Who is this?
The female actress featured in several of the Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway ads is based on an actual historical figure, Mildred Gillars (1900-1988). Also known as "Axis Sally", Mildred was a female radio personality during World War II, best known for her propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany.
She went to Dresden to study music, and around 1935 accepted a job as an announcer and actress with Radio Berlin, where she remained until the Nazis fell in 1945.
With her sultry voice, Gillars was a well-known propagandist to Allied troops. She often speculated about whether their wives and sweethearts were still faithful to them, and played American songs she knew the Allied soldiers wanted to hear. Her broadcasts were sometimes peppered with antisemitic rhetoric and bitter attacks on Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gillars usually introduced herself as "Midge at the mike," but American troops nicknamed her "Axis Sally."
Gillars didn't know it at the time, but American authorities had gotten wind of her broadcasts. They were all closely monitored and recorded. Gillars' last broadcast was on May 6, 1945, just two days before the German surrender. After the war, Gillars blended into the large number of displaced persons in Allied-occupied Germany. She was captured and eventually flown back to the United States in 1948. She was charged with 10 counts of treason, although she was actually only tried for eight.
Prosecutors called Gillars' broadcasts subtle attempts to break down the morale of American soldiers. They introduced evidence that Gillars had signed an oath of allegiance to Hitler. They also claimed that she posed as a worker for the International Red Cross in order to record messages from American soldiers that could be converted into propaganda.
The sensational, six-week trial ended on March 8, 1949. After long deliberations, the jury convicted Gillars on only one count of treason, for making the "Vision of Invasion" broadcast and sentenced her to 10-to-30 years in prison.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Gillars
She went to Dresden to study music, and around 1935 accepted a job as an announcer and actress with Radio Berlin, where she remained until the Nazis fell in 1945.
With her sultry voice, Gillars was a well-known propagandist to Allied troops. She often speculated about whether their wives and sweethearts were still faithful to them, and played American songs she knew the Allied soldiers wanted to hear. Her broadcasts were sometimes peppered with antisemitic rhetoric and bitter attacks on Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gillars usually introduced herself as "Midge at the mike," but American troops nicknamed her "Axis Sally."
Gillars didn't know it at the time, but American authorities had gotten wind of her broadcasts. They were all closely monitored and recorded. Gillars' last broadcast was on May 6, 1945, just two days before the German surrender. After the war, Gillars blended into the large number of displaced persons in Allied-occupied Germany. She was captured and eventually flown back to the United States in 1948. She was charged with 10 counts of treason, although she was actually only tried for eight.
Prosecutors called Gillars' broadcasts subtle attempts to break down the morale of American soldiers. They introduced evidence that Gillars had signed an oath of allegiance to Hitler. They also claimed that she posed as a worker for the International Red Cross in order to record messages from American soldiers that could be converted into propaganda.
The sensational, six-week trial ended on March 8, 1949. After long deliberations, the jury convicted Gillars on only one count of treason, for making the "Vision of Invasion" broadcast and sentenced her to 10-to-30 years in prison.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Gillars
