Editing American Forces Network (section)

===Post-war contraction and expansion===
[[File:Lionel Barrymore.gif|thumb|left|[[Lionel Barrymore]] broadcasting the Armed Forces Radio Service's ''Concert Hall'' radio show (1947)]]

On 10 July 1945, the first AFN station in occupied [[Germany]] started broadcasting: [[AFN Munich]]. Its first broadcast was however incorrect as it began with the sentence "Good morning! This is AFN Munich, the voice of the 7th Army!". General [[George S. Patton]], commander of the 3rd Army, was furious with the opening as his army had taken control over [[Munich]] the previous night, and demanded that the responsible person be [[court-martial]]ed.<ref name="Compre" >{{cite web |url=http://german.about.com/library/listening/bllisten-sil-AFNTransl.htm |title=German Listening: Amerikanischer Soldatensender AFN |work=about.com |year=2015 |access-date=22 June 2015 |language=de, en |archive-date=18 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018151955/http://german.about.com/library/listening/bllisten-sil-AFNTransl.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Book" >{{cite book |last=Graeber |first=Stephanie |title=Der amerikanische Einfluss auf die Rolle des Radios in Nachkriegsbayern |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvnSZ1VCWRUC&pg=PA73 |access-date=22 June 2015 |year=2010 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=978-3640591619 |page=73 |language=de}}</ref>

Soon after AFN Munich signed on the air in the southern part of occupied [[Germany]], in northern [[Germany]], AFN Bremen begin broadcasting a few weeks later with its first radio broadcast occurring on Saturday, 28 July 1945. (In 1949, the station moved from the city of Bremen north to the port city of Bremerhaven and became [[AFN Bremerhaven]].)

On 31 December 1945, AFN [[London]] signed off the air, and in 1948 AFN closed all its stations in [[France]]. This started the cycle of AFN stations where they would be built up during wartime, then torn down or moved after the war was over. Of the 300 stations in operation worldwide in 1945, only 60 remained in 1949.