Seventy-two years ago this week, the world teetered on the brink of war as Germany issued demands for a portion of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland. As the fate of the Czech people hung in the balance, Britain and Germany underwent talks and negotiations to resolve the crisis and a new word, Appeasement started to make its way into daily usage.

Here are a series of news reports and analysis from CBS on September 26, 1938 with Edward R. Murrow in London, Robert Trout and H.V. Kaltenborn in New York discussing the events of the day and speculating on the outcome.

The world was holding its collective breath and Radio news came into its own as a viable source of information for the first time. The Czech crisis was a culminating moment in Network radio as reports came in live from overseas adding a new dimension as well as a new urgency to the concept of broadcast journalism as it had never happened before.

(Lord of The Admiralty Winston Churchill - very dark days just ahead)

I've had a number of requests over the months to post some complete Winston Churchill addresses. Churchill is certainly a familiar voice to most people, but in the context of soundbites; short excerpts from famous speeches or radio addresses during the years of World War 2. Tonight I thought I would include a complete speech he gave in Manchester on February 1940, when the War in Europe was relatively new and the dark days of the Blitz were just ahead. Churchill had not become Prime Minister yet, but was still Lord of The Admiralty. That too would happen shortly after this address.

Winston Churchill: “Even if we look at numbers alone we have no need to feel that the task we have taken up is beyond our competence. I cannot pretend or venture to forecast what the course of this war will be, whether it will be long or short. Whether it will be dull and grinding or burst suddenly into furious flame. But I am quite sure that the British Empire and the French Republic and French Empire, once they have got on the move, and they are on the move, are far stronger together in physical energy and in psychic strength than Hitler’s Germany.”

It's also interesting to note that even Winston Churchill was not immune to heckles from the audience, as was evidenced by two shouting protests mid-way through his speech, briefly halting his address. A technical note: Because this is a shortwave broadcast, the sound goes from great to weird and distorted in places and back. In 1940 that was the best available technology at the time.

Some things, even in history, never change.

Update: We're slowly chipping away at the emergency, even though we haven't gotten very past the 1/3 mark. There's still a long ways to go and not much time left. My grateful thanks to those of you who have donated over night. Your help is appreciated beyond my words to convey it. If we had a few more like you, we'd be out of the woods and we could get back to normal. Unfortunately, when you have the loss of your website facing you, the loss of the archive that this website completely relies on for its daily posts facing you, it's hard to think of anything beyond raising enough money to keep disaster at bay. So won't you please consider making a donation in order to keep Newstalgia alive? Any amount is desperately needed, no matter how paltry you may think it is - every penny and every dollar goes in to chip away at the emergency. And every penny and every dollar helps. We can make this happen, but I need your help.

This day in 1941 was staring at the 600th since that ominous overture to Poland in 1939. And in that time, Europe was engulfed in a series of invasions, surrenders and daily desperation.

From London came word that German bombing raids over Britain the previous night were mostly confined to the Southeast and Northeast of England, but casualties were reported to be small. It was also the second successive night London went without a raid alarm.

The RAF retaliated with attacks on targets throughout occupied Europe.

The Free French Island of Tahiti declared itself on the side of DeGaulle.

There were unconfirmed yet persistent reports that Athens had fallen to the Germans and that Greece was in danger of being a lost Allied cause.

From Berlin came news that the previous nights address by Charles Lindbergh of the America First Committee at Madison Square Garden in New York drew praise in the German press, fueling speculation that maybe America would not get involved in the War after all.

Hitler concluded talks with Hungarian leaders in the wake of preparing German plans for the occupied Balkan region. Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka returned to Tokyo, armed with assurances and a renewed alliance with Berlin. Rumors that Germany was planning a move to Spain and Portugal were shrugged off as British propaganda, despite credible reports that some 2,500 German operatives posing as "tourists" were roaming the streets of Madrid.

It was also learned that German brewers were considering the idea of "light beer" to go with calls from the government to curb alcohol use, even though they hadn't even entered the experimental stage yet. And shortages were turning into rationing of cigarettes and cigars, in the wake of government calls to ban tobacco, which was deemed not such a good thing from a morale point of view.

And back in the U.S. - Secretary of State Cordell Hull called for renewed support of Britain in their fight against the axis and to support Lend-Lease.

All on this day in April, 1941 as reported by NBC and it's News Of The World.

News for this June 22nd in 1941 had everything to do with the sudden Declaration of War by Germany to Russia, setting up an invasion and opening up what was to be known as "The Eastern Front".

News was coming in so fast that NBC, and most other networks, announced they would suspend all their regular programming and devote themselves entirely to the news of the moment. And flustered announcers and analysts rushed to their microphones to deliver breathless updates, sometimes forgetting they were on the air, and other times delivering news off the tops of their heads, without aid of a script.

So here is a one-hour snapshot of that day in history, where very little else went on for June 22, 1941 as heard live over the combined networks of NBC.

A particularly grim day in 1940. Starting with news reports that France had appointed delegates to receive the German surrender terms. From the relocated French government in Bordeaux, Marshall Petain appealed to the French people, and the remaining French troops, to give up the War, that France had been defeated.

And while the appeals were going out and the envoys were readying to receive terms, the German Army were quickly advancing on all fronts, taking the important French Port city of Brest and the rumored capture of numerous French warships. What was left of the French Army had been separated into four areas and cut off from communication with each other. The German Army was also poised to take Paris.

All this had an uneasy affect on London, as it was reported that emergency cabinet meetings had taken place and plans for the defense of Britain were underway. Among those plans was the initial evacuation of some 20,000 children to Canada and the Dominions for the duration. The first ships were scheduled to convoy out in 2 weeks and offices handing the evacuation requests were flooded with applicants. It was widely believed that, now with the fall of France, Britain was facing Germany's Final Objective. German Bomber raids overnight hit the industrial cities of Billingham and Hull. The fires from Billingham could be seen for 30 miles. Reports from Berlin claimed they were reprisal bombings for British raids on German cities.

News from Washington initially came in the form of a bulletin that stated FDR made a surprising motion to form a Coalition Cabinet and the unprecedented move of appointing two high-ranking Republicans, Col. Frank Knox and Henry L. Stimson to the posts of Secretary of The Navy and Secretary of War, respectively. Knox was vice-Presidential Candidate for the Republicans in 1936 and Stimson was Secretary of State in the Hoover Administration and Secretary of War in the Taft Administration. The dismay came from the Republicans who felt it created damage to their 1940 Platform and it was purely a political move on FDR's part.

Another nail-biting day in history, this June 20, 1940, as reported on the NBC News Of The World.

News for this May 23rd in 1938 comes from Germany, via the Shortwave Service of Radio Berlin and their daily English newscast.

Reports on border incidents between Czech and German troops, the continuing negotiations between Berlin, London and Paris on the Sudeten question. News regarding meetings between Sudeten-German mouthpiece Konrad Henlein with Czech representatives on the border question. Continuing pressure for a settlement.

And the weather in Berlin was "fine and spring-like".

And that's how this day was rolling if you happened to be around on May 23, 1938 and were dial hopping on your Shortwave radio, listening for Berlin.

As the War in Europe started to heat up, all eyes were on the border dispute between Finland and Russia, this March 9th in 1940.

With Germany pressing Moscow for a settlement, fighting had broken out while this broadcast was on the air. The French government was optimistic the Finns would successfully repel Soviet aggression, and Hitler sent Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop on a mission to Rome to try and find some resolution.

Meanwhile, German radio was quick to accuse the U.S. of inciting the Finns to carry on their dispute, although in Washington there was no confirmation or denial of those rumors or give any indication they would have anything to do with the conflict now or in the future.

But Capitol Hill had its own set of situations to deal with. Since it was an election year (1940 Presidential elections), squabbles erupted within the Democratic party over a piece of legislation being introduced called The Hatch Act, or as it was referred to, the "Pure Politics Law" and Congresswoman Mary Norton, Labor Committee Chairperson, condemned the Smith committee move to drop the Labor Relations Board and revise the current Labor law. Norton threatened to take the issue before the voters and make it a campaign topic in 1940.

And so went this day, along with much other news for March 9, 1940 as presented by NBC's News Of The World with reports direct from London and Berlin by reporters who seemed to have trouble reading their own copy.

News as it happens. Or news, it just so happens.

This February 24th in 1941 was marked by continued German bomber raids over London and various other cities in Britain overnight with casualties reported as "light". Britain responded with RAF raids over the German occupied port cities of Calais and Boulogne in France.

Meanwhile - Britain labeled as untrue reports of diplomatic proposals to Japan about the Far East. Both London and Tokyo denied any sort of overtures, although it was reported Britain did issue a warning if Japan made any moves on Indochina or the Dutch East Indies there would be trouble.

News from Bulgaria reported German troops were on the border, poised to move in, but nothing had been confirmed - only the waiting game. Turkey pledged alliance with Great Britain over the looming Bulgarian crisis.

London labeled as unconfirmed reports of increased U.S./UK collaboration in the war effort and Russia adamant about maintaining neutrality in light of the Bulgarian situation, despite the fact that German troops were massed on the Russian Border and Russian troops were massed back. Some neutrality, that.

Reports from Berlin announced Hitler was getting ready for an address to the German people. This on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the founding of the National Socialist Party (established Feb. 24, 1920).

And on Capitol Hill - The Dies Committee (precursor to HUAC) reported claims that Russia had been secretly acting as an agent for the German government, with apparent evidence of a dramatic spike in goods shipped to Russia that just so happened to be on the German short-of-supply list. The State Department immediately called for an investigation over the allegations that America had been increasing its shipment of Cotton and Oil Drilling Parts to Russia in recent weeks.

There was also news of a Senate inquiry over Union strikes in the Defense industry and debate was about to begin on the latest Lease-Lend Bill.

For a war, it was a rather calm day, considering.

All reported on the morning roundup of news from NBC broadcast on February 24, 1941.

Day 520 in what would soon become World War 2, but still only "the war in Europe" this January 31st in 1941. The U.S. still had diplomatic ties as well as news bureaus in Berlin and Tokyo. But how long that was going to last was only a matter of time.

The previous night, on January 30, 1941 Adolf Hitler, during a 90 minute speech, warned the U.S. that dire consequences would arise if we continued providing aid to Britain and that the German navy would be compelled to torpedo U.S. ships entering "zones of contention" (i.e. British waters).

The threat was interestingly timed, as arguments over Lend-Lease and Foreign Aid to Britain were being argued on Capitol Hill all this week.

But the war nonetheless continued. News of continued daylight bombings of London were containing reports of indiscriminate targets being hit as the result of cloud cover and civilian casualties were on the rise.

Meanwhile, the Italian army was losing on several fronts, substantiating Prime Minister Churchill's assessment that Italy really had "no stomach for war". Greek troops were advancing in Albania, forcing the Italian army to retreat after suffering heavy losses resulting in a failed counter-attack. Likewise in Libya where British forces forced Italian abandonment of Derna and reports of large numbers of prisoners taken as the result. Italy was rapidly losing ground in Libya and in threat of losing their entire toehold in North Africa.

In Southeast Asia, Siam (now Thailand) issued surrender demands to the Vichy Government to give up French claim to Cambodia and one-fourth of Indo-China. Also stipulating that, should France give up Indo-China altogether, it had first dibs on a second province in the Indo-China territory (remember this for later reference in the 1950's). Suspicions were aroused that the Japanese were behind these negotiations as it was Tokyo who acted as buffer between Siam and the Vichy Government.

And that's how this day went in 1941, as reported by NBC and their morning as well as evening newscasts.

Day 520 indeed.

This day in 1941 was all about the war, enveloping just about every point on the globe. From the German Army poised to invade the Caucuses to the British Army pledged to support the Russians from German attacks on the Middle East. Africa under attack by the German Army. Britain continuing raids over Berlin. Finland playing a balancing game between Germany, Russia and the U.S. - legislation had gone into effect arming Merchant Ships again German aggression. The South Pacific under the tentative gaze of Australia. And every day the U.S. inched closer to getting involved in the shooting war, which some had already said we were part of but as yet undeclared.

And so the news, as presented on the Blue Network's News Of The World program for November 9, 1941, tried to paint a picture not nearly as bleak as it actually was. Still, the war had been going on for 2 years in Europe with no end in sight, to the surprise of even the Germans who were told it would all be over by Christmas 1941 but revised that to say "maybe Christmas 1943". It would be revised several times before it was all over.