The first communiqué aired with the start of World War II on 1 September 1939 and the last one was issued on 9 May 1945. The communiqués were broadcast daily on the Reich Broadcasting Corporation and published in the press. From 12 May 1940 onwards, Major Erich Murawski [de] of the OKW Propaganda Department was given the task of adding commentary to them, both on the radio (21:00 to 21:15) and in the press.