Complete_Broadcast_Day_440606_Part_001_FIRST

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CBS World News Broadcast speaking.

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And again we bring you the available reports, all of them from German sources, on what the Berlin Radio called "the invasion".

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There is still no Allied confirmation from any source.

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Our correspondents to "rest of the world" War Department in Washington soon after the first German broadcast was heard were told that our War Department had no information on the German report.

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There has been no announcement of any sort from Allied Headquarters in London.

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The first news of the German announcement reached this country at 12:37 AM Eastern War Time.

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The Associated Press recorded this broadcast and immediately pointed out that it could be one which Allied leaders have warned us to expect from the Germans.

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Shortly after 1:00 AM Eastern War Time, the Berlin Radio opened its news program with the so-called "invasion" announcement.

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Columbia Short Wave Listening Station here in New York heard the Berlin Radio say and I quote:

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"Here is a special bulletin. Early this morning the long awaited British and American invasion began when paratroops landed in the area of the Seine estuary."

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"The harbor of Le Havre is being fiercely bombarded at the present moment."

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"The naval forces of the German navy are off the coast fighting with enemy landing vessels."

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"We just brought you a special bulletin."

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End of the quotation.

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That is the invasion announcement as heard from the Berlin Radio by Columbia Short Wave Listening Station.

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Now here is what Trans-Ocean, one of the German news agency, says and I quote:

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"Early Tuesday morning landing crafts and light warships were observed in the area between the mouth of the Somme and the eastern coast of Normandy."

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"At the same time paratroops were dropped from numerous air crafts on the northern cape of the Normandy peninsula."

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"It is believed that these paratroops have been given the task of capturing airfields in order to facilitate the landing of further troops."

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"The harbor of Le Havre is at the moment being bombarded."

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And continues the broadcast:

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“The German naval forces have engaged enemy landing crafts off the coast.”

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The Trans-Ocean broadcast, still unconfirmed, concluded this way:

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“The long expected Anglo-American invasion appears to have begun.”

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This is the full text of the German Trans-Ocean broadcast as recorded by the Associated Press.

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The German broadcasts about “the long expected invasion by the Allies” were relayed both to North America and to Germans in the homeland.

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Germans at home were told by DMB domestic broadcast at dawn in Europe.

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At 1:30 in the morning Eastern War Time the DMB agency repeated the items describing what it calls "the invasion operation".

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This was the departure from the usual DMB practice of giving fresh information at that time.

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The German controlled Calais Radio came on the air today with this announcement in the English language, quote:

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"This is D-Day. We shall now bring music for the Allied invasion forces."

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So said the German controlled Calais Radio across the Channel from England.

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After this time, almost an hour and a half after the first German broadcast,

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the United States Office of War Information who has his facilities with the news by the American Press Organization when Allied armies enter Western Europe

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has not transmitted any information at all to support the German claims.

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Director Elmer Davis of the OWI rushed to his headquarters immediately when OWI officials advised him of the broadcast from Germany.

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He told the United Press:

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"We have no more information than you have."

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"I'll stay here until I find out whether this story is true or not."

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Last night, Elmer Davis addressed the National Press Club on psychological warfare and showed three motion pictures illustrating how the OWI was propagandizing on the warfare.

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He has just reached his home when his office called him to hurry down.

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By 1:45 in the morning Eastern War Time almost the entire public relations staff over at the War Department in Washington also had reported for duty.

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Now it should be remembered of course that the Germans are quite capable of faking this entire series of reports.

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Their main reason for doing so, in addition to trying to smoke out Allied plans, would be to try to start a premature uprising by the resistance movement along with Channel coast.

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But the French and the Belgians and the Dutch have all been warned about this possibility repeatedly

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and you would recall that Prime Minister Winston Churchill some time ago warned that we could expect false alarms or diversionary tricks before the big show began.

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The British Radio, which at 1:00 AM Eastern War Time sent a warning to residents of the Dutch coast to evacuate inland to a distance of at least 18 miles.

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Mike Miley (?) have been broadcasting the latest in a series of such warnings that have been given to the civilian populations all along the so-called invasion coast of Europe.

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No other British report that might indicate that the invasion began has been released

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unless we have to take at significance the report from London half an hour ago that the Royal Air Force was over the enemy territory during the night.

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Even on the enemy side clear reasons for doubting the German reports that the invasion has started.

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The Paris Radio at 1:00 AM Eastern War Time said nothing about any invasion operations in its regular news report.

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In fact half an hour after the first German broadcast announcing the landing one German controlled Paris Radio spokesman said of the war situation and this is the quotation:

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"It appears we have been given another month of grace before the invasion will start."

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"A press report from Washington says Roosevelt will come to London by the end of June. Surely this indicate the event will not start before the end of June" said the Paris Radio.

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Well as I said there isn't yet no reason to believe the German story.

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Nevertheless, because of high public interest in this country, Columbia is planning to continue overtime operations tonight to all of its affiliated stations until such time as the enemy accounts are proved false or official word from Allied sources is forthcoming.

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You may listen to this network with assurance that all sources of news would be properly labeled and that we will interrupt programs only with news of exceptional importance and we will bring you frequent summaries of all information available.

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The Columbia Short Wave Listening Station here in New York has heard the British Radio report the German announcement of paratroops landings and report the announcement without comment.

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Then BBC followed that German announcement which I've already given you with this and I quote:

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"Early this morning people in German occupied western Europe received an urgent warning broadcast by the spokesman of the Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force."

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"It was that a new phase of the Allied air offensive has begun."

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"People living within 22 miles of the coast are particularly affected."

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The German overseas news agency", BBC goes on, "has been putting up repeated flashes, here is one of them, quote:

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"We have just learned that numerous allied landing crafts and other allied warships were seen in the area between the Seine estuary and the eastern coast of Normandy."

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And that was BBC quoting the German report.

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And now here in the studio with me is Columbia's military analyst Major George Fielding Eliot and here is Major Eliot now.

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We must begin by assuming and understanding the possibility that these German reports may be an upright German lie.

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We must also take into account the possibility that it may be a series of fake intended to divert the German defense and thus grab the German forces to other places than those in which we actually intend to make a serious attack.

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The report that a new phase of the Allied air offensive has begun and the consequent request to the inhabitants of Western Europe to clear an area of 22 miles from the coast may mean nothing more than an intensification of bombing attacks or may indicate the use of paratroops or it may be again a part of the Allied attempt to throw the Germans off their guard.

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But if we were to accept these German reports as having any value at all there seems to be some uncertainty about the location of the Allied landings in France with said reports.

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It is clear that the Germans are saying that landing crafts had been observed approaching the French coast between the eastern shore of what they call the Normandy peninsula and the mouth of the river Seine where the port of Le Havre is situated.

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The Germans are also asserting that this port of Le Havre is being bombarded and that Allied paratroops are being landed near the tip of the Normandy peninsula.

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What is not clear is the reference made to an Allied landing near the estuary of the river Somme which is some distance northeast of Le Havre.

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This may possibly be an error or the Seine estuary, though the actual German translation has been checked several times here in CBS Short Wave Listening Station.

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But to analyze all these German statements, what the Germans call the Normandy peninsula is undoubtedly the Cotentin peninsula at the end of which stands the port of Cherbourg.

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Allied forces would certainly wish if they are actually landing in France to obtain a well equipped seaport as soon as possible.

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Such a port is essential in order to keep up continuous landings of troops and heavy equipment.

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We learned it ?? elsewhere but is not safe to leave such matters to the mercy of the weather as has to be done ?? open beaked or even small but undeveloped bays.

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And a double Allied attempt against the two chief ports of northern France, Cherbourg and Le Havre, is well within the possibilities, if we are to accept these German reports of landing to taking place at all.

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From ?? point of view there nothing inconsistent in the report of the landing at the Somme estuary.

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There is no seaport of importance there but the Allies might well wish to land on a broad front and also to divert the German defense as much as possible and to keep the German from finding out as long as we could where the main effort was being made.

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The landing of paratroops behind the big seaport of Cherbourg was likewise the probability that the landing is really in progress in order to cut off the movement of the German reserve toward that port and thus to facilitate its capture by the Allies.

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But any military analyst must remain pragmatic and uncertain as long as it was being only on German reports which has so frequently proved to be unreliable in the past.

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That was Columbia's military analyst Major George Fielding Eliot. And I think that it brings us up to date to the moment.

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I'd like to repeat that there is as yet no reason to believe this German story which you have now heard.

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Nevertheless, because of high public interest in this country, Columbia is planning to continue overtime operations tonight and I should like to take this opportunity to inform not only you as audience but to inform also the staffs on duty that our affiliated stations around the country that Columbia is planning overtime operations until such time as the enemy accounts are proved false or official word from Allied sources is forthcoming.

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And so Ladies and Gentlemen you may listen to this network with assurance that all sources of news will be properly labeled and that we will interrupt programs only with news of exceptional importance and will bring you frequent summaries of all information available.

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This is the Columbia broadcasting system.

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CBS world news broadcast speaking.

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It has now been nearly two hours since the first German Radio announcement that the invasion has begun.

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Frankly, we don't know at this time whether those German news agencies' reports that the invasion has begun are true or not.

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However, the scarcity of any details from the Germans in these two hours after the first announcement do throw very strong doubt on the possible truth of the German story.

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Upon to this moment of course there has been no confirmation from any Allied source that an invasion may have started.

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Elmer Davis, director of the Office of War information, tells that he too knows nothing of the reports.

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However, late last night three German news agencies flashed word that Allied paratroops were spilling out of the skies over the Normandy peninsula of France and that our landing crafts have started to come ashore in Le Havre area just 80 miles across the English Channel from the coast of Britain.

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The Germans, still without confirmation, said that Allied fires are pounding Le Havre and its surrounding territory.

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The German news agency DMB also is telling of strong bombing attacks against the Calais and Dunkerque regions of France.

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Both Calais and Dunkerque lie somewhere 150 miles northeast of Le Havre.

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This is the way German Trans-Ocean broadcast announced the start of the invasion and I quote:

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"The long awaited invasion of the Germans by the British and Americans has begun in the first hours of the morning of June 6th."

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"The Germans end along to say that their naval forces are now engaged in opposing the Allied landings."

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According to the German DMB agency no enemy troops have come ashore yet.

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But again I repeat that there is absolutely nothing at the moment to substantiate these enemy claims.

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The British Broadcasting Corporation meanwhile has broadcast urgent instructions to the people of France that a new phase in the air war has begun.

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In an earlier broadcast from Allied Headquarters in London the people of occupied Europe were told that once the invasion has started they would be notified by leaflets.

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And again, in closing, let me remind you that there is no Allied confirmation of the landings in France as the Germans report.

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The British Radio did add a warning to all persons to evacuate the 22 miles of coastal belt as soon as possible.

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Both access to Allied sources mention Allied air activity over the entire coastal area from Norway to central France.

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Although there is no reason to believe these this enemy report, the Columbia Network will remain in overtime operation tonight until all the facts are known.

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We repeat the network will operate beyond its regular time of closing until the German report has either been verified or has been proved a ??.

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This program has come for you from CBS World News.

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We resume our scheduled programs.

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It's now almost two and a half hours since the first German broadcast their claims of what they call the Allied invasion had begun.

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There is no confirmation from any Allied source.

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And the Germans are not telling the story to their own people, that's very important.

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General Eisenhower's spokesman has made no official statement.

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The War Department in Washington says that it has no information about any invasion operations.

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The OWI is silent.

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In short, there is no reason to believe the continuing German reports of an Allied invasion.

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Nevertheless, here are the latest details of what the Germans claim as the great Anglo-American invasion.

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The German Trans-Ocean news agency, a Nazi propaganda output, said at about 12:30 Eastern War Time that Allied parachute troops had started to land on the northern tip of the Normandy peninsula.

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At the same time Allied warships were said to be sailing the port of Le Havre at the estuary of the Seine river.

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Berlin said a naval battle between German and Allied light naval units was in progress.

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The official German news agency DMB quickly picked up the report and added that the Allied invasion attack appeared to be concentrated in the area between the mouth of the Seine river and the East coast of Normandy.

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Continuing reports from the Berlin Radio said that heavy fleets of Allied bombers are attacking Dunkerque and Calais.

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The ?? Radio Network appears to have gone off the air and the Luxembourg Radio claims that Allied aircrafts are approaching southern Germany.

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Meanwhile in Great Britain, the British Radio has broadcast a warning to the people of the occupied countries that a new phase of the air war has started.

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The British announcement says that occupants of coastal towns will be notified by leaflets drops from planes when they are to be attacked.

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The notices may comes as little as an hour before the attack and the inhabitants are warned to leave their towns instantly without waiting to take baggage or any possessions.

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In addition, the inhabitants of the 22 miles wide belt along the invasion coast have been warned to leave as soon as possible in preparation for this new and drastic phase of the aerial bombardment.

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But as yet there is no word of any warning leaflets have been dropped on any towns within the so called invasion area.

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This is merely an advanced warning of things to come.

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?? Germany has been reports of the supposed invasion to Asia but as yet the Japanese Radio has not picked up these reports.

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After the first German story about the so-called invasion, the man who is called Captain Ludwig Sitorious (?) supposedly a military commentator for the German news agency Trans-Ocean declared flatly that the great conquest ?? has begun between forces of the Reich and those of the Anglo-Americans.

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He said that Allied landings in the west today have put the German armed forces in the move which he expressed with a laconic "They are coming."

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He then went on to say that at the present moment the invasion of western Europe is at its very beginning and that nothing can yet be said about the tactical or operations or developments.

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This almost an apology for the lack of details.

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Sitorious (?) then concluded that the German armies are facing the Allied armed squads with single mindedness of purpose.

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"We're in war" said the Captain with the typical Berlin flourish.

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Ethical values are at least as important as the number of soldiers and the quantity of their equipment.

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Washington, like the rest of the nation, is momentarily waiting for official word from outside about the German claims.

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The city of Washington awoke rapidly after the first broadcasts more than three hours ago. Lights flashed on and radios were tuned in, you may have the same experience.

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Newsmen hurried to their offices and there was just one question on everyone's lips: "is it official?"

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So far, as we've told you repeatedly, it is not official.

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If the White House knows anything about the report, there is no signs, only a few lights grow here and there and the customary guards are patrolling up and down outside the White House with the same old monotony.

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Only a few hours earlier, President Roosevelt addressed the Nation by radio.

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He spoke of the fall of Rome and he said it was a significant victory.

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But the President added that a long period of greater effort in fighting lies ahead before we get into Germany itself.

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Elmer Davis, director of the Office of War Information, hurried down to his office in Washington as soon as he heard about the German broadcast.

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What he says: "We have no more information than you have. I'll stay here until I find out whether this story is true or not".

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Over at the War Department in the Pentagon building the lights are burning brightly in the Public Relations Office.

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And for almost an hour and a half practically the entire public relations staff has been on the job.

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But the War Department says it still has no information.

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That is about the entire story as far as we know it at the moment.

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At this point there is no way in which any of us can know whether there is even a thin spark of truth behind this German story. We don't know.

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But there are several bits of evidence suggesting that the Germans are trying some kind of trick.

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We will have to wait until later before we can be sure.

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Since the first German report came here about thirty minutes after midnight Eastern War Time, we've been on the air several times here at Columbia's news headquarters in New York repeating the facts we know and giving you whatever news has come in.

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At this point at Columbia's newsroom there is a scene of activity rather unusual at this time of the morning, after 3:00 Eastern War Time.

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The news machines of the United Press, the Associated Press, the International News Service and so on which usually at this hour are slowly, calmly, printing more or less routine news for afternoon papers, are now hammering out every scrap of information from Europe they can get.

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But even so there are sometimes long pauses because of the way in which the Germans put the story out.

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And now it might be a good idea to take you on a little three o'clock in the morning tour of Columbia's newsroom.

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So if you're there with me, I'm going to stand up from this table in the studio in which I've been broadcasting, open the door, take the microphone in my hand and walk out into Columbia's newsroom ?? the long cable behind me.

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And when we get in newsroom, we're now crossing the threshold, I'll read off to you some of the news machines and give you an idea just what they are printing on this unusual morning.

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Columbia's news staff has been quickly assembled and so many staff members appeared so quickly that they are scarcely chairs and not for all members for once.

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Ned Calmer who has finished his eleven o'clock broadcast about four hours ago, he is still here, Major George Fielding Eliot hurried in among others, and Major Eliot brought with him a very large supply of maps as you can well imagine, and one of our officers, the radio, is permanently tuned tonight to our London circuit so we can hear whatever comes over on this particular circuit.

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A table is quickly being set up and now bears large cups of coffee, the inevitable accompaniment to all stories that break up lately in the night.

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In some ways, the seem is not unlike those hard working nights when the Germans were rushing through Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries and France, but there is an awful lot of difference:

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even though we're suspicious of this German story and we think that the invasion possibly has not begun, still the atmosphere in this newsroom tonight is far different from that on those anxious nights when the Germans were on the offensive.

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And now I've walked with the microphone down to the end of our newsroom and the first machine that we come through is the Brown teletype printer which turns out the reports from Reuter, that's the British news agency and here is what Reuter has just printed:

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"London, Reuter. An officer of the staff of the Allied Supreme Command of the Expeditionary Force today broadcast a warning specially addressed to all Frenchmen living at least within 35 km of the coast."

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"He said the lives of many depend upon the speed with which you act."

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And then there was a brief pause, then Reuter continued, warning 2, quote:

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"The air war has entered upon a new phase". This of course is what the spokesman said.

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"The air war has entered upon a new phase. You will be warned an hour before an attack."

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"Leaflets will be dropped by Allied planes."

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"As soon as you get the warning, go to your domicile and go at least two kilometers from it into the open country."

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2. "Take along only what you can easily carry."

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3. "Keep off all roads, railway lines and bridges."

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4. "Do not form groups which could be mistaken for troop concentration."

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That is what Reuter is printing at the moment and as all newsmen will recognize the inevitable little postscript the machine says:

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"Correction and warning to read it carry paragraph three 'keep off all road'".

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Next to it, the machine of the International News Service and it has just been printing a dispatch from London by Kingsbury Smith, it says:

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"Bulletin by Kingsbury Smith, International News Service staff correspondent, London, May (June?) 6th, INS."

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"German sources reported today that the Allies have launched the long awaited invasion of the continent by landing parachutists in northern France and assaulting the French coast from the air and by the sea."

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"There was absolutely no immediate confirmation that the invasion has started even from headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander in the European theater, or any other Allied quarter."

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And then the bulletin from Smith goes on to say:

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"Londoners and observers on the Southeast coast of England said that wave upon wave of Allied air fleets constituting the largest force of bombers and fighters ever seen crossing the English Channel and going up towards the French coast."

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Now if you're there with me on this tour of the newsroom, instead of going along in the geographical ??, ordinarily I would go to the United Press machine, this bulletin just come out from the Associated Press machine and here what it says:

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"New York, June 6th, AP. The London radio, in the Dutch language broadcast, warned European underground workers today to report to their leaders with all speed and to be prepared for anything."

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"Keep away from military installations", the broadcast says. "Underground members, report to your trusted leaders. Act with speed. Be prepared for anything. There is bombardment in the port of Le Havre."

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That is the bulletin which has just come in on the Associated Press machine.

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Perhaps you heard those bells ring in the background as I was reading to you the dispatch from the INS machine and so I tried not to trip over the cable as I approached over to the AP machine to read you the bulletin that was coming in there.

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And now back to the United Press machine, that's one of the many United Press machines that we have in this office, most of them you know print the same thing, we have to have a great many copies here at Columbia news headquarters.

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The UP machine is next to the INS machine from which I was reading a moment ago and here is what the UP machine is printing at the moment.

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The first thing my eye lies on is this: "Bulletin, London, June 6th, 3:05 in the morning, UP. RAF bombers quote 'in strength' unquote attacked occupied territories last night. It was announced today."

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And then: "Bulletin, second leaf, by George F W Grieg (?), United Press staff correspondent, London, Tuesday June 6th, UP.

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"The German Trans-Ocean and DMB agencies started broadcasting shortly after 6:30 in the morning today European Time, 12:30 AM Eastern War Time, totally unconfirmed reports that German warships were fighting Allied landing ships around the Seine estuary, 80 miles from the southern England coast and that Allied paratroops were being landed."

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"Two hours later, while the Germans continued to broadcast the reports in services beaming to France stations but not to listeners in German dominated Europe, the Supreme Headquarters of General Eisenhower has made no comment."

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The AP machine has just come in with another bulletin, I've made my way over to this side of the room again and it says:

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"Bulletin, London, June 6th, AP. The Berlin Radio said today that quote 'combined British American landing operations against the western coast of Europe from the sea and air are stretching over the entire area between Cherbourg and Le Havre.'"

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Now I've read two other late bulletins from the Associated Press, we interrupt the logical order of our tour of the newsroom to rush over to the AP machine at the Associated Press machine.

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And because they were bulletins in where the latest thing to come into our newsroom, all that you can hear is the clattering of all the other machines in the room, I'd like to read them both to you again just in case you hadn't quite copy them all.

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Here is the first that came in at nine minutes past three in the morning Eastern War Time:

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"New York. The London Radio, in the Dutch language broadcast, warned European underground workers today to report to their leaders with all speed and to be prepared for anything.

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The broadcast said "Keep away from military installations. Underground members, report to your trusted leaders. Act with speed. Be prepared for anything. There is bombardment in the port of Le Havre."

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And the second bulletin, the one that came in at 3:11 Eastern War Time, from London on the Associated Press:

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"The Berlin Radio said today that quote 'combined British American landing operations against the western coast of Europe from the sea and air are stretching over the entire area between Cherbourg and Le Havre.'"

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To there we have the latest from the Berlin Radio which has been putting out all these stories, these reports, from the very beginning, the latest from the Berlin Radio saying that the landings stretched over the entire area from Cherbourg and Le Havre, and the latest from London, the BBC, in the Dutch language broadcast, saying there is bombardment in the port of Le Havre, which does not necessarily mean an invasion as you know.

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Incidentally, if at any time on this little tour of the newsroom, if you can pick up the sounds of the bells from the background, I'd like to explain to you that, when you're hear five bells in rapid succession that means that one of the many machines at least one is notifying us with the signal of five bells that it has a bulletin on its service wire.

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Of course if you suddenly hear all the bells go crazy at once as if it was Christmas and New Year all together, that would be a flash but a flash is not as common in newsrooms as many people who do not work in news sometimes believe.

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And now I'm back to the United Press machine where I was in first place before I left and go to the AP,

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carrying the microphone with me on this long cable, surrounded by colleagues, who most of them get up out of bed and came in in a hurry when the news came in.

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And the United Press has a dispatch from Washington which says:

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"Edward Barrett, executive director of overseas broadcasting for OWI,"

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"denied, in a long-distance call from New-York today,"

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"that OWI was transmitting German overseas invasion reports back to Germany for German consumption."

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He said: "We don't touch a thing unless and until it is officially announced by Allied Headquarters."

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Well, that just tells us in a way something that we might have assumed in the first place,

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but it does give you a chance to remind you again, how for one circumstance that might be suspicious from that is of the German people themselves are not being told of this thing as far as we can make up so far this broadcast of this German report, if you want to call it that, all for foreign consumption, out of this case foreign means us.

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And still continuing walking about the newsroom, I now come through my colleague Major George Fielding Eliot who is standing in his green shirt sleeves and the pencil is behind his ear, he's working very hard at the moment and I think he might say something in this portable microphone if I handed it to him. Major?

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Thank you Bob. There is only one item of significance in these recent reports and that is the fact that in these reports that there has been a British broadcast in Dutch for the people of Holland ordering the members of the underground to report to their accustomed leaders with all speed,

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and adding the statement that there is bombardment in the port of Le Havre.