” told the soldiers that “Colonel Willis Mitchell’s playboys [the 61st Troop Carrier Group] are going to carry you to certain death. We know where and when you are jumping and you will be wiped out.” 265 The propaganda value of this revelation backfired because she told the men that their regiment had been wiped out—one hour before the first plane took off. During the subsequent Italian campaign, the Rome Axis Sally seemed to know the names and ranks of American soldiers in the 3rd, 4th, 34th and 47th divisions on their way to Naples. General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, was concerned that her propaganda would adversely affect the morale of the troops on the bloody Italian front. Every night, Zucca signed off her broadcasts “with a sweet kiss from Sally.” 266
Rita attempted to resign from EIAR in August 1943, a month before the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland. Her superiors demanded that she remain at the microphone until a replacement announcer could be found. Financial pressures, however, forced her to return to radio in January 1944. Rita told US interrogators in 1945: “I was unemployed a long time and had sold my jewels to meet the demands of my lover, Siro Mariottini, who was constantly nagging me for more money.” 267 This time, she found herself working directly for the Germans.
Her manager, the new head of Anglo-American broadcasting, was Dr. George Goedel, who had created the program Jerry’s Front Calling . Sally (Zucca) and George (Goedel) were the hosts, and the format was almost identical to the “Midge” programs emanating from Berlin. Goedel wrote the scripts in longhand for Rita, as well as radio plays critical of Franklin Roosevelt and the US–British alliance. George and Sally also read the names of captured prisoners of war, bantered back and forth about the effects of the war on the American home front, and played “hot” jazz and swing. Like their counterparts to the north, Zucca and Goedel had their own band, Jerry’s Swinging Tigers, as well as a vocal group consisting of three Italian sisters called The Three Doves of Peace. Although Goedel never told Rita Zucca where he received direction for the propaganda content of the program, she always assumed he took his orders from the German Embassy in Rome.
With Rome threatened by Allied forces, the cast and crew of Jerry’s Front left for Florence where they moved into the Hotel Excelsior. Ten days later, they were forced to move on to Milan. Resuming the program from that city on June 17, 1944, they stayed only a few months. On September 15, Rita Zucca fled to the sliver of northern Italy known as Mussolini’s “Social Republic.” Her show and its personnel became part of a German military propaganda unit dubbed the “Liberty Station.” The Italian “Sally” was feted as the guest of honor at a party broadcast from a castle in Fino Mornasco (near Como). The live show sent out the sounds of merriment, laughter and clinking glasses across the ether to the advancing American forces. Other Reichsradio personalities, including the British broadcaster John Amery, took part in the festivities.
These strange broadcasts were indicative of the desperation of the dying regime. During one of these danses macabres , the familiar, honeyed voice of an American girl came over the radio to the troops on the frontlines. It
In one instance, it was Rita Zucca on Jerry’s Front who addressed the Allied troops on the night before the invasion of Sicily (July 8, 1943). Calling “the wonderful boys of the 504th Parachute Regiment,” “Sally” told the soldiers that “Colonel Willis Mitchell’s playboys [the 61st Troop Carrier Group] are going to carry you to certain death. We know where and when you are jumping and you will be wiped out.” 265 The propaganda value of this revelation backfired because she told the men that their regiment had been wiped out—one hour before the first plane took off. During the subsequent Italian campaign, the Rome Axis Sally seemed to know the names and ranks of American soldiers in the 3rd, 4th, 34th and 47th divisions on their way to Naples. General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, was concerned that her propaganda would adversely affect the morale of the troops on the bloody Italian front. Every night, Zucca signed off her broadcasts “with a sweet kiss from Sally.” 266
Rita attempted to resign from EIAR in August 1943, a month before the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland. Her superiors demanded that she remain at the microphone until a replacement announcer could be found. Financial pressures, however, forced her to return to radio in January 1944. Rita told US interrogators in 1945: “I was unemployed a long time and had sold my jewels to meet the demands of my lover, Siro Mariottini, who was constantly nagging me for more money.” 267 This time, she found herself working directly for the Germans.
Her manager, the new head of Anglo-American broadcasting, was Dr. George Goedel, who had created the program Jerry’s Front Calling . Sally (Zucca) and George (Goedel) were the hosts, and the format was almost identical to the “Midge” programs emanating from Berlin. Goedel wrote the scripts in longhand for Rita, as well as radio plays critical of Franklin Roosevelt and the US–British alliance. George and Sally also read the names of captured prisoners of war, bantered back and forth about the effects of the war on the American home front, and played “hot” jazz and swing. Like their counterparts to the north, Zucca and Goedel had their own band, Jerry’s Swinging Tigers, as well as a vocal group consisting of three Italian sisters called The Three Doves of Peace. Although Goedel never told Rita Zucca where he received direction for the propaganda content of the program, she always assumed he took his orders from the German Embassy in Rome.
With Rome threatened by Allied forces, the cast and crew of Jerry’s Front left for Florence where they moved into the Hotel Excelsior. Ten days later, they were forced to move on to Milan. Resuming the program from that city on June 17, 1944, they stayed only a few months. On September 15, Rita Zucca fled to the sliver of northern Italy known as Mussolini’s “Social Republic.” Her show and its personnel became part of a German military propaganda unit dubbed the “Liberty Station.” The Italian “Sally” was feted as the guest of honor at a party broadcast from a castle in Fino Mornasco (near Como). The live show sent out the sounds of merriment, laughter and clinking glasses across the ether to the advancing American forces. Other Reichsradio personalities, including the British broadcaster John Amery, took part in the festivities.
These strange broadcasts were indicative of the desperation of the dying regime. During one of these danses macabres , the familiar, honeyed voice of an American girl came over the radio to the troops on the frontlines. It
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