– NBC News Of The World – August 21, 1942 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
News for this day 1942. The German drive to Stalingrad was intensifying – Former Republican Presidential Candidate Wendell Willkie was now FDR’s Special Envoy overseas and heading for a first-hand look at the hot-spots in Europe, including a one-on-one visit with Soviet Russia’s Stalin. And a post-mortem on the allied raid on Dieppe.
First to Moscow where NBC Correspondent Robert Magidov reported on the intense buildup of Nazi forces along the Eastern front and the push to Stalingrad being met with fierce resistance by the Russians. As of this report, German losses were heavy with one German division wiped out with a German attempt at crossing the Don River. The report cuts off abruptly for no apparent reason.
A report on the upcoming trip overseas by Wendell Willkie, former 1940 GOP Presidential candidate, now FDR’s Special Envoy to gather information first-hand on the situation in Europe. Also planned was a one-on-one meeting between Wendell Willkie and Joseph Stalin. Wendell Willkie was slated to leave the U.S. on August 26, where his first stop was to be North Africa, where he would be meeting with General Montgomery and touring the front at El Alamein. In Beirut, he was scheduled to stay with General de Gaulle, leader of the Free French. In Jerusalem, Willkie would be meeting with Jews and Arabs. Wendell Willkie would then head to the Soviet Union for his meeting with Stalin.
And news of the Allied Raid on Dieppe in France was still taking up most space in British newspapers and primary topic of conversations everywhere else. It was the first such time the Press, along with newsreel cameramen went along on the raid. The reports coming back were substantial, but the prevailing feeling was; the Dieppe Raid was no attempt at a Second Front, although no one was discounting the fact that this could be considered a rehearsal for one sometime in the future.
And that’s a small slice of what happened, this August 21st, 1942 as reported by NBC’s News Of The World.
