Here is an animation showing how a receiving antenna works. Wikipedia - dipole antenna
The Wikipedia page also contains substantial related explanatory material.
The "3D" animation illustrates the statement that you have made in your post, If an electromagnetic wave has E in the x-axis [North-West to South-East], B in the y-axis [North to South], and propagates along the z-axis [South-West to North-East], it will be generate the optimal current in a dipole antenna [two conductors] positioned along the x-axis.
Charges are moved in the conductor, ie a current flows, and this sets up a potential difference across the resistor which could be the input stage of a radio receiver.
A transmitting antenna works the same way except that an alternating voltage is applied where the resistor is and the alternating voltage causes the charges in the metal conductor to accelerate.
Accelerating charges emit electromagnet radiation which in this case will be of the same frequency as that of the alternating voltage.
A key feature is the wavelength of the incoming electromagnetic wave, $\lambda$, and its relationship to the length of the horizontal conductors, $\approx \frac \lambda 2$, which then means that a standing wave is set up or put another way, resonance occurs, which means that the response of the system, the dipole antenna, to the incoming electromagnetic wave, the driver, is maximised.
Further resonances are possible for lengths of the dipole being approximately $\frac{3\lambda}{2},\,\frac{5\lambda}{2}$, etc. but the system is not as efficient/responsive as for a half-wave dipole.
