War on the radio: Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, and Hanoi Hannah broadcast propaganda aimed at turning the hearts of lonely U.S. soldiers.

• Author: Price, Sean
• Position: Times past

MOST PROPAGANDA IS DESIGNED TO psyche out an enemy. But to do that, you first have to get the enemy's attention. During past wars, propagandists targeted scared, lonely soldiers with what they were often desperate to hear: a female voice. They turned fears of cheating girlfriends into weapons of war.

These weapons were delivered via radio. In World War II, servicemen from the U.S. and other Allied forces found these sexually charged programs of their Axis opponents alluring. "Axis Sally" in Germany and "Tokyo Rose" in Japan used popular songs and cooing femininity to try to talk Allied soldiers out of fighting.

Neither made a perceptible dent in Allied morale. But they did get soldiers to listen. So in 1965, when the U.S. entered the Vietnam War in force, North Vietnam's Communist government revived the radio-siren formula with "Hanoi Hannah."

These are some of their greatest hits.

AXIS SALLY

Axis Sally was the Allied soldiers' name for Mildred Gillars, a pro-Nazi American actress with a sultry voice. In 1935, she moved to Germany and worked as an English instructor before taking a job with Radio Berlin, where she polished her drama skills throughout the war. Her Home Sweet Home program was a mix of music and chat aimed at demoralizing GIs in Europe. Gillars' favorite tactic was to talk about unfaithful girlfriends and wives back home.

And what are your girls doing tonight, fellows? You really can't blame them for going out to have some fun, could you? ... You may dislike my repeating this to you, but it's the truth, especially if you boys get all mutilated and do not return in one piece.

Gillars gave her most prescient performance on May 11, 1944, less than a month before D-Day, the date when the Allies invaded German-occupied France. She starred in a Nazi radio play called Vision of Invasion as the mother of a GI. In the play, the mother dreams that her son is killed during an Allied landing in France. Realistic sound effects of guns firing and men screaming left listeners' blood running cold.

After the war, Gillars was convicted of treason by a U.S. court. Prosecutor John Kelley said of her relationship with the Nazis, "She sold out to them. She thought she was on the winning side, and all she cared about was her selfish fame." Gillars served 12 years in prison.

TOKYO ROSE

Amid battles in the Pacific, most GIs heard one woman spouting Japanese propaganda and dubbed her Tokyo Rose. There were actually several Tokyo Roses--most of them...