The term "the first victim of Germany" as applied to Austria, first appeared in English-speaking journalism in 1938, before the beginning of the Anschluss.[30] It appears in the Soviet literature in 1941, after German invasion to the USSR[31] (Soviet authors called Spain "the fascism's first victim", implying combined aggression of Italy and Germany, while Austria was assigned a role of "Hitler's first victim"[32]). On February 18, 1942 Winston Churchill said in his speech to Austrian emigrants: "We can never forget here on this island that Austria was the first victim of Nazi aggression.