Around the World
These World War 2 audio clips include key speeches, eye-witness reports, and some of the most evocative sounds of the War.
1938
25 January 1938 - Charles Lindbergh speaks on US neutrality.
13 March 1938 - CBS World News Roundup
13 March 1938 - German armies cross into Austria.
28 August 1938 - CBS broadcast from Berlin prior to the announcement of war & invasion, Shirer.
10 September 1938 - Czech President, Benes, prepares for war.
14 September 1938 - Prime Minister Chamberlain offers to meet Hitler.
30 September 1938 - Prime Minister Chamberlain on his return from Munich.
16 October 1938 - Winston Churchill "We must arm."
1939
30 January 1939 - Adolph Hitler on the eradication of Jews in Europe.
27 August 1939 - Broadcast from London detailing Adolph Hitler's demands. Adolf Hitler served notice on England and France that Germany wanted Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
28 August 1939 - CBS broadcast on the European war crisis.
28 August 1939 - Edwin R. Murrow broadcast regarding London before war.
31 August 1939 - There Can Be No Peace speech.
1 September 1939 - Adolph Hitler announces war with Poland.
1 September 1939 - Radio Warsaw reports on the German invasion.
1 September 1939 - FDR speaks on US neutrality.
1 September 1939 - BBC announces the progress of the evacuation of London's schoolchildren.
3 September 1939 - UK announcement of pending war with Germany.
3 September 1939 - UK, Prime Minister Chamberlain declaration of war against Germany.
7 September 1939 - William Shirer from Berlin.
10 September 1939 - BBC evacuee message to parents.
22 September 1939 - H.V. Kaltenborn commentary.
15 October 1939 - Richard Dimbleby reports from the side of a French road.
11 November 1939 - BBC, Queen Elizabeth on the fortitude of women.
12 November 1939 - Winston Churchill on the ten weeks of war.
30 November 1939 - Elmer Davis reports on the Russian air raids on Helsinki.
1 December 1939 - Correspondent Elmer Davis reports on the war and the Russian invasion of Finland.
18 December 1939 - Churchill comments on the sinking of the German Battleship, Graf Spee. After sinking several merchant ships in the Atlantic, the Graf Spee was sighted on 13 December 1939, off the Río de la Plata estuary by a British search group consisting of the cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles, commanded by Commodore H. Harwood. At 0613 Harwood's three ships attacked, but in a little more than an hour the Graf Spee had damaged the Exeter and driven off the other two cruisers. The Graf Spee then made off in the direction of Montevideo, Uruguay, where its commander, Captain Hans Langsdorff, obtained permission to stay for four days to repair damage. The British devoted the period to intense diplomatic and intelligence activity in order to keep the Graf Spee in harbor while they brought up heavy reinforcements. On 17 December, however, when the Graf Spee put to sea again, only the Cumberland had arrived to reinforce the Ajax and the Achilles. The fight that the British had anticipated never took place: Captain Langsdorff, believing that a superior force awaited him, had his crew scuttle their ship; three days later Langsdorff shot himself.
