If you should be captured you'll see for yourself. In a POW camp you enjoy PEACE
and SAFETY under the supervision of the International Red Cross.
Remember, the most important thing in the war is to get home alive.
AI-155-10-44
A third German leaflet to black troops uses the same general theme. The leaflet depicts
two black babies on the front and the text:
Tiny Tots want daddy back
The back is all text. Some of the divisive propaganda text is:
Have you got a wife and cute children or a girl you want to marry?
THEY WANT YOU TO COME BACK ALIVE!
Well, what chance have you to survive? Hardly any at all! Remember, back home the
colored man always had to do the dirty work. On the front it is the same. Uncle Sam’s
colored soldiers are just CANNON FODDER.
The leaflet ends with a German passierschein (safe conduct pass) at the bottom.
AI-173-12-44
The final German leaflet that uses race as a theme to demoralize and divide the
black American soldier depicts two black civilians trying to enter a church to pray. They
are blocked by a group of white parishioners. The long text explains that the two men were
visiting on a Sunday and just wanted to enter the church but were attacked instead. Text
on the back says in part:
In Germany anything like this would be impossible. Colored people living in
Germany can always go to any church they like. They have never been a problem to the
Germans. There have never been lynchings of colored men in Germany…
YANKS
The Germans propagandists were not consistent. Although they told the black troops
about white prejudice at home and claimed that they would be treated better if they
defected to the German side, at the same time they produced leaflets for white American
troops that attacked and belittled the black troops, called them "niggers," and
implied that they were drinking and carousing in Paris while the white troops were dying
in the front lines. This is a common error found in German propaganda. They were seldom
able to select a theme and stick with it. The Nazi Party had used propaganda for so long
and so well on their own people that the Germans simply thought that whatever they said
would be believed. They seldom followed their arguments all the way through to the logical
conclusion.
This leaflet bears no code number. It is probably a product of the SS Standarte
"Kurt Eggers" unit. The German government replaced the
Wehrmachtpropagandaabteilung (Military Propaganda Section) in 1944 due to doubts of the
Army's loyalty to Hitler. The SS was considered more loyal and trustworthy, and its
propaganda would be more in line with Nazi racial and religious policy.
The leaflet is addressed to "YANKS" and threatens the American troops with
news of the German Ardennes, or "Battle of the Bulge" offensive. The troops are
surrounded, there are no reinforcements and resistance is hopeless. It tells the troops
that their only hope is immediate surrender. From a divide and conquer standpoint the most
pertinent comment is:
Have sense and take that end in your own hands. We know that you have no white
laundry - it is colored just the same as those NIGGERS who are amusing themselves in Paris.
GET OUT OF YOUR HOPPELESS (Sic) POSITION - TAKE THIS LEAFLET AND HOLD IT OVER
YOUR HEAD
>Don’t Fall for Enemy Propaganda
The poster, prepared by the Veterans of Foreign Wars seeks to protect Americans
against the various German and Japanese rumors and divide-and-conquer attacks. It warns
Americans not to be deceived and not to listen to the enemy.
SKJ 2006
A German leaflet that attempts to cause disunity between soldiers and civilians depicts
an infantryman with his M1 rifle at the top, and a civilian factory worker with a hand
full of cash below. The text is:
He earns 15 dollars a week and risks his neck.
JOB ON TWO FRONTS
He makes 45 dollars a week and is safe at home.
The back says:
Take a look at these figures
ETO (European Theater of Operations)
7 days of fighting $15.00
Saturday
0.00
Sunday
0.00
Overtime
0.00
15.00
Your job: Privation and death
Home front
5 working days
$20.00
Saturday
6.00
Sunday
9.00
Overtime
10.00
45.00
His job: A safe pleasant life
Who wants the war in Europe to last?
You or he?
The “SKJ” code indicates that this leaflet was prepared by the German Skorpion
organization and targeted Allied troops on the Western Front in 1945.
AI-136-10-44
The Germans even went so far as to try to cause dissension between Canada and both Great
Britain and the United States. Leaflet AI-136-10-44 is all text. Some of the propaganda
message is:
Canadian Soldiers!
Canada has built up a big war
industry and is delivering war material to England without getting anything in return for
it. How Britain appreciates your services is shown by the fact that British statesmen have
often discussed with the U.S.A. your vital problems without so much as notifying you, not
to speak of letting you participate in the discussions.
A striking example was the signing of the Atlantic Charter without consulting Canada.
Does any Canadian really think that the U.S.A. will tolerate a British Canada
after the inevitable collapse of the British Empire has taken place?
Who does not see the writing on the wall?
It began with the ceding of strategic bases by Great Britain to the U.S.A. and
it will end with the ANNEXATION OF CANADA by the Yanks.
Meanwhile you are supposed to do the dirty work for England.
AI-087-8-44
This German leaflet is very colorful attempt to split up the British Empire and the
United States. This leaflet was delivered by German Rocket to American and British Troops
in Italy during August, 1944. Uncle Sam (the United States) has stolen John Bull's (Great
Britain) clothing, watch, hat, and boots, while Stalin (The USSR) is lurking in the
background with a knife. The text on the back starts with “Germany has never wanted
to conquer Canada” and goes on to list the alleged demands that the United States has
made on Great Britain.
121A / 5.44
Another regular German ploy was to attempt to separate the colonial Indian troops from
their British Allies. The Germans fielded an Indian Legion and the Japanese trained and
armed the Indian National Army (INA), both made up of prisoners of war and collaborators
who volunteered to fight for India's "freedom" against Great Britain. The Indian
desire to be free of British rule was a perfect propaganda theme of the German
propagandists.
The Germans first used the Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose, and
later sent him by submarine to Japan where he was the figurehead leader of the Azad Hind
(Free India) movement. Bose was a fierce and popular leader in the political scene in
pre-independence India. He was the president of the Indian National Congress in 1937
and 1939. Bose was outspoken in his anti-British stance and was jailed 11 times between
1920 and 1941 for periods varying between six months and three years. He was the leader of
the youth wing of the Congress Party, in the forefront of the trade union movement in
India and organized Service League, another wing of Congress. He was admired for
his great skills in organization development. When the second World War broke out in
September of 1939, India was declared as a warring state on behalf of the British by
the Governor General, without consulting Indian leaders. The Congress party was in power
in seven major states and all state governments resigned in protest.
German leaflet 121A / 5.44 depicts Netaji (Leader) Bose in his INA uniform. The
photograph bears his printed signature.
The back of the leaflet is in Indian dialects and offers a safe conduct pass to any
Indian soldier who wishes to surrender. Some of the text is:
Most of you may be familiar with this face. If not, then listen.
He is known as the national leader, and he is famous by his name. This man is ready to lay
down his life for his country and you. Now he is calling for you to join in his fight for
freedom. The British propaganda that the prisoners of war are put to death are all lies.
G43
Of course, the Allies fought back. One of the prime divide and conquer strategies of
the Allies was to attack the German Schutzstaffel (SS), the quasi-military
unit of the Nazi Party that served as Hitler’s personal guard and as a special
security force in Germany and the occupied countries. The allies identified them as a
powerful elite class out of touch with both the German people and the German armed forces.
The Allies stressed that the regular SS received special privileges and that the Waffen-SS
(the armed military SS) under Himmler's personal patronage had better training and
was issued better weaponry.
The British printed and disseminated three different leaflets on that general theme
within a short period of 1942. Leaflet G42 was disseminated from 4 August to 5 October,
G43 from 15 August to 6 October and G46 from 27 August to 6 October. All of them attacked
the SS mercilessly. G42 and G46 are all text. G43 is a handsome pictorial leaflet that
depicts two arrogant SS members in a pose reminiscent of royalty. The individual
sitting in the foreground wears the uniform of the Sicherheitsdeinst (D), the unit
responsible for counter-intelligence and rooting out enemies of the German State. The text
beneath the picture a quote from the document in regard to the way the SS should
feel about mixing with the German population and especially the German worker:
Such a contingent will feel a pride in its integrity and will therefore never
fraternize with the proletariat and with that underworld which undermines the fundamental
idea.
The title on the back of both G42 and G43 is:
Hitler’s Charter for the SS
The alleged SS secret charter is printed for the German people to read. The
British state that the document was captured in Libya in March of 1942. The document was
written by Hitler in 1940 when he announced the future tasks for the SS. It was
circulated to German Generals in September 1940. In March 1941, it was circulated to all
Army officers, still classified “secret.” The document itself is three pages
long. The British proceeded to tear it apart and attack selected portions.
All three of the leaflets have long propaganda messages. Some selected paragraphs from
the three leaflets are:
This secret document for the first time shows Hitler’s secret war aim. It is
not the defense of Germany but the conquest of a new “Greater German Reich.” The
task of the Waffen-SS in this new Greater German Reich is, according to his known words,
the war on the inner front.
Why does Hitler absolve the Army from action against the inner front? Because he
cannot rely on the German soldier shooting his own brother Germans. “It must never
again be tolerated in the future that the German armed forces, conscripted from the whole
people, should be sent into action in times of interior crisis against their fellow
citizens.
Since August 1940 when Hitler decreed that the Waffen-SS “returning home in the
ranks of the Army after having proved itself in the field, will possess the authority to
carry out their tasks as state police” against the inner enemy, he has increased its
size more than ten-fold and has made it into an independent body outside The army.
Hitler cannot repudiate this document. He is admitting that he fights not a
defensive war but one of conquest. He has specifically nominated the SS as a permanent
army for civil war on the inner front. And the generals condone this handing over of the
German people to Himmler’s soldiers.
The code “G” indicates that this was a standard British Political Warfare
Executive leaflet aimed at Germany. The British used a simple alphabetic code in Europe.
“F” indicated France, “B” was Belgium, etc.
The Italian’s Hearts are not in this War
This 1943 leaflet was produced by the British Political Warfare Executive and
designed to drive a wedge between the Germans and their Italian allies. It was
disseminated from 10 April 1943 to 5 May 1943. The leaflet is folded and when opened is
four pages of propaganda and test. The front depicts Italians surrendering in the desert
and happy prisoners of war. The title seems quite appropriate. History indicates the
Italians wanted no part of the war and were dragged into it by the Fascists. I don’t
think that the Germans needed much convincing. I have read that when the Italians quit
there was cheering in the streets of Berlin and comments like “We finally got rid of
that anchor around our necks.” The leaflet says in part:
THE ITALIAN’S HEARTS ARE NOT IN THIS WAR
Over 300,000 have already surrendered to the English and Americans.
They are the happiest prisoners one has ever seen either in England or America.
…And are they so wrong? For them the war is over – a war which they
have never been any too keen on – and one day they will return to their wives and
children.
Another page depicts Benito Mussolini, other Fascist leaders and King Victor
Emmanuel. The text is:
THE ITALIANS ARE REAL POLITICIANS
Mussolini declares “We stand by Germany to the bitter end,” but at the
same he has recently appointed his son-in-law Count Galeazzo Ciano as Italian Ambassador
to the Pope. The Vatican State of which the Pope is the head is neutral. The Pope has
always proclaimed that his highest political wish is “Peace on earth.”
A delegation of captured Italian generals led by General Bergonzoli was recently
received by the Mayor of New York, Fiorello La Guardia. Mayor La Guardia comes from
Italian stock and as everyone knows is not pro-German. In America, Italians are no longer
legally regarded as enemy aliens.
Italy still has the same king as in 1915.
A third page bears a map of the current war situation and the text:
SOUTHERN FRONT – TO THE LAST ITALIAN!
They [The Italians] are not only defending Italy but are also entrusted
with the defense of Yugoslavia, Greece, large parts of the South of France, Corsica, and
Sardinia. In all, more than 3,000 kilometers of front line. Without the Italians the
German Army would have to defend this 3,000 kilometers long Southern front line –
quite apart from the Eastern and the West Front.
“Our two revolutions, the Fascist and the National Socialist, march shoulder
to shoulder in an inseparable community of faith. They stand or fall together.”
As far as Fascism is concerned the falling has already begun. In the last five
months the membership of the Italian Fascist Party dropped by 45%. (Officially announced
by Vidussoni, Secretary of the Fascist Party, on the 12th March 1943).
German War – Italian Tears
This British leaflet coded I/71r is aimed at convincing the Italian civilians that
their men are dying in a German war. The front shows a dead Italian soldier on the field
of battle while a vulture with a German swastika on its chest flies overhead. The text is:
Will you be the last victim?
The Allies and Axis both used propaganda telling the enemy not to die in the last
minutes of a hopeless war. The back of the leaflet depicts a crying mother and her
daughter. The text is:
How much longer will the German war make Italian tears fall?
This is how the “Blood – Balance” appears!
One of the more interesting “Divide and conquer” leaflets was produced by
the British black print shop of Ellic Howe. It was produced in 1945 and gummed on the back
so it could be stuck on walls or wherever German troops congregated. The size is 107mm x
133mm with good paper quality and gum. The uncoded leaflets have been found in both Denmark
and Norway and were probably shipped to all the occupied countries to be disseminated by
the underground or patriots. The text tells the Wehrmacht that they are losing
37.8% of their members compared with just 2.5% of Nazi Party. To be honest, that would
seem to be a logical number since the armed forces are at the front and generally
speaking, Nazi officials are at the rear or inside Germany. However, some soldiers might
have been influenced by the lopsided numbers of deaths between the military and the Nazi
officials and turned against the Party. Lee Richards of Psywar.org translates the leaflet
text:
This is how the “Blood – Balance” appears!
From the outbreak of war until January 1st, 1945:
Out of 18,672,334 soldiers |
Out
of 1,551,709 political leaders |
77,068,509 are dead, missing or prisoners |
30,102 men are dead, missing or prisoners |
The nation’s fighting forces lost: |
The Party Leadership lost: |
37.8% |
2½% |
Leaflet 331 – Gestapolen
In early 1940, the British produced nine leaflets that directly attacked the action of
the Gestapo in newly annexed Poland. The Geheime
Staatspolizei, (“Secret State
Police") was the central intelligence agency of Germany, under the overall
administration of the SS. The British hoped that the brutal actions of the
Gestapo would disgust the German people and drive a wedge between them and their own
government’s policies. The leaflets in this series are numbered 331, 332, 333, 334,
336, 345, 347, 348, and 349.
Leaflet 331 depicts a black-uniformed ape-like thug holding a whip and a pistol,
surrounded by burning buildings and dead bodies. The British dropped 846,255 of the
leaflets over Germany between 21 March and 24 April 1940. The British bastardized the
title combining “Gestapo” and “Poland.” The text on the front is:
Gestapolen
They devastate whole countries and call it peace.
Is his the dream of life you are fighting for?
The back of the leaflet is all text and consists of a number of statements from
different individuals and organizations on the subject the treatment of Poles by the
Gestapo and the illegality of the Polish annexation. One such comment from Gauleiter
(an appointed political leader of a district in Nazi Germany) Greiser is:
The destiny of the Poles will be hard but just.
The text ends with a long quote from an alleged radio broadcast by Radio Vatican
calling Poland a vast concentration camp where the Germans steal the children and deport
their mothers. The final line of the leaflet is:
All this in the name of annexation.
Where is Prien?
This British Political Warfare Executive leaflet coded 502 attempts to demoralize
the German people by telling them that all the heroic submarine officers that have been
honored by Hitler are either dead or captured. It also drives a wedge between the Party
and the people by implying that they have been lied to by their leaders. Their heroes are
not on the open seas sinking English ships, they are dead or imprisoned. The leaflet was
dropped between the nights of 8 May to 23 May 1941. On the front we see Captain Kretschmer
and the text:
They sailed against England.
Captain Lieutenant Kretschmer, the
"Wolf of the Atlantic" arrives as an English prisoner of war.
They do not return home
On the back, the leaflet asks about the other U-Boat captains:
Schepke
Kretschmer
Prien
What happened to these three officers, the most famous German submarine
commanders, the ones to whom Hitler awarded the Oak Leaves on the Knight's Cross?
Schepke is dead. The German High Command had to admit it. Kretschmer is a
prisoner-of-war. The German High Command had to admit it. And Prien?
Who has recently heard of Prien? What does the OKW have to say about Prien?
WHERE IS PRIEN?
The German Christians against the Nazi Party
The Allies occasionally attempted to drive a wedge between German
Christians and the Nazi Party. Germany had a long tradition of Christianity, but the Nazi
Party persecuted the church to some degree, placed unfriendly Catholic and Protestant
priests and ministers in concentration camps, and called Adolf Hitler both the political
and God-like spiritual head of the German nation. The Gestapo were active everywhere, even
to the extent of intruding into confessionals to trap priests into making unguarded
statements. Priests were kept under active surveillance. Hundreds of clergy were arraigned
before Nazi courts of summary jurisdiction and condemned to death or internment in
concentration camps. In Dachau alone, no fewer than 2,771 priests were imprisoned, with at
least 1,000 dying from hunger, disease or ill-treatment.The British saw an opportunity to
work on the religious sentiments of the German people.
Leaflet E.H. 528
Leaflet E.H. 528 is entitled “The Sermon of Bishop Clemens, Count of Graf, spoken
on 13 July 1941.” The British disseminated the leaflets from 20 October to 27
November 1941. Leaflet E.H. 528 is “A Sermon of the Bishop of Münster and
Correspondence with a Reich Minister accusing the Gestapo.” The RAF dropped these
leaflets from 27 November to 12 December 1941. Some of the text is:
THE GESTAPO INDICTED
Clemens August Count von Galen, Bishop of Münster, was born in Dinklage in
Oldenburg on March 16th, 1878. His family has been settled in Westphalia for centuries. He
was ordained in 1904 and appointed Bishop of Münster on September 5th, 1933. On October
15th, 1934, he published a scientific contradiction of the untruths contained in
Rosenberg's “Myth of the Twentieth Century.” On February 9th, 1936, the Bishop
protested in a speech in Xanten against the repeated violations of the Reich Concordat. He
renewed his protest in the summers of 1937 and 1938. On November 29th and December 21st,
1936 he sharply attacked the National Socialist methods of education. On July 31st, 1938,
he protested in a pastoral letter against the expulsion of his representative in Oldenburg
from Vechta. On Monday, July 8th, 1936, the population of Münster gave him an
enthusiastic ovation at the big annual procession. Despite police prohibitions, such
demonstrations were repeated in various parts of the Diocese. Particularly impressive was
the demonstration in Sterkrade on November 8th, 1938. On July 13th of this year, after the
sequestration of the Houses of the Religious Orders in Münster, the Bishop delivered a
sermon in St. Lambert's Church, in which he indicted the tyranny and rule of terror of the
Gestapo…
We must make ourselves ready to hear further such dreadful news in the next few
days; that here, too, one monastery and convent after another has been sequestered by the
Gestapo, and its inmates, our Brothers and Sisters, children of our families, true German
comrades, have been thrown upon the streets like abject helots, hunted out of the country
like criminals. Why? I am told: for reasons of State policy! No other reason is offered.
No inmate of these monasteries or of this convent was held guilty of a misdemeanor or a
crime. None was accused before a court, much less condemned! And if one were guilty, let
him be set before a court! Is it permissible that the innocent be also punished?
Already often and recently we have seen how the Gestapo, without legal verdict or
defense, has imprisoned innocent and irreproachable citizens, robbed them of their
liberty, banished them from their homes and interned them – who knows where? In fact,
during recent weeks two members of my closest council of advisers, the Chapter of our
Cathedral, were suddenly fetched by the Gestapo from their dwelling, transported away from
Münster and exiled to distant places, which were assigned to them for permanent
residence. My protests to the Reich Minister have, during the past weeks, received no
answer. But from inquiry made by telephone of the Gestapo, this much could be ascertained:
against neither of these canons lies any charge or suspicion of any punishable dealings.
Completely without fault of their own, without charge made against them, without chance of
defense, they have been punished with exile…
Leaflet E.H. 529
Leaflet E.H.529 is a booklet entitled “The Enemy in our Midst.”
It consists of the alleged sermon of the Bishop of Münster, Count Clemens von Galen,
spoken on 20 July 1941. Münster was the ecclesiastical capital of the strongly Catholic
region of Westphalia. The Bishop had attacked the Nazis since the very early days of the
Party’s rise to power in the 1930s. He took a consistently courageous stand against
the racial and eugenic policies of Hitler and the Gestapo, and was unrelenting in his
criticism of them. In the long text of the sermon, the Bishop criticizes the Nazis and
encourages his flock to stand against them. He attacked the Gestapo mercilessly. Some of
his comments are:
No German citizen had any defense against their power; they have replaced the courts
and are above the law. Not one of us is certain, though he be the most loyal, the most
conscientious citizen, though he knows himself innocent, I say that not one of us is
certain that he will not any day be dragged from his house and carried off to the cells of
some concentration camp. I know full well that this may happen to me, perhaps now or on
some future day. And it is because I shall then no longer be able to speak out publicly
that I do so today. I openly warn them not to pursue these actions which I am firmly
convinced will call down God's punishment and bring our people to misery and ruin.
Last Sunday I publicly indicted, and branded as wrong, shrieking to heaven, the
action of the Gestapo in closing the religious housing in Wilkinghege and those of the
Jesuits in Münster, confiscating buildings and contents, hunting the inmates on the
street and driving them from their homeland. The Gau administration confiscated the
Convent of Lourdes of the Frauenstrasse.
He goes on to mention dozens of monasteries and religious institutions that the
Nazis closed and looted. He continues speaking of the Hiltrup missionaries:
I recently happened to learn that 161 men are presently on service as German
soldiers, some of them directly facing the enemy. Fifty-three Fathers are serving the
wounded as hospital orderlies. Forty-two Theologians and sixty-six Brothers are bearing
arms in the service of the Fatherland; some of them have already been decorated with the
Iron Cross, the assault badge, and other decorations. The same is true of the Fathers of
Südmuhle, the Jesuits of Sentmaring, and the Benedictines of Gerleve.
While these Germans, in true comradeship with the rest of their German brothers
and at the risk of their lives are dutifully fighting for their homeland, at the same time
here in the Fatherland, ruthlessly and without legal reason, that homeland is being taken
away from them. There monastic home is being destroyed. What is to be the end of it?
He discusses the lack of a religious education for the children, now forced to join
the Nazi youth groups. He attacks the loss of religious schools in Germany:
We clearly see and learn what is behind the new doctrines that for some years have
been forced upon us. Religion is banned from the classroom, our societies are suppressed,
and the Catholic kindergarten is in danger of destruction. An abysmal hate of Catholicism,
which they wish to exterminate.
How right he was. Catholic Culture states:
Copies of the 1941 sermons spread all over Germany; hundreds of thousands were
printed in response to requests from many cities. These and other sermons were so
important to the Allies that they were printed by the millions and dropped by the RAF as
anti-Nazi propaganda all over Germany and the occupied territories.
The leaflet was disseminated from 26 November to 11 December 1941.
One of the directors of propaganda in the British War Office was Brig. General R. L.
Sedgwick. He recalls that the bishop's sermons provided the War Office with the most
powerful anti-Hitler propaganda. The BBC sent out transmissions specifically targeting the
forty million German-speaking Catholics. Day after day, the radio broadcasts from London
drove home the point of Hitler's hatred for Catholicism. The bishop's sermons were like
"manna from heaven" in the propaganda war against the Nazis. There were also
several mentions of the Bishop in various Luftpost airdropped newspapers. For
instance, the Luftpost of 14 October 1941 had an article entitled “Sermon of
the Bishop of Münster” on page 3. Other similar articles appeared in the issues of
21 October 1941 and 5 November 1941.
The British also passed a number of rumors
(they called them “sibs”) that mentioned the Bishop. Ellic Howe mentions several
in The Black Game, Michael Joseph, London,
1982. PWE sponsored an “Underground Propaganda Committee” whose job it was to
invent damaging rumors that could be spread in Germany and the occupied and neutral
nations. Howe says that in mid-November 1941 the British passed a whole series of rumors
mentioning Count von Galen. Such divisive rumors entailed the death of Catholic
missionaries at the front and the desire of the Bishops to rid Germany of Hitler and to
make peace with the Allies. Lee Richards wrote to
say that another such “sib” coded R/752 was let loose in France about 14
November 1941. This rumor claimed that the German High Command denied their soldiers
permission to attend Mass in French churches because some priests were reading extracts
from Bishop Galen’s sermons from the pulpit. At the same time, a vast number
of other rumors were simply aimed at the Catholics. Examples are the whispers that the
pope was about to be forced from the Vatican or kidnapped by German agents.
Leaflet G.3 - Christian Germans
Martin Niemöller was a World War I hero as a German naval lieutenant and U-boat
commander. He was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1924. One of the earliest Protestant
critics of Nazism, he took part in founding a resistance movement called the
"Confessional Church" of about 3,000 pastors. This was in direct opposition to
the “German Christians,” a
movement formed in 1932 and led by Ludwig Mueller. That group was supportive of the Nazi
ideas about race and adopted anti-Semitism as well as respect for state authority. The
pro-Nazi group wanted to form a Reich Church, which would bring together all Protestants
in Germany. Niemöller also organized the Pastor’s Emergency League in 1933 to
protect Lutheran pastors from the police. In 1934, he was one of the leading organizers at
the Barmen Synod, which became an enduring symbol of German resistance to Hitler. From
1933 to 1937, Niemöller attacked everything that the Nazis stood for. With nine other
pastors, he wrote to Hitler just prior to the 1936 Olympics:
Our people are trying to break the bond set by God. That is human conceit rising
against God. In this connection, we must warn the Führer, that the adoration frequently
bestowed on him is only due to God.
In 1937 Niemöller was arrested for treason and "malicious acts against the
state." He was found guilty, but initially given only a suspended sentence. He was
then re-arrested on Hitler’s direct orders. He was held for eight years in the
Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps until the end of the war.
The British Political Warfare Executive produced a leaflet coded G.3 in 1943 that
depicted Pastor Martin Niemöller on the front. The back is all text. The leaflet is
entitled "CHRISTIAN GERMANS." The British disseminated the leaflets from 11
February to 18 February 1943. Some of the long leaflet text is:
On January 14, Dr. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury and supreme head of the English
State Church gave a sermon in one of the German Protestant churches in London. The
Archbishop spoke about the incompatibility of the Christian creed and National Socialism
and about the opposition of the Norwegian and Dutch Christians and continued:
"Today we especially think of the church in Germany, for today is the birthday
of Martin Niemöller, the man whose name became the symbol of Christian fidelity in
resistance to oppression.
You will not here want me to tell you once again of his heroic resistance. Many of
you know it better than I do. But you are good enough to allow me, an Englishman, to
express among you the feeling of reverence which English Christians share with you for the
German man who has come to stand in our minds so conspicuously for Christian integrity
amidst the spiritual corruption of Nazi Germany.
With him we honor the other leaders of the Christian Church in Germany, both
Catholic and Evangelical, who have stood boldly for the rights of Christian people and of
the church itself….”
The Robert Ley Postcard
The British enjoyed attacking Nazi Party leaders and telling the working people of all
the special privileges that the bosses received. One leaflet was in the form of a
postcard. It depicted Dr. Robert Ley, the leader of the German Labor Front from 1933 to
1945.
Sefton Delmer told the story behind this postcard in Black Boomerang. During
the war, Delmer was in charge of a number of the "black" radio stations operated
by the British. These broadcast in German, purportedly from pro-German patriotic groups
opposed to the way the incompetent Nazis were fighting the war. One story was as follows:
The father of a kitchen maid who had recently left her employ in the Ley household
telephoned the Ley major-domo to ask for his daughter's ration cards to be sent to her.
“This is the Palais Ley,” grandly answered the major-domo. “We have
no ration cards here. We don't bother about them, you know. Here we have diplomatic
rations.”
A report like this was intended to infuriate the German people, who were suffering
under a severe rationing system. Delmer continued:
We plugged the diplomatic-rations racket with such effect that Goebbels and Ley had
to lay on a special campaign to counter it. Robert Ley himself went on record in Goebbels'
newspaper, Der Angriff, October 12, 1943, to state, "We National Socialists know no
such thing as diplomatic rations. Every man, whether he is a Reich minister or a Reich
leader, has to live on rations just like any ordinary workman, mechanic and official. The
normal rations are enough. I myself am a normal consumer and live on them."
But by the time they got around to this dementi we were able to quote the decree
authorizing special rations for diplomats and party officials with representational duties
(R. E. M. 1,237/43 of 26.1.1943). We were even able to give them the color of the
certificates and the exact scale of the diplomatic rations.
The British postcard depicts Ley at the left. At right is, “The Normal Consumer
and Reich Commissar, Reich Leader Dr. Robert Ley.” These are followed by Ley's
“We National Socialists...” rebuttal reprinted from Der Angriff. The
reverse side of the card proves Ley to be a liar. On it are printed, in German, the
regulations that legalized diplomatic rations. The message reads:
The ruling for diplomats, civic leaders and political leaders of the NSDAP [Nazi
Party] which frees them from rationing in general, but which according to Herr Ley does
not exist, can be found by anyone who is interested in reading the regulations of the
Reich's Food Administrator concerning diplomatic food provisions of Jan.26.43. R. E. M.
1,237/43 signed by Secretary of State Backe. Among other things it states as follows:
The chiefs of foreign embassies, civic and political leaders of the NSDAP, as much
as they come under the Führer's edict of Oct. 2, 1939, and which fall under the listed
categories, receive:
1. For themselves and their families: All domestic prepared foods to the full
amount as asked. Exempted are tea and coffee for which the maximum amount is: 125 gr. tea,
250 gr. coffee (for married couples 500 gr. of coffee).
2. For their co-workers, domestic and foreign, the following are the weekly rations
allowable by permit: Meat 2 kg., meat products 500 gr., lard 500 gr., butter 1 kg., cheese
500 gr., table oil 250 gr., rice 500 gr., nutriments 1kg., flour 1kg., sugar 1kg., tea 125
gr., coffee 250 gr. (married couples 500 gr. coffee), milk 1 liter (daily), marmalade 150
gr., cocoa 250 gr., and 4 eggs.
3. For special unavoidable parties given by civic or party leaders, additional
foodstuffs can be granted. That decision is made only by the R. E. M. (Reich's Food
Administrator).
So stuffs Ley himself, and so are stuffing themselves tens of thousands of other
civic leaders and higher-ups of the Party, including their staffs. Some make it with
permits, others with travel stamps (traveling leaders and party members receive a large
amount of stamps to get their foodstuffs while traveling around the country).
Good appetite Herr Ley - the last course is the heaviest.
Sefton Delmer told me that the last line was meant to be a pun. The German word
"Gang" could be translated as either "course" or "walk," and
the word "schwerste" could mean either "heaviest" or "most
difficult." Translated as "The last walk is the most difficult," the line
implies that Ley's last walk will be to the gallows. This attempt at humor turned out to
be prophetic. Since this is a black product with no indication of origin, the postcard
bears no code or identification.
Leaflet PWB-21
The Americans prepared numerous leaflets of a divisive nature. PWB-21 is aimed at the
elite soldiers that were members of the Waffen-SS. It gives them an excuse to
surrender by claiming that they were forced or drafted into the SS and tells them that
resistance is futile. Some of the text is:
WE KNOW that you were brought together from all possible units of the Luftwaffe and
Army.
WE KNOW that you did not become SS-grenadiers voluntarily. You were put into the
SS-uniform and then sent to the front lines without the necessary training.
WE KNOW that, while you at the front are being forced by a few real SS-staff
sergeants and SS-majors to continue the senseless fight, the higher Party bigwigs and true
SS-men sit at home and force your women, children, and now even your parents to do slave
labor for them.
WE KNOW the only safe way out of SS-slavery and out of needless bloodshed.
YOU TOO KNOW THE WAY: AMERICAN WAR CAPTIVITY.
Early in the war the Psychological Warfare Branch (PWB) of the Allied
Forces Headquarters (PWB/AFHQ) was a joint US/UK organization in North Africa. Later in
the war the 3rd U.S. Army produced approximately 56 different PWB leaflets for Germany.
Leaflet PWB-51
PWB-51 targets the Volkssturm, the people's army made up of children and the
elderly. It blames the Party leaders for their plight. Some of the text is:
People's Levy Means People's Death!
After driving millions of German soldiers to their doom the Party leaders are
finally trying to sacrifice you too.
Only the Party leaders profit by the continuation of a war that's already lost.
They know that the end of the war also means their end.
What does it mean to these irresponsible leaders that every additional day of this
war means more suffering for millions of German women and children? What do they care that
the price for the short prolongation of their mastery is the blood of the German soldiers
and men of the Volkssturm?
The Party demands: "Fight to the last!'
The future of Germany demands: "Put an end to it!"
Leaflet W.G.27
Leaflet W.G.27 also attacks the use of elderly men with poor equipment who were
sacrificed in a battle against the Americans. 22,000,000 of these leaflets were printed by
the Psychological Warfare Division (PWD) of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Forces in
Europe (SHAEF). 18,000,000 of these leaflets were dropped on 64 raids between 2 December
1944 and 9 March 1945. Some of the text is:
THIS IS THE STORY OF THE FIRST ACTION OF THE VOLKSSTURM IN THE WEST.
One battalion of Volkssturm was quickly throw together and sent into battle where
the Americans had broken through. Soldiers of the Army asked, “if we cannot prevail
against the enemy what can you hope to do?” The Volkssturm men also asked the same.
They were armed with Italian carbines and French Lebel rifles, vintage 1886.
The Party bosses of Metz like Kreisleiter Schubert and SS-First Lieutenant
Langkitsch sent the Volkssturm into battle at 1:00 a.m. when the situation had already
become desperate. The fall of Metz was imminent. But there was still time enough for the
Volkssturm to die. The Party bosses stayed behind in Metz.
Leaflet W.G.23 blames the SS and SA for the woes of the German
people. 8,200,000 of these leaflets were printed by the PWD of SHAEF. 4,396,000 of
these leaflets were dropped on 9 raids between 30 November 1944 and 7 December 1944. Some
of the text is:
The decision of the National Socialist prolongers of war to drag the civilian
population into the interior of the Reich – if necessary by force – has been
carried out with unspeakable brutality. Everywhere SS and SA gangsters have used the
evacuation order as an excuse to terrorize the population and to loot. However, in nearly
all cities and townships of the now occupied areas, thousands of families managed to save
themselves and to effectively resist the terror of the Party.
In Kohlscheide the evacuation commander of the SS waged a regular warfare against
the local population. Women and mothers were forcibly dragged into evacuation trucks while
children hiding in cellars, remained behind alone. In spite of that a great part of the
population managed to hide and regain safety. For them the war is over.
Leaflet 8-18 English-language translation of back
Both the Americans and the British tried to drive a wedge between the German Army and
Air Force by asking over and over again, “Where is the Air Force.” The
implication was that while the Army was dying in the trenches, the Air Force pilots and
crew led a sheltered life behind the lines.
The British 8th Army dropped a leaflet on German troops in Italy during 1943 and 1944
coded 8-18 that asked, Wo ist die Luftwaffe? (Where is the Air Force?) on the
front.
The back had the following text:
Yesterday no air cover
Today no air cover!
To-morrow no air cover!
To fight on is senseless!
To order men to fight on is
CRIMINAL!
Leaflet GE-233
The American 5th Army produced a leaflet for German troops in the Balkans during
1943-1944 coded GE-233 that asked, Wo bleibt die Luftwaffe? (Where is the Air
Force?). The grammar is a little different and the title could be translated
as “Where does the Air Force Stay (or remain),” but for the purposes of
intention the question is clearly the same as the previous leaflet. The front shows a
group of infantry troops at the front and the text:
Where is the Air Force?
Even the best infantry fights in vain without air superiority. As experienced
soldiers of the front you know what the lack of air cover means:
Every advance is impossible. Positions, reinforcements and transport are smashed
by enemy aircraft. Bogged down at all front lines, the German Air Force is insufficient
everywhere because production of aircraft goes down while that of the enemy is constantly
increasing. The soldier is still fighting courageously and with exemplary endurance. But
– a judgment has already been rendered for the air force. You know best what this
defeat means to you.
The back depicts a photograph of a bombed aircraft factory. The caption is:
Focke-Wolf plants, Mardenburg, East Prussia
The text follows:
In the course of a week (20 to 28 February) the following plants were destroyed
or damaged:
Aircraft works Regensburg-Prüfening (Messerschmidt fighter bombers). Aircraft
works Regensburg. Obertraubling Messerschmidt aircraft works. Gotha Robert Bosch AG
Stuttgart-Feuerbach (spark plugs). Daimler-Benz works, Untertürkheim (air engines and
weapons). United ball bearing works Bad Cannstadt Naxos Union, Frankfurt. Focke-Wolf
plant, Berlin-Treptow. Siemens machine-building works, Berlin-Lichtenberg (air devices).
Henschel aircraft works AG Berlin-Johannisthal Klettner Ltd. Berlin-Johannishof
(production and repair works). Focke-Wolf aircraft construction Ltd. Berlin-Johannisthal
M.I.A.G., Brunswick (Me 110 components). General transport facilities Ltd, Lepsic-Mockau
(production of Ju 88). Junkers aircraft engine works Leipsic-Mockau Erla machines Ltd.
Leipsic-Mockau (Me 109).
The fateful question: Where is the Air Force?
A third leaflet with the American code USG.31 was produced by the Office of War
Information and targeted German civilians. It was dropped from 16 March to 18 April 1944.
It is all text. The front is:
The fateful question: Where is the Air Force?
That is the question that our soldiers on the Eastern Front and in Italy ask
again and again. “The Air Force defends the homeland,” is the answer given to
them.
NOW IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
American bombers fly over Berlin in mass. They flew over the German capitol for
the 5th time today. One naturally asks again: Where is the Air Force?
ASK GÖRING!
ASK HITLER!
The text on the back is:
On 9 March, a large American Army Air Force fleet attacked Berlin in daylight and
encountered almost no fighter defense. Only 7 American bombers and one American fighter
was lost.
The American Army Air Force
Where is the Luftwaffe?
Other leaflets with the same theme are:
G.B.5 - Wo bleibt die Luftwaffe? (Where is the Air Force?). This British
leaflet was dropped on German troops in the Balkans and Greece in 1944.
G-200-5-1043 - Wir fragen mit Euch: "Wo ist die deutsche Luftwaffe?"
(We ask with you: "Where is the German Air Force?"). A U. S. 5th Army leaflet
for German troops in the Balkans during 1943-1944.
No code - Wir fragen mit Euch: "Wo ist die deutsche Luftwaffe?" (We
ask with you: "Where is the German Air Force?")
Details of the campaign are mentioned in an article entitled “Where is the
Luftwaffe?" by Wallace Carroll in Persuade or Perish, Houghton Miffin Co., Boston,
1948. Some of the pertinent text is:
The British and American Chiefs of Staff and the planners of the invasion believed
that, unless the Allies could achieve overwhelming superiority in the air, it would be
impossible to invade Western Europe.
With 2000 frontline planes the Luftwaffe might play havoc on D-Day with the Allied
invading force - its transports, its landing barges, its men on the beaches.
German fighters were declining combat except under conditions most favorable to them
or over factory areas which had to be defended at any cost.
The coyness of the Luftwaffe had already been successfully exploited in tactical
propaganda. We now sought to adapt this theme to strategic propaganda and to develop it in
every part of Europe - in Germany, in the satellite countries, in the occupied countries,
and even among the neutrals.
Wallace mentions some of the propaganda texts:
Where is the Luftwaffe? The mystery of the whereabouts of the Luftwaffe is one of
the most burning questions among soldiers. The subject of home-front bombardment is
the most vulnerable point in the soldiers' morale.
It looks as if the Luftwaffe has decided that the Germans on the ground must bear
the brunt of the air war.
During the Battle of Britain in 1940 the motto of the Royal Air Force was
“Attack, attack, attack.” Young fighters went up six or more times a day and
fought to exhaustion against overwhelming numbers of German bombers and fighters. Why is
the Luftwaffe doing just the opposite tactics in the battle of Germany? This is one of the
mysteries of the war.
The results? Not only were the D-Day beaches almost free from enemy air attack,
but German Lieutenant General Kurt Dittmar said that the propaganda campaign against the
Luftwaffe contributed greatly to the demoralization of the German ground forces.
Just as the Germans had implied that the British would fight until the last Frenchman,
the Japanese said that the Americans would fight until the last Australian. In a leaflet
entitled “The Spectre Commands,” American President Franklin Roosevelt is
depicted as a figure of death, wrapped in a black robe with greenish skin. Beneath him an
Australian soldier is shown bleeding to death with an American flag driven through his
stomach. Text on the leaflet is:
Roosevelt: Thou shall go Americans, and
eat the Australians out of their homes if necessary...The Americans will fight to the last
Australian.
Diggers
General MacArthur had determined that the best way to defend Australia was to fight the
Japanese in New Guinea. The above leaflet attempted to persuade the Australian
“Diggers” to abandon New Guinea and go home because their real threat was the
American Army, to include black soldiers, who were training in Australia. The leaflet says
that the Americans were seducing Australian women while their husbands and boyfriends were
dying in the jungle. The leaflet reads:
Hey! you Diggers! He came he saw conquered! Thinking you diggers will
never come back alive The BLACKS and the YANKS are helping your wives, your daughters and
your sweethearts --they are helpless without your protection. Your future happiness is at
stake! One last Aussie simply means one more Yank safely in the house. Surely you'll not
give up your lives to make this possible.
You are our pals>
In late 1941 and early 1942 the Japanese tried to destroy the bond of friendship
between the American and Philippine people. They intended to place the island nation into
“The Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere,” an economic union that would be controlled
by the Japanese government. The above leaflet depicts a Japanese soldier lighting the
cigarette of Filipino soldier while the American Army retreats in the background. The text
is:
You are our pals. Our enemy is the Americans.
Capitalists Demand Red Endlessly
Another Japanese leaflet implied that the war was all about profit and it was the
American capitalists who would gain from the death and destruction. The leaflet depicted a
hand squeezing blood out of soldiers almost like a tube of toothpaste. Dead soldiers are
shown at the right and the word “Philippines” at the left. The text is:
CAPITALISTS DEMAND RED ENDLESSLY! It’s your blood doughboys! But more and
still more is to be squeezed out.
Army vs. Navy
The Japanese even attempted to drive a wedge between the American military services.
This leaflet depicts a U. S. Navy plane flying over Guadalcanal. The island is covered
with burial crosses. The text is:
And the Navy solemnly took to the air but down below there was no glamour for the
Army.
Later in the war, as General MacArthur’s island-hopping campaign left Japanese
soldiers starving on the beaches, the United States would use the same propaganda message
on the bypassed Japanese army troops.
Force the Indian to Fight
There are dozens of Japanese leaflets that attempt to divide the Indian colonial troops
from their British allies. Except for a very small minority, almost all of the leaflets
are written in the various languages of the Indian subcontinent. One such leaflet depicts
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang kai shek trying to
push or pull a hesitant Indian into the fight against the Japanese. The text in Hindi and
Bengali is:
The defeated countries, whose destruction is inevitable, are casting greedy eyes on
India. Do not pay attention to their sweet talk.
Churchill holds a whip with a flag attached with text:
We accept your demand for independence.
The implication is that the British will tell the Indians anything to get them to join
the war against Japan.
U. S. Army leaflet 6-J-1
As we stated earlier, just as the Japanese had tried to split the Army and the Navy,
the Americans used the same tactic. General MacArthur had decided that the most efficient
way to fight the war in the pacific was to bypass strongly defended islands and leave the
Japanese to die on the vine without food or military supplies. This leaflet points out the
calamity that has befallen the bypassed soldier and blames the Japanese Navy for failing
to come to his aid.
The leaflet depicts a lone raggedy Japanese soldier standing on a small island looking
out to the ocean. Text to the right of the soldier asks:
Where are the ships and planes? What is going to happen to you?
Text on the back is:
General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the South pacific,
recently paid high tribute to the brave actions of the Japanese soldier:
We cannot help giving our sympathy to you promising Japanese soldiers who have been
forced into such miserable conditions as today. Your wild eagles, upon whom you depended
so much, hardly show their faces, leaving you unprotected against the never-ending bombing
of our air force.
The Japanese Navy is withdrawing its ships from their bases and U.S. troops are
successively pouring into the Japanese naval bases. As a result, you are cut off from
supplies and reinforcements and now you cannot even expect to be evacuated.
If you attempt to establish yourself in the mountains and make a last stand there,
all that can happen is that disease will eat your flesh and hunger gnaw your bones, and
your plight becomes worse and worse. Your comrades-in-arms, who were left behind in the Solomon
Islands and New Guinea, died hoping that friendly ships and airplanes might come to their
rescue.
Why must you die a futile death with this vain hope in your hearts?
Leaflet 112
Office of War Information leaflet 112 is a wonderful example of a divide and conquer
leaflet. It is larger than most at 8 x 10 inches. The leaflet is in blue ink on a white
background. It depicts two forlorn Japanese soldiers on guard near their machine gun
watching two officers walk toward a Japanese aircraft, obviously about to be rescued from
being trapped on a besieged island. The purpose of the leaflet is to stir up resentment in
the Japanese soldier toward his officers. The text is:
It seems rather strange to us that Japanese officers should be evacuated wherever
possible, whereas ordinary soldiers are expected to remain behind and die. Such conduct is
hardly consistent with Bushido, and surely your lives are as valuable to you as theirs are
to them.
Recently, for example, the commander of the second fleet, together with several
officers, was evacuated from Manokwari by plane and taken to Japan. He should have
remained and led his men, but apparently officers of high rank act to please themselves.
They preach Bushido to you, but they act upon different principals.
Is your life of so little value to you that you will throw it away in vain? A few
minutes of thought should convince you otherwise!
US Navy leaflet 408
Another American propaganda theme against the Japanese was the argument that although
they had entered the modern industrial age, they were still led by feudal warlords who
wanted only power and glory and did not owe allegiance to the Emperor. Navy leaflet 408
depicts the Japanese Emperor Meiji. The text reminds the troops that until 1868 feudal
lords controlled Japan. The leaflet indicates that the militarists are nothing more than
the rebirth of the ancient feudal lords and have usurped the power of the Emperor and need
not be followed. The text is:
When the powers of government were restored to the Emperor Meiji in 1868, Japan
truly became a nation and the loyalty of all citizens was given to the Emperor.
Before that time, feudal lords controlled the country and every man gave loyalty to
the Lord under whom he lived. The restoration of the Emperor corrected this unfortunate
situation.
Recently Japan has returned to the error of the pre-Meiji days. Militarists have
usurped the powers of government. The name of the Emperor is used, but in reality there is
a new bakufu in control.
To fight for men who have involved the nation in a hopeless war is not true
loyalty. Give your loyalty to the nation. Cease resistance – save the homeland.
The bakufu mentioned in the text can be translated as "tent
government." It alludes to the time when feudal soldiers lived in tents and
controlled Japan through a military governmental system. The Emperor still functioned, and
his court appointed civil governors, collected tax, and controlled his capital, but the
feudal lords informally ran the country through control of the military and police
functions.
Korean War
Stephen E. Pease mentions divide and conquer operations targeted at civilians in Psywar
- Psychological Warfare in Korea 1950-1953, Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1992:
1. The Chinese and Korean Communists have conspired to make Korea a puppet
state to make you a slave.
2. The Communists will exploit all Korea for their own purposes.
3. The Communists lie when they preach peace and unity, and their actions reveal
this truth.
4. All Koreans are brothers. The Communist war immorally pits them against one
another.
He adds about the leaflets:
They depicted the North Korean soldier as crude and brutal, a puppet of the Soviets
or Chinese. They depicted Soviet advisors as a privileged class, using race prejudice to
undermine their acceptance by the populace.
In reality, almost every Allied leaflet of the Korean War used a divide and conquer
theme. Some told the North Koreans that they were a slave of the Chinese. Others told the
Chinese that they were a slave of the Russians. Others told the North Koreans that they
were slaves of both the Chinese and Russians. We will depict a number of leaflets and the
reader should not how similar in message they are.
Leaflet 1040 - Why die for China or Russia?
This United Nations leaflet indicates that the North Koreans were being killed on the
orders of Moscow and Peking. Numerous leaflets pictured the North Koreans being urged
forward by Stalin, Mao, or foreign commissars.
Leaflet 1242 - Korean Ox, Chinese Servant, Russian Master!
United Nations leaflet 1242 was produced by the First Radio and leaflet group on 1
December 1952. It depicts Kim Il Sung pulling a hammer and sickle plow, while Mao Tse Tung
drives the plow and beats his human ox and Josef Stalin laughs and supervises. The message
targets the North Korean people and Army and uses the theme of the Russian and Chinese
plans for North Korea. The title on the front of the leaflet is:
Korean Ox, Chinese Servant, Russian Master!
The back of the leaflet depicts Stalin pushing Mao, who is pushing Kim, who pushes a
North Korean soldier into the flames, and the text:
The dumb ox, Kim Il Sung, plows up your land for master Stalin, as good servant
Mao Tse Tung cracks the whip.
Just as a farmer never lets his ox decide where to plow, so Stalin never asks Kim
Il Sung’s advice. Recently Stalin called his Chinese servants to Moscow to talk about
Korea. Of course, no Koreans were invited to come along. The Chinese servants brought
messages back from Stalin: Koreans will keep on fighting, Koreans will keep on dying.
True Koreans are ashamed to have a dumb ox as their leader.
Resist the dumb ox, Kim Il Sung.
Fight Communism!
Leaflet 1256
At first glance the message would seem to be powerfully written. However, it
violates a cardinal rule of PSYOP. The leader of the North Korean people is called a
“dumb ox” and the insult and disrespect probably caused this leaflet to be
totally inefficient. Even those Koreans who hated Communism and the war were probably
incensed by this insult to their leader. It would have been better to just call Kim
“Gullible” or claim that he had been deceived by Stalin and Mao.
The very insulting leaflet was suggested by the Republic of Korea PSYWAR staff and
printed by the 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet group on 16 December 1952. It depicts
the Communist rulers of Soviet Russia, China and Mongolia kicking Kim Il Sung from the
conference table. Some of the text is:
In Moscow, delegates of three nations, Russia, China and Mongolia discussed the
Korean War. But Kim Il Sung’s puppet regime was not invited to this meeting. Do you
know why Kim Il Sung’s puppet regime was not invited to this conference?
- Kim Il Sung’s puppet
regime has become a nominal regime.
- To give no choice to Kim Il Sung who is a worthless
puppet.
- They want to carry out their plan of sharing North
Korea…
Leaflet 7240
Continuing on the “puppet” theme mentioned in the preceding item, this
divisive leaflet, printed by the 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet group on 3 April
1953 is designed to convince the Chinese fighting in North Korea that the Soviet
advisors in their homeland are really intelligence agents. They are shown entering China
on one side, and then manipulating Chinese puppets on the other. Some of the text is:
So-Called Soviet advisers are Russian special agents to control China.
Stay safe and keep fit for fighting against the Communist Soviet puppets!
This is a UN message to the Chinese Communist forces. Post it for them to see.
Leaflet 7095 – Don't die for the communists
Leaflet 7095 targets the Chinese Army. It warns the soldiers that their lives are
being wasted in a useless war. It drives a wedge between the soldier and the Communist
Party. The front depicts the hand of death grimly counting his army on an abacus. Skulls,
similar in size to abacus beads, form the background. The number shown on the abacus is
1,262,335. The back is all text:
Communist Leaders Celebrate Year in Korea.
While Chairman Mao and his henchmen gaily celebrate at home, Chinese soldiers
continue to die uselessly in a foreign war. To date, 1,262,335 communist soldiers have
died or been wounded in Korea.
As Mao celebrates the event, Death has his own celebration. Each click of the
abacus means another communist soldier has died or is suffering. Each day the total climbs
higher, higher, higher. Unless you escape, you too, will be killed or wounded.
Don't die for the communists. Save your life. Escape.
Leaflet 7234 – Road to Failure
Leaflet 7234 depicts a Russian Officer riding on back of Mao Tse Tung. Two other
Russians are mounted on Chou En Lai and Liu Shao Gee. This leaflet attempts to divide the
Russians and Chinese. The road is labeled: “Road to failure.” The bone held in
front of Mao is labeled “Political Power.” The text at the right is:
Chinese Subservience - The Chinese Communists bend body and knees to Soviet Russia!
The back of the leaflet has an illustration of a Russian Officer reading a
paper labeled "Plans for China" to three dogs whose heads are Mao, Shao and Liu.
Leaflet 7255
Leaflet 7255 uses an interesting “divide and conquer” argument to drive a
wedge between the Chinese “volunteer” troops and their Communist leaders. It
uses a Chinese cultural image of a tortoise wearing a green cap. This “wearing a
green hat” is similar to the western concept of a “cuckold,” or man whose
wife cheats and makes a fool of him. Notice that the Russians are also mentioned, and any
Chinese soldier’s hatred of the Russians was certainly considered “gravy.”
The text in Chinese says in part:
Has the Russian inspired marriage law made a tortoise out of you and
given you a green cap to wear?
The Chinese Communists give your wife the right to live with other men if she does
not receive a letter from you in two years time, and they take her word for it!
The Chinese Communists permit your wife to marry another man if your letter does not
reach her in time!
The Chinese Communists can force you to marry any woman, if she and her family claim
you are the father of her child!
Although the leaflet is aimed at the Chinese, there was the probability that a North
Korean would find it. As a result, each leaflet added in Korean:
This is a United Nations Message to the Chinese Army. Post it for
them to see.
The First Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet group produced a series of leaflets under plan
"Eris", purposely designed to create dissension between the North Korea People's
Army (NKPA) and the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). Two of the leaflets under plan Eris
were 8321 and 8322.
Leaflet 8321 - CCF Discrimination against NKPA
Leaflet 8321 depicts a two panel drawing. The first panel shows North
Korean soldiers carrying supplies in rugged terrain. The second panel depicts a UN naval
bombardment. The text on the front of the leaflet is:
Do you know why you are forced to be stationed at the
eastern front?
1. The mountainous eastern front occupied by the North Korean Army is much
more difficult terrain than the western front occupied by the Chinese Communist Army. The
road network on your part of the front is far worse than that in the Chinese Communist
Army area, thus supply is a tougher problem for the North Korean Army.
2. Furthermore, the eastern front is constantly exposed to the UN naval
gunfire and has suffered from tremendous casualties.
3. The Chinese Communist Army occupies the advantageous area and the North
Korean Army is forced to be stationed in a more dangerous area because the Chinese
Communist Army now practically controls North Korea.
The back of the leaflet was intentionally left blank to provide writing paper to the
North Korean Army soldiers. Writing paper was known to be in short supply and it was hoped
that the recipients would use this paper to write letter thus giving the message even
wider circulation.
Leaflet 8724
Another leaflet that is left blank on the back to be used as writing paper is coded
8724. The leaflet was prepared on 12 February 1953 by the Psychological Warfare Division
of the Eighth Army and was used in “Plan Divide.” The front depicts a sad
Chinese family wondering if their missing young man sent to Korea is dead or alive. The
text is enlarged so that a passing Chinese “Volunteer” could read the message
without picking the leaflet up from the ground. The text is:
YOU ARE FAR AWAY FROM YOUR HOMELAND UNABLE TO UNITE WITH YOUR FAMILY
BLAME THE COMMUNISTS!
Leaflet 8322 - Chinese superiority complex
Psywar interrogation reports indicated that the Chinese in general considered the North
Korean people to be inferior in culture, customs. military ability, etc. Leaflet 8322 was
designed to create dissension between the NKPA and Chinese Communist Army by revealing the
ill-concealed contempt of the Chinese for the North Koreans.
The front of the leaflet depicts CCF soldiers displaying a superior attitude toward
abject North Koreans. The text on the front of the leaflet is:
The Chinese Communist Army considers the North Korean People to be an
inferior race!
The text on the back of the leaflet is:
North Korean Soldiers:
Do you know that Chinese Communist Army secretly despises the North
Korean people and holds them in contempt?
Kim Il Sung and Mao Tse Tung shout loudly of the great friendship
between the Chinese Communist Army and the North Koreans but you know this to be false.
The Chinese Communist Army came to your country as so called
"liberators" but have stayed as conquerors. Have they not taken control of all
North Korea and are now prolonging the war needlessly?
Look! The Chinese Communist Army looks down upon you because they have
500,000,000 people and North Korea has only 9,000,000. Also because China is much bigger.
Is this friendship?
Think! Have the Chinese forgotten your 5000 years of civilization and
history? Your ancestors defeated seven Chinese invasions of Korea in ancient times. Is
this not true?
Soldiers! Do you know that the Chinese Communist Army whisper to each
other that you are cowardly and refuse to fight? Nevertheless, the Chinese Communist Army
has forced you to the difficult eastern front while they have taken the better western
front.
Has the Chinese Communist Army brought victory to North Korea? Beware
of your real enemy - the Chinese Communist Army.
The First Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet group produced a whole series of
leaflets that called "Divisive" in 1953. Some of the remarks that went along
with the leaflets are:
Leaflet 1276 - Inferior weapons
Leaflet 1276 (divisive) was intended to promote Korean dislike of the Communist Chinese
by furthering suspicion that the Communist Chinese plans to take over North Korea. The
leaflet was prepared by 2 February 1953 and depicts a 76.2mm divisional gun M1902/30 and a
modern 152mm howitzer M1943. The text is:
The North Korean People’s Army has this – The Chinese Army
has this.
The North Korean weapons are inferior to those of the Chinese.
On the back, China’s Mao eats a bowl of rice labeled “Korea.”
The Communist Chinese give inferior equipment to the North Korean Army and keeps
the best weapons for itself.
Why?
To keep North Korea weak, so China can swallow Korea like so much
rice!
North Korean people! Now you know why the Communist Chinese only gives
the North Korean Army its inferior weapons!
The Communist Chinese are your real enemy.
Leaflet 1053
We now come to some leaflets that try to divide the North Koreans and Chinese by
pointing out that the Chinese are stealing the food from Korean families, leaving them to
starve. The Intelligence Section of the General Headquarters of the Far East Command
produced this leaflet which depicts a North Korean soldier in the center thinking about
the theft of food and other items plundered by his Chinese allies. There is a short text
on the back:
The Chinese Communists said they had come to liberate us –
But they have come only to destroy us
Leaflet 1281 - You are hungry
Leaflet 1281 (divisive) was designed to intensify animosity of North Koreans for the
Communist Chinese by showing that they killed starving civilians who tried to get food in Wonsan,
and that Chinese "help" shows itself in demands for Korean food.
The front of the leaflet depicts Chinese soldiers keeping hungry civilians from getting
food at a storage depot. In the background the Chinese shoot civilians.
The text is:
You are hungry because of the Communist Chinese!
Chinese guards at a storage depot ruthlessly shot starving Wonsan citizens who
begged for rice produced by your sweat and toil and stolen by the Chinese.
The Communist Chinese are your enemy! Drive them out!
The back of the leaflet depicts four Chinese soldiers giving orders to a
Korean woman in her home:
Is this Communist Chinese help?
The men say: “What! No rice? Stew a chicken! Kill a pig!
Prepare our beds!”
Leaflet 1282 - Tax bite
Leaflet 1282 (divisive) was designed to intensify dissension between the North Korean
people and the North Korean government because of the tax drain imposed by the Communists.
It was prepared on 21 February 1953 and depicted a bag labeled “income” being
devoured by wolves. The title is:
COMMUNIST TAX BITE HURTS THE PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA.
The wolves are labeled:
Income tax, local administrative tax, material tax, fees for so-and-so, taxes for
so-and-so.
The back depicts a Korean holding an empty bag:
THE TAX BITE LEAVES YOU EMPTY-HANDED
Isn’t it true that workers, farmers, fishermen – all the people –
are suffering to death from unbearable tax burdens?
This is the so-called “Communist Economic Policy!” This is the way the
Communists fulfill their promises of the better life!
DON’T SUPPORT THE COMMUNIST’S WAR!
BE CLEVER! CHEAT ON TAX PAYMENTS!
Leaflet 1332 - How dare you...
Leaflet 1332 (divisive) was designed to enforce the dislike of the North Koreans for
the Communist Chinese by showing their disregard for Korean welfare and laws. The leaflet
was prepared on 25 May 1953 and depicts a Chinese truck pushing a civilian cart off the
road. The text is:
A LIFE OF A MAYFLY FOR THE INVADERS FROM THE NORTH
Next time they will show some respect for us.
The back depicts Chinese soldiers cutting down trees, while a North Korean civilian is
beaten for doing the same thing:
THE RED CHINESE INVADERS ARE DESTROYING NORTH KOREA!
How dare you cut down trees, you Korean peasant! Only Chinese troops may cut down
Korean trees! You….
Leaflet 8667 – Friendly Fire
United Nations Leaflet 8667 attempts to divide and conquer the enemy on several
fronts. It is one of the few leaflets I have seen that uses friendly fire as part of the
propaganda argument. In August 1952, the British troops reported that poorly led Chinese
patrols occasionally mistook each other for the enemy and engaged in firefights leading to
meaningless deaths. They requested a leaflet with this theme. The vignette on the front of
the leaflet depicts Chinese soldiers firing at each other with rifles and machine guns.
The caption is:
Your cadres’ incompetent leadership makes you kill each
other.
The back is all text and besides accusing the cadres of being incompetent, also
claims that the Chinese leaders are “running dogs” of the Russians. An
interesting propaganda attack on two fronts. Some of the text is:
Chinese Soldiers
Night after night the UN troops have seen the patrols of your units engaged in
fire fights with one another. Because of incompetent and confused leadership on the part
of your cadres, you rain a fiery death from rifles, machineguns, mortars and grenades upon
your own men.
As Soviet running dogs, the Chinese Communist cadres are not only militarily
incompetent in that you are caused to fight each other, but also politically cruel in that
your loved ones at home are plunged into an inhuman life like being burned in fire or
drowned in water [abject misery].
Leaflet 6004
This leaflet calls the Chinese officers cowards and claims that every time there is a
bombing or strafing they run away and leave the enlisted soldiers to die. The front of the
leaflet depicts a pile of dead Chinese troops being bombed by U.N. aircraft. The text is:
Where did your officers run away and disappear to?
The back is a long-all text message and says in part:
Your companions-in-arms, who were taken prisoner after being wounded, always said
that, “Whenever we were attacked, bombed and machine-gunned by aircraft, none of our
officers remained with us. They ran away leaving us behind, and without fail, always
disappeared somewhere.”
Leaflet 8716
Leaflet 8716 is a particularly interesting divide and conquer leaflet because it is
one of the few to depict Russian dictator Josef Stalin and was part of a campaign entitled
"Plan Divide." The leaflet was printed on 16 January 1953 by the
Psychological Warfare Division of EUSAK. The leaflet was aimed at Chinese troops in front
of the Eight Army lines and blamed Stalin for their being sent to Korea. Some of the text
is:
Warriors of the Chinese Communist Forces!
Behold the murderous symbol and crafty face of your betrayer!
Look about you. Many of your comrades are gone. Killed in useless attacks.
Why?
Because Stalin and the Russian Communists have forced you into this war. Because
they care nothing for dead Chinese soldiers.
Before we leave Korea I want to mention ridicule as a PSYOP theme. Ridiculing the
enemy can be effective because it is hard to counter, but it can be dangerous because it
can turn the target audience against the originator of the campaign. The Public
Diplomacy White Paper No.7 article “Ridicule as a Weapon” by J. Michael
Waller explains in part:
Dictators, tyrants, and those who aspire to seize and keep power by intimidation
and force can tolerate no public ridicule…Ridicule is a powerful weapon. It can be a
strategic weapon. Some of the reasons that ridicule is so powerful because:
- It sticks.
- The target
can’t refute it.
- It is almost
impossible to repress, even if driven underground.
- It spreads
on its own and multiplies naturally.
- It boosts
morale at home.
- To the
enemy, ridicule can be worse than death.
Leaflet 8619
Leaflet 8619 uses ridicule as a theme in an interesting way. It was printed by the
Psychological Warfare Division of the Eighth Army. The leaflet ridicules the Russian
leaders for selling obsolete weapons to the Chinese. Yet, it depicts the Russians laughing
at and ridiculing the Chinese for foolishly buying their old military junk. You might say
it is “two for one. The leaflet is in cartoon form and consists of six panes. The
Russians wonder how they will discard the old katyushas rocket launcher system. The weapon
was known during WWII as “Stalin’s Organ,” so named by German troops due to
the sound of its rockets, and its organ-like appearance. The clever Russians devise a
plan; they will sell the weapons to the Chinese and tell them that it is a secret weapon;
they demand cash on delivery; the Chinese money is stolen by the “big noses” (a
little insult to the Russians tossed into the text); and finally the Chinese own the old
WWII weapons and the Russians have their cash. The leaflet ends with a song which says in
part:
Ever since China dispatched troops to aid Korea hundreds of thousands of
youngsters have been sacrificed.
Your people are now living in hunger and cold; they still have to donate money to
buy planes and artillery.
The Russian “Big Brother” is a treacherous fellow
who is only good at cheating you.
He sells scrap iron and copper as precious pearls and extorts
high prices for the so-called secret weapons.
Leaflet 7230
This divisive leaflet printed by the 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet group on 2
February 1953 depicts Chou En-Lai begging at Josef Stalin’s feet for better support.
He holds a sign that reads; “Please help us…Mao Tse-tung.” Some of the text
is:
Soviet Russia holds back full support from Communist China!
Chou says; “Since entering the Korean War, we have sustained
almost a million casualties and deaths! We can’t count the amount of weapons we have
lost. Please help!
Vietnam War
The Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) Guidance Number 20
entitled National Psychological Operations Plan for Vietnam dated 12
September 1966 says in part:
A psychological offensive in Vietnam must aim at the achievement of the following
objective:
To make the people aware of the truth that the Communist leaders of North Vietnam
and the Viet Cong offer nothing but alien schemes which are oppressive and reactionary,
have failed everywhere tried, and are, in fact, merely the instrumentalities of an
international conspiracy and of Red Chinese imperialism; and to inspire the people with
contempt for the Viet Cong who expose the nation to death, destruction, misery and
oppression, and who oppose the creation of a truly Vietnamese social order and the
preservation of Vietnamese values and traditions.
It is clear that one objective of the U.S. PSYOP leaflets was to drive a wedge
between the Vietnamese people and the Communist Party, and to further link the Communist
Party with Red China. Two leaflets that were dropped on North Vietnam that clearly feature
that theme are numbered 25 and 26.
Leaflet 25
Leaflet 25 depicts a Lao Dong (Communist) Party commissar carrying a snake labeled
"Red China" into a hen house. Text on the front is:
The Lao Dong Party brings the snake in to kill the people's chickens.
That message is based on an old Vietnamese saying. The back is all text:
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM-CHINESE FRIENDSHIP CAMPAIGN
Recently a photo exhibition on the Communist Chinese unshakable
friendship for the Vietnamese people was held in Hanoi and Peking. Here is one view the
Lao Dong Party failed to include in the exhibit!
REMEMBER THE VALIANT STRUGGLE OF OUR VIETNAMESE ANCESTORS!
William Lloyd Stearman headed the North Vietnamese Affairs Division of the Joint
U.S. Public Affairs Office from December 1965 to September 1967. He states that when he
arrived he was the only officer in the Saigon mission that had actual experience with
Communist affairs. Stearman says that the early leafleting campaign was not as effective
as it could have been in his book: An American Adventure, Naval Institute Press,
Annapolis, MD, 2012. He says that in 1965 leaflets like this one were ineffective:
[JUSPAO] got most of its information about the North from Vietnamese who came
South in 1954 to escape Communist rule in the North. More than ten years had elapsed since
they left and much had changed in the interim. In other words, their knowledge about the
North was hopelessly outdated. I went through all the leaflets in our inventory and had a
number of questions about them. I decided to show them to captured North Vietnamese Army
soldiers to see their reaction. I was not surprised to see that they didn't seem to
understand the messages.
For one thing, there was a constant harping on the Chinese menace. Chinese
forces, especially artillery, were in a large measure responsible for the decisive
Communist defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. China provided considerable
military assistance to the North…In other words; I believed the people in the North
had begun to look on the Chinese more as friends than as foes….
Leaflet 26
Just in case the villain was unclear to the target audience, leaflet 26 depicted a
caricature of Mao Tse Tung sitting on bags of Vietnamese rice and handing a rifle and a
pitchfork to Communist Party commissars that are drawn as a horse and a ox. The two
uniformed animals are next shown walking over the bones of dead Vietnamese. Text on the
back is:
Dear Compatriots,
Did you know that the "Big Brother from the North" has pledge his full
support to the Lao Dong Party's aggressive war in South Vietnam...until the last drop of
blood?
Whose blood?
Vietnamese blood!
Demand that the Lao Dong Party stop the war against innocent people in South
Vietnam and save your rice.
This type of message is seen again and again. For instance, leaflet 7 in this
series says:
The Communist Government in Hanoi has taken the rice and rice paddies of the people
to give to the Communist Chinese as an exchange for weapons and ammunition so that they
can kill our innocent people in the South.
Leaflet 97 adds:
Over the centuries, China has invaded and enslaved Vietnam. This is the country
that claims you have "boundless love" for its leaders. The Lao Dong Party, which
is Chinese controlled and follows the bidding of its Chinese masters, was responsible for
the so-called Tet offensive in the South that cost more than forty thousand Vietnamese
lives on both sides. Was it "Chairman Mao's thought" that made all this
possible?
Leaflet 245-1-67
In the Korean War section above we show leaflets that indicated that Stalin and Mao
were forcing the North Koreans to their death in a foolish aggressive war. Here we see a
very similar leaflet produced in 1967 by the 245th PSYOP Company in Nha Trang. This
leaflet depicts Mao pushing Ho Chi Minh, who in turn forces a poor Viet Cong member
forward into explosions and death. 600,000 leaflets were printed at the request of the 9th
Republic of Korea Division soldiers fighting in Vietnam. Some of the text on the back is:
The Communist leaders in North Vietnam and Red China are pushing you to your
death. Do you have any reason to fight and die for their evil sins? Think twice before you
die. Are their lives more precious than your own lives?
Leave them! The sooner the better. The ROK forces are your real protectors who
will give you a new life. Rally to our forces! The ROK forces pledge humane treatment to
all who rally.
Leaflet SP-2316
As the Vietnam War dragged on, JUSPAO continued to attack the Viet Cong in an attempt
to separate it from its base of support among the people of South Vietnam.
Vertical leaflet SP-2316 has two cartoons on the front. At the top a Viet Cong
guerrilla opens fire on a U. S. helicopter from an open area in front of a farmer's hut.
In the second picture, the helicopter returns fire, killing the farmer and setting the hut
on fire while the guerrilla runs for cover. Text on the back is:
THE GOVERNMENT WANTS YOU TO LIVE IN SAFETY
The evil Viet Cong use your homes and land as a sanctuary for their secret activities.
When they are detected, the armed forces must attack them, and your property may be
damaged.
You must not help or hide them. You must keep away from them because the
government does not want to hurt you or damage your property if they are seen hiding on
your land.
Protect yourself and your property. Support the national program that is winning
throughout the country.
The concept of this leaflet is certainly a valid one, but it never quite explains how
the farmer is supposed to protect himself and chase the armed Viet Cong from his land.
Leaflet 246-226
This crude cartoon attempts to divide the local people who might lean toward liberation
from the more militant Viet Cong main force units that have left their villages and fight
as a large unit in the jungle. It tells the people that the hard-corps Viet Cong are
pushing to the front those less-experienced and less-motivated people who come out from
their villages at night to help the guerrillas when attacking well-defended targets.
100,000 copies were printed to be distributed by air. The leaflet consists of three
panels. The front depicts Viet Cong telling the local volunteers to attack. The back shows
dead guerrillas in front of an Allied position, and the final picture shows happy
Vietnamese in front of a Chieu Hoi building. The text says on the front is:
It has been reported recently that several leaders of main force units in your area
have forced local guerrillas to charge in the first wave of assaults. This way their
clever leaders do not lose so many of their experienced main force fighters because local
guerrillas take most of the casualties in the assault. Don’t let yourselves be
sacrificed like animals. Do not die a useless death.
The text on the back is:
The leaders care nothing for your lives. They care only about the success of the
battle. Don’t let yourselves be sacrificed like animals. Do not die a useless death.
Rally today, the Government’s Chieu Hoi program will save your life.
The Vietnam War is a Hell hole…
The Communists fought back. They produced a number of leaflets that attempted to
split the unity of the American Army by showing bad treatment of blacks in the United
States. One depicts a black man being arrested by a club-bearing white police officer. A
picture on the back depicts a black soldier crawling in a swamp. Some of the text on the
back is:
The Vietnam War is “a hell hole of racism for the Negroes GIs over and above
the usual hell of war” ( Philadelphia Independent).
Your real enemies are those who call you “Niggers.”
Your genuine struggle is on your native land.
GO HOME NOW AND STAY ALIVE!
Kuwait
On 2 August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and quickly conquered and occupied the
tiny nation. Overwhelming disapproval of Iraq’s actions led the United Nations
Security Council to authorize the use of a coalition of allied troops to protect Saudi
Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries, and to liberate Kuwait. A six-week air campaign
called Operation Desert Shield destroyed Iraq’s military capabilities and
destroyed the morale of the frontline Iraqi troops. On 24 February 1991, Operation
Desert Storm commenced and Coalition ground forces attacked Iraq, overwhelmingly
defeated them, and caused them to retreat under fire back to Iraq. The coalition forces
disseminated approximately 29 million leaflets during the Gulf War. From the start there
was a decision that the Iraqi people would not be targeted for PSYOP. Instead, Saddam
Hussein and his ruling Baath Party would be targeted in an attempt to separate the people
of Iraq from its leadership.
Leader of the dead!
This Coalition leaflet depicts Saddam Hussein as a deaths-head on the front. The
same sort of imagery was used against German leader Adolf Hitler during WWII. Text on the
front is:
Leader of the dead!
The back depicts Saddam sitting on a throne of skulls atop a pile of skulls. The
text is:
As of now 500,000 dead!
That number certainly was a culmination of his murder of the Shiites to the South,
the Kurds of the North, and those lost in his long war with Iran.
It is the Law
This leaflet depicts Saddam having his hand cut off by a sword bearing the flags of the
major Coalition nations. Cutting off the hand is an old Arab penalty for theft. His hand
is in a pool of blood at the bottom of the leaflet with a symbol of the nation of Kuwait.
Text on the back is:
It is the law. Saddam will not continue with his crimes unpunished.
Citizens of Iraq
The final leaflet depicts a dove of peace flying over Kuwait. There are a number of
signs stuck into the ground that read:
Saddam is against peace
Iraq unite against Saddam
Confront
Help Iraq, stop Saddam
Text on the back of the leaflet is:
Citizens of Iraq. Saddam is the cause of the war and its sorrows. He must be
stopped. Join with your brothers and demonstrate rejection of Saddam’s brutal
policies. There will be no peace with him.
Is he worth dying for?
At the same time that the Coalition was attempting to vilify Saddam Hussein and take
away his public support, Iraqi propaganda attempted to split the Arab forces in the
Coalition by saying that the Kuwaiti and Saudi rulers were not true Muslims, and that they
snuck off to Europe to drink and carouse with women.
This Iraqi leaflet depicts a British, Islamic and American soldier thinking about
the Kuwaiti Royal family, one member of which is at the “Sheraton Taif” hotel
with two women and a bottle of unidentified, but clearly alcoholic beverage. Text at the
bottom of the leaflet is:
Is he worth dying for?
My Brother Arabic Soldier
A second Iraqi propaganda leaflet indicates that the Coalition is actually a tool of
the Jews, an interesting theme that can be traced back to Nazi Germany. The leaflet
depicts a heroic Iraqi soldier at the left. At the right are four Coalition soldiers. One
of the Islamic troops imagines the friendship between his Arab nation and Iraq. The text
is:
My Brother Arabic Soldier: Who are you fighting? Remember that the ones you are
fighting today are the same ones that mixed blood with yours in Palestine, in Sinai and in
the Golan Heights. How can you think to remain on the same path with the Zionists and
Americans against Iraq?
These leaflets are interesting because they try to sell Saddam Hussein as a good
Muslim and Iraq as a faithful friend of the Arabs. However, Saddam had murdered Muslims of
other sects and invaded a fellow Arab nation. It was a hard sell.
Kosovo
In 1999 the United States was forced to take part in a military action against Serbia.
The Serbs were murdering their own minorities in Kosovo in what was called “ethnic
cleansing.” According to documents released by the United States Army, 104.5 million
aerial leaflets were dropped over Kosovo during the 78-day air campaign of Operation
Allied Force. Two divide and Conquer themes were used. In the first, the Serbs were told
that the war was not against them, but against leader Slobodan Milosevic and his Serbian
murderers. In the second, and attempt was made to drive a wedge between the Serb Army and
the police force that was responsible in part for some of the atrocities.
Leaflet 04-B-02-L002
An example of the first theme is Leaflet 04-B-02-L002, “Is it really his to
gamble?”
A gruff looking Slobodan Milosevic is depicted on one side. The text is:
For years, Slobodan Milosevic has gambled with the future of
the Serb people. His policies have lost Krajina, Western Slavonia, Baranja, and Sarajevo.
Now he gambles again with his pogrom in Kosovo. He is wagering Serbia's sacred places, her
place in the world, and the lives of his own people. Are these truly his to lose?
The other side of the leaflet shows a burning building. Text to the right of the
burning building is:
Is it really his to gamble?
This same general format was used on about seven leaflets other leaflets, with the
Milosevic portrait sometimes in red, sometimes in blue. NATO aircraft dropped 7.6 million
of these leaflets.
Leaflet 03-K-06-L001
03-K-06-L001. One side of the leaflet has the text in blood red:
Your blood, their rewards
The other side of the leaflet depicts two Serbian Interior Ministry Policemen (MUP) and
the text:
Attention VJ Troops! While you endure NATO bombing in the field, low of fuel and
supplies, unpaid and past your service obligation, the MUP return home to count the
profits from their confiscated “booty.” They draw regular pay, use your
equipment at your expense, and investigate you for not following their orders. Meanwhile,
you have been drafted and forced from your families to wage a war which you know is
dishonorable and wrong. The only thing you share is blame for the MUPs atrocities."
Like Hitler’s “SS” and Hussein’s “Republican Guard,”
The police are considered loyal to President Slobodan Milosevic. They are better equipped
and often receive better treatment than their army counterparts. The inequality of
treatment has created a long-standing animosity between the two services. NATO aircraft
dropped 2.7 million of this leaflet.
Afghanistan
The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the attack on the World Trade
Center and Pentagon by terrorists of the al-Qaida group. Leaflets were prepared to drive a
wedge between the general population and the Taliban leadership and al-Qaida terrorists
who were depicted as foreigners who brought death and destruction upon Afghanistan. The
Taliban is made up of non-Afghans, particularly Pakistanis. It was believed that the
Afghans feared and disliked them, and thus they were an obvious PSYOP target.
Leaflet AFD-24
Probably the best example of the first type of leaflet was dropped on 23 October
2001 on Jalalabad and Kabul. Leaflet AFD-24 depicts terrorists at the left and right
targeted by a sniper's crosshairs in red. Text at the center in Pashto and Dari is:
Drive out the foreign terrorists.
The back of the leaflet shows a member of the Taliban religious police whipping a woman
in a burqa at the left. The Religious Police will whip women on the street DIVIDE AND
CONQUER PSYOP that they feel are not dressing in accordance with their strict
interpretation of the Koran. Text at the right reads:
Is this the future you want for your women and children?
The Religious Police will whip women on the street that they feel are not dressing
in accordance with a strict interpretation of the Koran.
Leaflet TF11RP03
One of the better attacks against al-Qaida is almost a “black” leaflet. Leaflet TF11RP03 depicts Osama bin Laden shaved except
for his mustache, in a western style suit and tie. This altered image was
designed to offend fundamentalist Muslims. The text is:
Osama bin Laden the murderer and coward has abandoned you.
The back of the leaflet show a dead Afghan. The text is:
Osama bin Laden the murderer and coward has abandoned al-Qaida. He has abandoned
you and run away. Give yourself up and do not die needlessly. You mean nothing to him.
Save your families the grief and pain of your death.
This leaflet implies that bin Laden has abandoned his fundamentalist ways and
is hiding in the west. If believed, it would certainly demoralize his men and those
Afghans who supported his movement. The leaflet was dropped in January and again in
November 2002.
Columbia
Humiliation
The Nation of Colombia fought what amounted to a civil war for decades against a
terrorist organization called The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla movement involved in the
continuing Colombian armed conflict since 1964. The United States helped the Colombians by
sending PSYOP specialists to train their army, design leaflets and posters and help in the
distribution. It was learned in Vietnam that many of the guerrillas were infuriated by the
better treatment of their commissars, especially the better food, housing and women. While
soldiers in the field were not allowed any sort of sexual contact, the bosses regularly
had women in their tents. This leaflet for FARC guerrillas makes use of all of that. It
depicts the boss with plenty of food and even a woman that is just out of the picture.
Meanwhile the guerrilla eats some rice from a banana leaf. This is truly “divide and
conquer!” The text is:
Don't suffer further humiliation.
Why keep dealing with hunger, empty promises, diseases, maltreatment,
and torture?
Call Us!
