Mildred Gillars is a name synonymous with treason in the United States. During the Second World War the American became a broadcaster in Nazi Germany, tasked with devastating the morale of US troops. Yet despite her minimal impact on America's fighting spirit, Gillars dubbed Axis Sally by her listeners - today boasts a legacy comparable to defector Benedict Arnold, spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and double-agent Robert Hanssen.
However, exactly how and why the failed actress descended from the Broadway stage and onto the fascist airwaves of the Third Reich, still largely remains a unexplained. "Even now, mystery and ambiguity shroud her troubled life. Many, many questions surrounding her choices remain unanswered and, frankly, probably unanswerable," Professor Michael Flamm, a scholar of modern American political history at Ohio Wesleyan University (where Gillars studied before the war), told History of War.
A troubled childhood
Born on 29 November, 1900, Mildred Elizabeth Sisk was the daughter of Canadian parents Mary (Mae), a seamstress, and Vincent, an alcoholic blacksmith. Her early years were spent across the border in Portland, Maine, where she bore witness to her father's drunken tirades and abusive behaviour. Eventually, her mother divorced Vincent and remarried dentist Robert Bruce Gillars, also an alcoholic, whose surname Mildred took. After the birth of her half-sister Edna in 1909, the family moved to settle in Ohio.
Denne historien er fra Issue 111-utgaven av History of War.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra Issue 111-utgaven av History of War.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
COUPS & CHAOS
How the French armed forces lost the war in Algeria and almost destroyed French democracy in the process
BATTLE OF ALGIERS
When the Front de libération nationale FLN) took its war to the streets of the capital, France’s military responded with merciless wrath
THE RISE OF ALGERIAN RESISTANCE
How the anti-colonialist struggle around the globe helped inspire Algeria’s liberation movement to organise and fight back
ROOTS OF REVOLUTION
A century of French occupation led to a genocide in Algeria that provoked one of the bloodiest showdowns of the modern age
DWIGHT W BIRDWELL
In the opening hours of the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive, this Specialist Five led his armoured cavalry detachment in repulsing a fierce communist assault against Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon
THE FIVE STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP
Phillips O’Brien discusses how this quintet of national leaders impacted the course of the Second World War
Great Battles FLODDEN
On the morning of 9 September 1513, King James lV of Scotland stood atop Flodden Hill with what seemed an insurmountable advantage over the English. Yet by the day's end he would lay slain and his army shattered
FERDINAND 'THE BLOODY'
Known for his brutal martial punishment and execution of his own men, Ferdinand Schérner’s ruthlessness was matched only by his devotion to Nazi ideology
AIRBORNE UNDER SIEGE ARNHEM
For nine days the heroic 1st Airborne fought desperately, waiting vainly for relief that never came
SCANDINAVIA UNDER ATTACK
Hitler’s forces smash through Denmark and Norway ina grim foretaste of the terrible fate awaiting the rest of Western Europe
