Posted on 06/02/2007 5:09:45 PM PDT by Excellence
On 6/6, DC-based XM Satellite Radio's 1940's channel, The 40s (XM-4), will re-create radio's coverage of the D-Day invasion of the Normandy coast of France. Beginning with the first bulletin from that morning, which aired at 12:41 AM (ET), XM will air in real-time NBC's original radio news bulletins of the invasion (currently housed in the National Archives) as heard by radio listeners nearly 63 years ago. The special will be based on the original NBC broadcast schedule, which is cataloged in the Library Of Congress, and will conclude at 5:45 PM on 6/7. The marathon will also feature music of the era as well as original archival reports from radio commentators, including H.V. Kaltenborn, Merrill Mueller, and the other members of NBC's news staff. "Once we discovered that this material existed, we felt we had an obligation to bring it to XM listeners," said PD MARLIN TAYLOR. "No one else would undertake such an endeavor and it is our role to keep the music and history of this era alive and available to those living in the 21st century."
We hope you can tune in.
You might enjoy this. It’s about 15 minutes of George Hicks reporting from a ship in the English channel. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about who’s side he was on.
http://www.otr.com/ra/hicks.ram
I take it he didn’t work for the NY Times.
Bookmarked for capture.
Invasion of Normandy today:
CNN: “ it`s a disaster !!! what were the generals thinking !!! thousands of young boys lie dead !!!
WE`VE LOST, IT`S OVER. WE`VE LOST !!! “
Man, I sure wish I could listen to that, but I see it is an .ram file and “real networks” is not allowed to be installed on this machine.
I’m almost afraid to ask; how does one “capture” the stream?
One googles “capture realaudio stream” and follows the directions.
Wow!! Thanks for posting. I had no idea that radio reports were allowed from D-Day. That report sends shivers down my spine. I recently read “The Bedford Boys” and was absolutely stunned at the magnitude of the invasion and the losses.
Invasion of Normandy today:
CNN: “ it`s a disaster !!! what were the generals thinking !!! thousands of young boys lie dead !!!
WE`VE LOST, IT`S OVER. WE`VE LOST !!! “
Not to mention the fact that they’d probably blow the secret about the fake “Army” in England before the invasion!
LC
Fighter aircrews were issued little dexadrine pills to keep them alert as they flew repeated sorties from the English south coast. But he said none of his squadron mates needed them since their level of enthusiasism was over the top (his phrase) and they enjoyed their work. If the Germans had any air defenses left, they didn't use them. Perhaps they were afraid of being pounced on after the first gun flash or their radar systems were so totally destroyed that any firing of AAA would have been essentially bore sight and useless. One thing they later discovered from intelligence learned from POWs, most of the antiaircraft batteries were manned by conscripted Polish soldiers who had little motivation to fire on allied aircraft. The same was true of about 60% of the ground defenses on the beaches other than what turned out to be Omaha and Utah.
Just before his death in 1995, he read the Ambrose Invasion books based on oral history (he appreciated Stephen Ambrose since he, too, was a history educator, obtaining his degrees on the GI Bill and returning to active duty as a flight instructor in jets after Korea and eventually as a professor at the new Air Force Academy for two years before his retirement - - ironic, he thought, that I chose USNA. His comment was that Ambrose got D-Day precisely correct even though my dad saw his D-Day from the cockpit of his Jug, ''Miss Rosie.''
When, at last, some of the Wehrmacht panzers left their well hidden encampment to confront the invasions forces (Hitler refused to release them until late in the afternoon of June 6th, and then only three companies of tanks), the Jugs were tasked to run the roads, find and destroy them, the classic interdiction mission. He had a photo albumn of his Jug with many miniature tanks painted just below the bomb mission indications.
I have XM in my car and guess I'll be sitting in the garage listening to the radio documentary.
The radio reporters of those days were amazingly descriptive. I really liked the way he was cheering the gun crews on and cheering with them.
Thanks for the story.
Listen on your computer inside the house. It’s included with your sat account. You just need to set it up. You’ll need the number off of the back of the receiver.
Franklin Roosevelt is a war-mongerer, sending our troops to fight a war that doesn’t concern us. Besides, the Nazis are freedom-fighters and they like Adolph Hitler so we have no business interfering. This war is all about oil. Olive oil.
Hey, cool! Thanks for the heads-up. XM is great in the car for the morning drive and cross state trips to Tampa with channels 70 & 71 jazz.
They have done this for the last few years and it is great!
Bump
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