There were also allied broadcasts available, from the 5th Army Mobile Radio Station and the BBC.Īmerican G.I.s in Italy would put several radios together. Though Gillars is more often associated with the "Sally" moniker, it was Zucca who actually referred to herself as "Sally" during broadcasts. Many veterans of Anzio refer to the female announcer they heard as "Axis Sally", the nickname usually used when referring to propagandist Mildred Gillars, however Gillars broadcast from Berlin, and the men at Anzio were more likely hearing Rita Zucca, who broadcast from Rome. The propaganda programs were directed towards Allied military from an Axis station in Rome. Toivo Kujanpaa built a receiver at Anzio and was able to receive German propaganda programs. The idea spread across the beachhead and beyond. He managed to pick up broadcasts from Rome and Naples. It was fairly crude, a razor blade stuck into a piece of wood acted as the crystal, and the end of the antenna wire served as a cat whisker. That radio was built by Private Eldon Phelps of Enid, Oklahoma, who later claimed to have invented the design. One of the first newspaper articles about a foxhole radio ran in the New York Times April 29, 1944.
The maker of the first foxhole radio is unknown, but it was almost certainly invented by a soldier stationed at the Anzio beachhead during the stalemate of February – May 1944.
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