Allied Psyop of WW1 PDF

ALLIED PSYOP of WWI
http://www.psywarrior.com/WWIAllies.html
SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)
Wartime psychological operations (PSYOP) are documented as early as The Old Testament. Gideon used light-bearers to fool the Midianites into believing his forces were many time larger than they actually were. Such tactics were also used by Alexander the Great, the tactician Sun Tsu who wrote The Art of War, Genghis Khan, and other military leaders to aid in their conquests. Both the British and American Colonists used such tactics in the Revolutionary War. The Americans offered land to British and Hessian soldiers who deserted. Five thousand Hessians, one-sixth of their total force did defect. Thomas Paine's Common Sense has been called "the book that won the war." Meanwhile, the British counterfeited Colonial currency in an attempt to destroy the American economy and end the war quickly.
WWI Printing Press Still, most authorities consider World War 1 as the start of modern psychological operations as we know them. This was due in large part to the availability of mass communication media like radio, modern printing presses, and the innovative and expedient means to deliver the message to the target audience. Some of the means of media transmission were the new airplanes, special artillery rounds, leaflet mortars, hand grenades, and even specially modified leaflet balloons.
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A brief word about references. I have looked through over 150 publications in my bookcase to put this short article together. Four stand out. One is Flugbltter aus England 1914-1918 (Leaflets out of England 1914-1918) by Klaus Kirchner. The second is Flugbltter aus Frankreich (Leaflets out of France) 1914-1918, also by Klaus Kirchner. The Third is the combined publications of the Psywar Society, an international association of psychological warfare historians and collectors of aerial propaganda leaflets. The Fourth is the Sandler book mentioned further along in this article. Stanley Sandler's general history of U.S. psychological operations is a wonderful book that needs to be in every psywarrior's library. I have used a great deal of his data in this article. For readers who want to study WW1 PSYOP in detail I recommend Secrets of Crewe House, Sir Campbell Stuart, Hodder and Stoughton, 1920 and Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the German Empire in 1918, George Bruntz, Hoover War Library, Publication No-13, Stanford University Press California, 1938.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand World War I started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria- Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by a member of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society. Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir was three weeks in coming. It issued an ultimatum to Serbia, which demanded that the assassins be brought to justice. Serbia had Slavic ties with Russia. In order to protect itself, the Austria-Hungarian government sought assurances that Germany would come to her aid should Russia declare war on Austria-Hungary. Germany, itching to use its military muscle, readily agreed. Things moved quickly thereafter. Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, mobilized its vast army. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilization as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and declared war on Russia on 1 August. France, bound by treaty to Russia, responded by announcing war against Germany and Austria-Hungary on 3 August. Germany promptly responded on 4 August by invading neutral Belgium to open a quick path to Paris. Britain, allied to Belgium declared war against Germany on 4 August. In just a little over a month all of Europe was at war. Japan, honoring a treaty with Britain, declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914. Italy was allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary. She was first neutral, but in May 1915, she joined the British and French against her two former allies. The United States declared a
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policy of absolute neutrality on the same day Britain declared war, 4 August. The U.S. would remain neutral until 1917 when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare and the British interception of the Zimmermann telegram to Mexico forced President Wilson to declare war on 6 April 1917. The war went on for four bitter years and ended with the signing of an armistice on 11 November 1918. It is amazing to note that a single terrorist assassination set all these defensive treaties, meant to protect nations and keep them from going to war, into motion. Ironically, nations that had signed treaties to keep them out of war suddenly found themselves drawn into a 4-year bloodbath.
Paul M. Linebarger discusses WWI British PSYOP in Psychological Warfare, Infantry Journal Press, Washington, 1948. He says: If psychological warfare is considered in the broad sense, it seems plain that it was among the decisive weapons of 1914-1918. The political decency of the Allies, the appeal of President Wilson's Fourteen Points, the patent obsolescence of the Kaiser and what he stood for, the resurgence of Polish, Baltic, Finnish, Czechoslovak and South Slav nationalismall these played a real part in making Germany surrender in 1918. He adds: The British had, in 1914, one of the world's finest news systems, a highly sophisticated press, and extensive experience in international communication for technical and commercial purposes, notably the undersea cable system, and they turned these to war use with considerable smoothness...The British, furthermore, had a diplomatic and consular service of superb quality; comparable German services included a much higher proportion of bunglers and enthusiasts. In October 1946, The Propaganda Branch, Intelligence Division, based in the Pentagon, Washington D.C., published a report entitled A Syllabus of Psychological Warfare. It was prepared to give quick answers about Psywar to the press that wanted to know what the United States had done during WWII. In the report there is a brief mention of British psychological warfare in WWI, but it stresses political operations rather than leaflet techniques: Against Turkey they rallied the Arab States, while rallying world-wide Jewish Zionist help to their side by promising the Jews a national home in Palestine. India was quieted in the face of German, Turkish and revolutionary propaganda by the Montagu Statement and the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. Garth S. Jowett and Victoria ODonnell discuss the British techniques in Propaganda and Persuasion, Sage Publications, London, 1986. They say in part:
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The British took the lead in propaganda activities because they were forced to think seriously about it earlier than any of the other belligerent powersThere was a widespread pressure to remain neutralThe Germans unwittingly settled this internal dissension when they decided to invade BelgiumThe Germans miscalculated that the British would not go to war over a mere scrap of paper, but when Belgium actually resisted the dreaded Huns, the British became united in their resolve to defend brave little Belgium. The circulation of atrocity stories coming out of Belgium signaled the first major propaganda salvo, and had an immediate impact on British public sympathies. The first official propaganda organization in Britain was the War Propaganda Bureau, which concerned itself initially with the distribution of printed material inside neutral countries, and eventually inside Germany itself, which it did through sympathizers using the mails from Holland and Switzerland. When Lloyd George became Prime Minister in 1916he reorganized the War Propaganda Bureau and created the Department of Information. This agency concentrated on enemy civilian psychological warfare outside of Britain. The British took an immediate lead in the shaping of opinion. They convinced the world that they were broadcasting and publishing truthful news, while the German information was painted as lies and propaganda.
Viscount Northcliffe The British Foreign Office created a War Propaganda Bureau in 1914. It concerned itself with the distribution of leaflets, pamphlets, and other material in Allied and neutral countries. A number of patriotic groups and some military units started producing their own propaganda, so to centralize the effort the British government created the Department of War Information. By the end of the war, they had a number of distinct propaganda agencies. For instance, the Ministry of Information under Lord Beaverbrook was in charge of civilian PSYOP outside Britain while the National War Aims Committee was responsible for patriotic civilian PSYOP within Britain and was independent of the Ministry of information. Both military and civilian agencies produced wartime propaganda against enemy military forces. In February 1918, Viscount Northcliffe was appointed Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. The department consisted of two Branches. Mr. Wickham Steed and Mr. Seton-Watson were in charge of the Austria-Hungary section, and Mr. H.G. Wells supervised the German section. Austria-Hungary was by far the psychologically weaker of the two and the leaflets against them met with success. Prime Minister Lloyd George wrote to Lord Northcliffe (director of the Division) in May 1918, "It seems to me you have organized admirable work in your Austrian propaganda...I trust you will soon turn your attention towards German propaganda along the British and French fronts." Northcliffe was first headquartered at Adastral House. In July he moved his headquarters to Crewe House, the town mansion of the Marquis of Crewe, and brought Slav, Croatian, Polish and Czech patriots to assist in the production of hundreds of thousands of leaflets
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calling upon the various minorities in the enemy armies to desert and become free.
Lusitania medals (front and back) During the war years, the Germans struck a number of commemorative medallions to advertise their victories and attack and humiliate their enemies. An example of a terrible propaganda blunder that backfired was the medallion commemorating the sinking of the Lusitania. The British were able to use that medal to show the world the bestiality and lack of consciousness of the German nation. Germany also produced a medallion attacking the hated British propagandist Lord Northcliffe. One side shows Northcliffe sharpening his forked quill pen with a nearby ink pot labeled "Propaganda ink." The other side shows Satan feeding a blazing globe with the Times, Daily Mail, and other organs of Northcliffe's press empire. Meanwhile, Brigadier General Sir George Cockerrill directed the War Offices Directorate of Military Intelligence (M.I.7.b). The official History of M.I.7b (March 1916 - December 1918) lists their productions: Reproductions of German prisoner of war letters and postcards...showing the good treatment of prisoners in England. Reproductions of photo postcards of prisoners of war...Prisoner of war photo books...Leaflets of an inflammatory and socialist nature, produced by MI7b urging German troops to surrender and stop the war. Leaflets designed to give the German troops information that had been withheld from them by their own authorities. The weekly Courrier de l'Air (Mail of the Air) designed to encourage the inhabitants in occupied territory. The distributions for 1917 were as follows: 594,000 reproductions of 88 prisoner of war letters and 7 postcards; 90,000 reproductions of 17 photo postcards; 85,000 large edition and 25,000 miniature edition and 20,000 photo sheets of prisoner of war photo books; 888,200 leaflets and surrender notices; and 250,000 copies of 50 weekly numbers of Le Courrier de l'Air. The total number of leaflets, prisoner of war letters, cartoons, etc., handled by M.I.7b from the start is 25,986,180. The total number of balloons supplied by M.I.7b is 32,694
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Preparing balloons to drop leaflets on the Germans Early in the war when the Germans threatened to put leaflet-dropping pilots before a firing squad, the British mastered the art of dropping the leaflets and newspapers from unmanned balloons. The leaflet balloon was invented by Mr. A. Fleming who stated that 48,000 were produced. He treated the paper in such a way that the balloons could stay afloat for three days when filled with hydrogen. Captain L. C. Pittmann tells more about the balloons in an article entitled "Propaganda by Balloon" published in The Royal Engineers Journal, April 1919. Some if his comments are: "In March 1918, the Royal Engineers took up the supervision and manufacture of these balloons and releasesthe balloons dispatched to France two to three times a week (a staff of nearly 100 girls was specially employed on this work). During the period of Match, 1918, to the signing of the Armistice, over 35,000 balloons and 20 million leaflets attached to releases were dispatched from France. As many as 400 balloons, each carrying 500 to 1,500 leaflets, have been sent over the lines in a single day. The Germans did their utmost to prevent the circulation of the leaflets, and as much as five marks was offered for each leaflet brought to headquarters, but many Germans were captured with leaflets in their possession" The leaflets were printed on single or double sheets of various sizes, and were all punched with a 1/4-inch hole in one corner to enable them to be threaded upon the tags, and were left unfolded. Captain P. Chalmers Mitchell discussed WWI propaganda balloons in a 23 February 1918 report entitled The Aerial Distribution of Propaganda to the Enemy. He says in part: In October 1917, the Air Inventions Board was consulted with regard to the use of paper balloons and other modes of aerial distribution. It was ascertained that the Munitions Inventions had the matter under consideration and the request was made that the Munitions Inventions should communicate with the War Office as soon as their experiments had led to some practical issue. In early February 1918
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the Munitions Inventions informed the War Office that they now had some paper balloons and a new form of release ready for trial at the Front. At the present time the Munitions Inventions have carried beyond the experimental stage two types of balloons made of doped paper, respectively of 16 and 20 feet diameter and carrying loads of one and two pounds. They can be inflated with hydrogen or with gas, the former giving a lifting capacity of more than one and a half times that given by the latter, but not being so suitable for long distances as it diffuses through the doped paper more rapidly than does coal gas. Experiments are in progress with larger types of paper balloons carrying heavier loads, four and eight pounds being-aimed at. It is expected that these types will have passed the experimental stage in a few weeks. What did the British have to say about their own balloon leaflet program? Researcher Lee Richards found an official 1918 report on British Balloon Propaganda. One of the first facts it discloses is that German soldiers turned in less than one of every seven Allied leaflets dropped, even though they were promised cash rewards and there was punishment for keeping the propaganda leaflets. That indicates that they were believed and treasured by the enemy. Hindenburg admitted that the balloon propaganda reached the people in Germany through letters from the front. He said, Unsuspectingly, many thousands consume the poison. German prisoners admitted to being moved by propaganda leaflets which mentioned: the Failure of the U-boats; the Failure of the Zeppelins; the miserable conditions existing in Germany; the use of German troops as mere cannon fodder; ill treatment of German enlisted soldiers by their officers and N.C.O's and negative extracts from the German Press. The following leaflets were especially powerful: the map of the British advance on the Somme (there are dozens of map leaflets so it is impossible to say exactly which one they mention); A.P. 71 Loss or Gain? a leaflet on German casualties, (I dont show it because it is all text); Needs A leaflet on the bombarding of Paris on Corpus Christi day when Cologne was spared; A.P. 70 (depicted in this article) and A.P. 36 (depicted in this article).
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A.P. 70 British Morale Leaflet This leaflet shows an injured German soldier watching well-dressed rich civilians at a party. The title is "Thanklessness." This leaflet numbered A.P.70 was disseminated in August 1918. There is no record of the number of leaflets printed. Some totals of British leaflet production are known. For instance, 1,689,457 were dropped in June of 1918, 2,172,794 were dropped in July, 3,958,116 in August, 3,715,000 in September, 5,360,000 in October, and 1,400,000 in the first 10 days of November, just before the signing of the armistice. It appears that there were two basic types of British leaflet. The first was coded "A.P." The highest number known for the A.P. leaflets is 95. They have themes such as Germanys responsibility for the war, the failure of the submarine blockade, the coming of the Americans with their manpower and materiel, Wilsons 14 points and the hopelessness of the German military situation. P. H. Robbs lists the known British leaflets in Falling Leaf number 4, winter 1958. He says: The most effective leaflets were those of the A.P. series. As they were all dispatched by small free balloons, delivery depended upon favorable winds and in some cases appears to have been spread out over a period, so that the leaflets were not necessarily dropped in numerical order. The earliest seem to be from the end of 1917 and the latest just before the Armistice. R. G. Auckland compiled The Catalogue of British Leaflets Ballooned to German Troops 1917-1918 for the Psywar Society. He says, "The A.P series were the most effective of leaflets. The meaning of A.P. is not yet clear. Suggestions such as "Aerial Post,","Aerial
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propaganda," "Air Post" and similar have been made.
Leaflet A.P.17 Leaflet A.P.17 depicts a German mother sending her young son off to war. Pictures on the wall draped in black tell us that his father and brothers have already been lost at the front. They are labeled "Fritz," "father," "Hans," and "Wilhelm." The leaflet has "BY BALLOON Durch Luftballon" at the top and the title in the body of the leaflet, "The Last." Text at the bottom is: You rob me of my children, Joseph is not here anymore, Simeon is gone, now you want to take Benjamin. This is too much for me. Ironically, considering the anti-Semitism of the German propaganda in WWII, the text is a quote from the Old Testament, 1 Moses: 42, 43. The British disseminated the leaflets in June 1918. The number produced is unknown. Official descriptions of the A.P. leaflets 1 through 43 are archived in the Public Records Office in London. They are found on a document dated 11 May 1918 with copies to "D21951/1" and "No. 10" (Downing Street, I presume). The comment on A.P.17 is: A cartoon sent by G.H.Q. France. A German mother says good-bye to her last boy, now called up, all his brothers having been taken from her and killed.
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A.P.18 Leaflet A.P.18 depicts the Kaiser walking on parade with his six sons, in full dress uniform, with feathered caps, leather boots, and medal-bedecked topcoats; They smartly traverse a pathway flanked by thousands of black figures of death. This ghastly horde is stretching arms towards the proud family. The leaflet has "BY BALLOON - Durch Luftballon" at the top and at the bottom the text: One family which has not lost a single member. The British printed 100,000 of the leaflets and they were disseminated in June 1918. Public Records Office comment about A.P.18: Cartoon from 'Life' magazine, caricature of the Kaiser and his sons.
A.P.31 Leaflet A.P.31 has "BY BALLOON - Durch Luftballon" at the top and depicts a stylized
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skull drinking from a glass labeled "Deutschland." The title of the leaflet is "The Dregs." The British printed 100,000 of the leaflets and they were disseminated in June 1918. The Public Records Office comment about A.P.31: Cartoon. From a drawing sent by G.H.Q. France. Shows Death drinking a health.
Leaflet A.P.35 Leaflet A.P.35 depicts the sun rising over a skull casting a shadow on a field of graves. The words "BY BALLOON - Durch Luftballon" are at the top along with the title, a quote from Kaiser Wilhelm II, "A place in the sun." Text at the bottom is: Your rulers demand a place in the sun; but where will you find your place? The British disseminated the leaflets in June 1918. The number produced is unknown. The Public Records Office comment about A.P.35 is: Cartoon. A place in the sun. From a drawing sent by G.H.Q. Shows a German graveyard as the 'place in the sun, which the German soldiers will attain. Leaflet A.P.47 depicts the Kaiser riding his horse through a ruined landscape while spirits and skeletons point at him and one holds a hangmans noose. The text is, "The King of Prussia goes to meet his death." 50,000 of the leaflets were printed and distributed in July 1918.
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Leaflet A.P. 36 50,000 copies of leaflet A.P. 36 were disseminated in July 1918. It depicts the difference in Germany between 1914 and 1918. In the upper picture the Kaiser and his general ride in a fine chariot piloted by Germania, their steed (the German people) tempted forward by a fat carrot labeled Victory. In the 1918 picture Germania is all skin and bones from the British boycott of the German ports, the steeds ribs show through his coat, and now civilians sit in the chariot with the carrot described as false victory. I dont recognize the civilians but they may be profiteers who have become rich from the spoils of war. The leaflet was delivered by balloon.
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A.P.49 Leaflet A.P.49 has no text at the top and depicts Hindenburg and the Kaiser surrounded by munitions being carried on the shoulders of wounded and injured German soldiers and emaciated women. Hindenburg says to his leader. "Your Majesty, the people are depressed and are murmuring constantly." to which the Kaiser replies "Why do they murmur? We feel no burden." The British printed 50,000 of the leaflets and they were disseminated in June 1918.
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Leaflet A.P. 50 Leaflet A.P.50 has no text at the top and depicts a small dog with an enormous bone in its mouth marked "German profits" trying to get into a small doghouse labeled "peace." The British printed 50,000 of the leaflets and they were disseminated in July 1918.
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Leaflet A.P. 59 - Kain 250,000 copies of leaflet A.P. 59 were disseminated in August 1918. This leaflet depicts a Socialist thug holding a club and standing over a dead body identified as Russian freedom. It uses the Biblical theme of Cain and Abel. The meaning is unclear, but perhaps the British are implying that German socialists financed the rise of Russian Communism to take Russia out of the war. The leaflet was delivered by balloon. Text on the leaflet is: Kain (Cain)
A.P. 62 Leaflet A.P. 62 depicts the road to Paris strewn with dead German soldiers. The text at the top of this leaflet is, "To Paris!"
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A.P.74 My favorite British leaflet of WWI is A.P.74. The words "BY BALLOON - Durch Luftballon" are at the top. The leaflet depicts a long line of American "doughboys" stretching from the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor to France. The title at the bottom is "The first million." This symbolism of this leaflet must have given the German soldier second thoughts about his ability to win the war as limitless hordes of fresh American soldiers entered the battlefield. The British disseminated the leaflets in August 1918. The number produced is unknown. The British regularly updated these "Americans are coming" leaflets. For instance, A.P.84 produced in September 1918 gives the latest numbers. "American troops arriving in Europe: 117,212 in April, 224,345 in May, 276,372 in June." Leaflet 1016 printed in October 1918 gives the total number of American troops in Europe; 100,000 in 1917, 1,750,000 in 1918, and a prospective 3,500,000 in 1919. Later in the same month leaflet 1025 raised the 1919 number to 5,000,000 American troops. It is no wonder that the German soldier became disheartened.
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Truppen Nachrichtenblatt leaflet 1013, 100,000 disseminated in October 1918 Auckland also mentions a news leaflet.
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The Truppen Nachrichtenblatt ("Troops Message Sheet") leaflets were disseminated in the closing months of the war and were printed about three times a week with a 'pull' of 100,000 copies. They were termed priority leaflets as they gave up-to-minute news and were dispatched by balloon to German troops promptly as against the stock A.P. leaflets, which could be allowed delay before ballooning. They were given the code number of 1000 and about thirty different types are known used over a period of ten weeks. The size of the leaflet is about 21 x 13 centimeters, both sides of the paper were printed on and on the obverse of some are maps showing Allied military gains. The Truppen Nachrichtenblatt was a small leaflet that contained such pointed headlines as, Foch Leading New Attack, Entente Armies Press Forward on another Wide Front, or Turkish Army in Palestine Destroyed. In regard to the Truppen-Nachrichtenblatt, The London Times History of the War, 30 December 1919 adds: In the beginning of August 1918 it became important to increase the speed of distribution, particularly because early news of the military successes of the Allies, concealed by the Germans from their own troops, became valuable propaganda. It was therefore arranged that the leaflets should be divided into two categories; 'stock' leaflets, with the contents of which would not lose their value by a little delay and 'priority' leaflets containing matter of urgent importance. It was agreed that the latter should be printed three times a week, each leaflet being of uniform length and printed in an edition of 100,000 copies. The issue and rapid dispatch of these leaflets continued from August until the signing of the Armistice.
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Map Leaflet One such map leaflet is entitled "The victories of the Allies." It shows the front lines from 8 August to 16 August 1918 and shows the number of Germans captured rising from 7000 to 34,000. This was the first of 7 uncoded leaflets with the same title but changed maps as the Allies continued to advance. The leaflets were disseminated near the end of August 1918. There is no record of the number printed. This leaflet is particularly interesting because there is an error. The word "Alliierten" is spelled "Allierten." The later versions spelled the word correctly. R. G. Auckland compiled The Catalogue of Airdropped Facsimile Postal Stationery World War I 1916-1918 for the Psywar Society. He mentions the background of the postal propaganda: A British soldier of the time recalls that "also dropped into Germany were copies of uncensored letters written by prisoners of war in England. They were designed to impress upon the German people what a fine time prisoners had in England. The letters and addressed envelopes would be written by the prisoners, and then duplicated and the duplicated letters, enclosed in the duplicated envelopes were
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dropped for the pickers-up to forward to the addresses on the envelope". Colonel W. Nicolai, chief of the Service, states in his book The German Secret Service that 'forged letters from German war prisoners in France and England, and illustrations of the alleged enviable treatment of German prisoners in both countries, were designed to persuade German soldiers to desert or to depress their spirits.
British Picture Postcard H/6 The card depicts 20 uniformed German soccer players in a British prisoner of War camp in France. George Bruntz says in Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the German Empire in 1918, Hoover War Library, Publication No-13, Stanford University Press California, 1938: The British also made use of the German prisoners by encouraging them to write home describing conditions in the English Prison Camps. Toward the end of 1916, German prisoners upon arriving at British Camps were handed letter sheets, with instructions on them for their use. These German prisoners were especially well fed. The Germans, grateful for their fine food and good treatment, would write home describing in glowing terms their life in the British camps. These letters were reproduced and sent over the German trenches.
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British letter sheet There were four distinct types of stationery. Plain postcards first appeared in 1916. They are inscribed "Feldpostkarte" and are uncoded. Letters enclosed in addressed envelopes first appeared in 1916 and continued through 1918. Some envelopes are inscribed "Prisoner of war. No stamp required." After December 1917, they have the inscription "By Balloon. Durch Luftbaloon." Picture postcards were first used about December 1917. Some are inscribed "Post Card" or "Carte Postale" and some "By balloon. Durch Luftballon." Letter sheets were usually inscribed "PRISONERS OF WAR. No stamp required" on the front and "Nicht hier schreiben!" ("Do not write here!") on the back. They were first used early in 1917.
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British Letter sheet

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Uncoded letter sheet from Karl Scholz to his wife Josepha in Peterwitz. Disseminated in February of 1917, it bears a fake red rubber stamp with text "Prisoners of War B.E.F. Passed by Censor No. 3." John C. W. Field wrote about this propaganda theme in the Forces Postal History Bulletin of Great Britain, republished in The Falling Leaf, Number 22, summer 1963. He mentions British propaganda in the form of postcard stationery, envelope stationery, and letter sheet stationery. He mentions that with the exception of one such leaflet dated 1917; every one that he has seen was dated 1918.
Le Courrier de l'Air, 11 July 1918, No. 61 The Allies prepared a host of newspapers for the enemy. In March 1915, the British began the airdropping of the leaflet newspaper Le Courrier de l'Air for civilians in Germanoccupied France and Belgium (this newspaper would be revived in WW2). The French were already publishing a propaganda newspaper, La Voix du Pays (The Voice of the Country). In January 1917, the Belgian Army (in Britain) began publication of La Lettre du Soldat (The Soldier's Letter) for the Germans occupying Belgium. A major C. J. C. Street mentions Le Courrier de lAir in Cornhill Magazine, November 1919. He says:
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An early function of M.I.7b was the establishment of Le Courrier de lAir. The needs of the invaded districts had long been felt, and it was realized that a newspaper of Allied tendencies, aerially distributed, was the best way to meet that need. The first issue of the Courrier was produced in the form of a single sheet, some eight inches by six. It was a memorable production, destined to be the first regular aerial newspaper of the world. It bears the date of 6 April 1917, and carries in the leading column an exhortation that most admirably sets out its aim and scope: This weekly paper will be distributed every week by airplane among our brave Belgian and French friends living in the unhappy territory now in the occupation of the enemy. It has for its sole object the dissemination of the truth about the war Finally, the motto of the Courrier de lAir will always be: Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth! Street says that the last issue was dated 7 November 1918. Edward Heron-Allen was the editor of Le Courrier de lAir. He wrote about his operation in a series of notes dated 15 November 1918: Le Courrier de lAir was as its title denotes, a propaganda newspaper, planned by Captain Chalmers Mitchell to be distributed over the parts of France occupied by the Germans, and over Belgium, with a view to giving the inhabitants of those areas accurate news of the progress of the war from the point of view of the Allies of the Entente. In addition to this, it contained extracts from German papers, which were suppressed by the government when the contained matters reflecting upon adverse conditions in Germany, and accounts of German defeats and losses. The average number of copies distributed weekly was 5,000. The paper was distributed by hydrogen balloons, which were sent up from our side of the fighting lines whenever the direction of the wind was favorable. It was threaded in bundles of a hundred upon a silk paper fastener, which was passed through a 20-inch length of tinder yarn such as is used for lighting cigarettes and cigars, at intervals of about three inches. The tinder was strengthened and supported by a strong wire running through it by which the who mass of bundles called a release was firmly twisted on to the neck of the paper hydrogen balloon. Before letting it go the tinder was lit at the top and as the smolder reached each paper fastener it burnt away and a bundle of papers flew away falling all over the country. Each balloon carried about 15 pounds of paper, in all about 2000 copies, and it took from twenty minutes to half an hour to distribute its load. In 1968, Edward Heron-Allen sold his personal complete set of Le Courrier de l'Air, number 1 (6 April 1917) to number 78 (7 November 1918). This was the only set known to exist outside of the British Museum. Besides the leaflet newspapers, the collection six official large War Office photographs of the preparation of the balloons, some original manuscripts, and part of issue 79 which was never published due to the end of the war. The collection was sold to an unknown buyer for $1080. Sir Campbell Stuart mentions the actual balloon launch in Secrets of Crewe House. He says: The unit for distribution consisted of two motor lorries, which took the men, the cylinders of hydrogen, and the propaganda loaded on releases to a sheltered
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position selected in the morning by the officer in charge after consultation with the meteorological experts. The vans were drawn up end to end, separated by a distance of about ten feet, and a curtain of canvas was then stretched on the windward side between the vans, thus forming a three-sided chamber. The balloon was laid on the ground, rapidly filled, the release attached and lighted, and the balloon liberated, the whole operation taking only a few minutes. The load of the balloon was chosen according to the direction of the wind. If it was blowing toward Belgium, copies of Le Courrier d'Air were attached. If towards Germany, propaganda leaflets for the enemy troops. The Falling Leaf number 2, April 1958, features an article entitled "The Great War British Leaflets Western Front 1914-1918." It mentions the first British leaflet dropped on the enemy in October 1914, "Notice. An explanation for German soldiers." The leaflet was privately designed and printed by Colonel Swinton who had the leaflets prepared by the Continental Daily Mail. A repetition of this private PSYOP campaign was forbidden by higher authorities.
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Swinton wrote an excellent leaflet attempting to explain to the German soldiers the reality of their position. NOTICE AN EXPLANATION FOR GERMAN SOLDIERS. It has become known that German soldiers have been told that the British treat their captives inhumanely. That is a lie. All German prisoners of war are well treated and receive the same food as their British soldiers. The opportunity is now taken to enlighten the German soldier about some facts that hitherto have been kept secret from him. The German Army never reached or occupied Paris and has been retreating since September 5. The British Army has been neither made prisoner nor beaten. It increases in strength every day. The French Army is not beaten. Quite on the contrary, for it inflicted a heavy defeat on the Germans at MONTMIRAIL. Russia and Serbia have so decisively defeated Austria that she no longer plays any part in the war. With the exception of a few cruisers, German shipping, the Merchant Marine as well as the fighting fleet, is no longer to be seen upon the seas. The British and German Navy have both suffered casualties, but the German was the heaviest. Germany has already lost several colonies and will soon lose what now remains to her. Japan has declared war on Germany. The British and the Japanese now besiege Kiauchau. The report circulated in the press that the British colonies and India have rebelled against Great Britain is wholly untrue. Quite on the contrary, these colonies have sent to France large formations of troops and many supplies to help their Fatherland. Ireland is one with England, and from north and south is sending her soldiers who are fighting with enthusiasm alongside their English comrades. The Kaiser and the Prussian War Party wanted this war against all the interests of the Fatherland. They prepared for this war in secret. Germany alone was prepared, which explains her temporary successes. We have now succeeded in checking her victorious advance. Supported by the sympathies of the wholecivilized world, which regards with horror an arbitrary war of conquest, Great Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro and Japan will carry on the war to the end. We bring these facts to general notice in order to throw light upon the truth that has been hidden from you. You are not fighting to defend your Fatherland, since there was never any thought of attacking Germany. You are fighting to satisfy the
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ambitious war lust of the military party at the cost of the true interests of the Fatherland. The whole business is evil. At first sight these facts will seem improbable to you. Now it is for you to compare the events of the past few weeks with the information manufactured by the military authorities. ON OCTOBER 4 THE RUSSIANS GAINED A TREMENDOUS VICTORY OVER THE GERMAN ARMIES IN EAST PRUSSIA. THE GERMANS LOST 70,000 TROOPS. Sir Campbell Stuart goes into greater detail in Secrets of Crewe House. He mentions that the leaflet was prepared with the aid of Lord Northcliff's Paris Daily Mail organization. He says that "the Army chiefs at that time did not show any enthusiasm for the innovation, and Colonel Swinton was unable to proceed with the project." Swinton personally paid the cost of printing the leaflet and was later repaid his out-of-pocket expenses by the British Army. What an inauspicious start to WWI PSYOP. Major General Sir Ernest D. Swinton talked about his creation in Eyewitness, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1932. He says: I was persuaded that far-reaching results might be obtained if it were at all possible to shake their faith in the justice of their causes. Much might be done at small cost, with no great trouble, and with little risk. Acting on this conviction, I drafted a leaflet to counteract the false teaching that had for years been instilled into the whole German nation, and to reveal to the army facing us some of the real truth, or at least to plant the seeds of doubt In order to make the most of the space available the message was printed on both sides of the paper, large Roman type being employed so that it might be easily read, and on paper of a bright arsenical green suggestion of poison to prevent it from being used for other purposes. (Authors note: toilet paper?). At my request, the Paris Daily Mail Press printed 25,000 copies for a nominal fee. These were handed over without delay to the Royal Flying Corps at Abbeville to be dropped behind enemy lines.
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Woolrich series leaflet "What Tommy Gets to Eat." There is another series of WWI British leaflets that is almost unknown. In spring 1988, a leaflet was illustrated in The Falling Leaf with the question, "Who can help with the WWI leaflet opposite? It is in the style and format of a British leaflet to Germany but its text appears to be 'black.' The serial number 32 is one that has not been seen before." The leaflet is entitled "What 'Tommy' gets to eat." The leaflet lists a number of 23 food items and shows the daily ration of the British soldier. Some of the items are, "Bread 346 grams", and "butter 28 grams." Nothing was known about this item until a member of the Psywar Society visited the Royal Engineers Museum at Bromptom Barracks in Chatham, Kent. The museum has a collection of WWI leaflets. One of the files was entitled "Propaganda by balloon," and contained leaflets from the "A.P." series, the "Belgian" series, and the "Woolrich" series. The leaflet in question was from that Woolrich series. The highest number in the museum file is 33, so we assume that at least that many were printed. Many of the leaflets are in the form of miniature newspapers with a masthead depicting Kaiser Wilhelm and titles such as: Nr. 12 "Autumnal sheets," dated September 1918. Nr. 23 "War newspaper," dated October 1918 Nr. 30 "Army and Homeland," dated November 1918 There seems to be little data on the meaning of "Woolrich," but in a set of notes written by
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the editor of Le Courrier de lAir we find the comment: The copies for distribution were sent direct from the printers to Woolrich where they were made up into bundles on releases and sent over to the Censorship and Publicity Section at General Headquarters near Montreuil in France. One would therefore assume that "Woolrich" is a place, probably a military base or airfield. There is also mention of a "Belgian series," although only three leaflets are mentioned. These leaflets were written in Flemish and French for the Belgian people. They were not coded, but had a hand-written reference number. The first leaflets shows portraits of the King and Queen of Belgium. The second leaflet is a speech by a M. Coorman on 21 July 1918, and the third leaflet talks about the feeling of the people of London about the Belgian Sovereigns.
British Propaganda and The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers to form the Triple Alliance in August 1914. The German military mission of 1913 had already organized the Turkish army and navy under German leadership. The Triple Entente, or Allied Powers, declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 4 November. The British also dropped propaganda leaflets on the Turks. R. G. Auckland mentions this campaign in The Falling Leaf, Summer 1972.
British leaflet 48/T to the Turks On 15 July the Germans began an attack against the French. After 3-day fight the Germans, in spite of determined action, were unable to obtain their objective
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British Aircraft drop both bombs and leaflets. Auckland says that the British had four squadrons of aircraft in the northern Aegean Islands covering the Dardenelles approaches. They were the 220, 221, 222, and 223 squadrons. British aircraft were able to reach the old Turkish capitol of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and drop both bombs and leaflets. The leaflet raids originated from the island base on Imbros, nearest to Constantinople. One leaflet is alleged to have text: Cursed by Talaat, Enver, and Hairi. If a government does not act in accordance with the will of the nation, it deserves to die with all its sons...The whole Turkish Empire is in the hands of the government, who will surely bring about Turkey's end, and if Talaat and Enver, who sold the country, are allowed to remain in power we shall have no course open to us but to shed our tears awaiting our last days.
Talaat Bey
Enver Pasha
The message makes little sense but probably has allusions to the Koran and perhaps some difficulties with the Turkish to English translation. Talaat Bey was the Grand Vizier and Minister of the Interior. Enver Pasha was the Minister of War. Hairi Bey was the Shiekul-Islam. Hairi mysteriously disappeared (probably murdered), and both Enver and Talaat were condemned to death by a Turkish Court-martial on 11 July 1919. Talaat Bey somehow survived and after the war he lived in Berlin, where he was assassinated by an Armenian student in 1921. Called by Russian foreign minister Sergei Sazonov "The most infamous figure of our time," Talaat's mortal remains were solemnly transferred to Istanbul in 1944.
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Front and back of British leaflet to Turks Well fed Prisoners of War. The British dropped photographs showing cheerful well-fed prisoners on a "chow line" over Turkish troops in April 1917. The leaflets were dropped from seaplanes stationed at British bases on the islands of Thasos and Mitylene. The text in Turkish is: You will gather from this photograph that stories concerning the maltreatment of prisoners of war by the British is without any basis. Those who surrender to the British are not only fed with white bread and delicious dishes of food, but they are also treated in a friendly manner. When you show this photograph at any British
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military station you will receive a courteous welcome and you will be sent to headquarters as a friend Additional English-language text is: The bearer should be taken to the nearest headquarters. He is friendly, should be treated well and allowed to keep this photograph. Another raid occurred on 19 August. The operations report for the 25 August included a memo 'pamphlets dropped by DH9 machines." Auckland mentions a document which appeared to have been dropped over Turkey. The top half of the document is a letter from the Turkish War Minister Enver Pasha stating that Constantinople is not a military target and if the British persist in bombing it all foreign nationals will be interned. The bottom half is the British reply from Rear Admiral Lambert, Commander of the British Aegean Squadron, dated 18 September 1918. Lambert points out that the Germans have bombed such cities in France, Italy and Great Britain, and as long as the Turks remain allied to the Germans, the bombing will continue. He also threatens that any reprisals against civilians will just lead to increased bombing. Other leaflets, which are believed to have been dropped on the Turks, are in the French language. Each has a title in German, Kriegs-ausschuss der Deutschen Industrie Berlin ("The Berlin German War Industry Committee") indicating that the source of the text was Germany. The remainder of the text was in French and the known titles are "The Question of Alsace-Lorraine," The German War Economy, and "The Peace in the East." The last leaflet mentions the Central powers signing a peace treaty with the new Russian government at Brest-Litovsk.
Next Page
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http://www.psywarrior.com/WWIAlliescont.html
Continued SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)
The United States entered the war on 6 April 1917. American PSYOP relied heavily on the American press, considered second only to the British at the time. Although most of the combatants among the Allies and the enemy "Central Powers" practiced PSYOP of one type or another, the main protagonists were the British, the United States, France and Germany. Field Manual 33-1, Psychological Operations, July, 1987, give a brief overview of the American campaign. American military PSYOP centered on leaflet production, since radio did not exist as a means of mass communication and loudspeakers were still primitive. American leaflet propaganda concentrated on reducing enemy morale through the use of fundamental 'common sense' type approaches as basic themes. This tactic succeeded in causing many of the enemy to surrender. British and French leaflet distribution techniques were adopted or improved with balloons and airplanes used as primary methods of dissemination. Morale leaflets incorporated antimilitarist, pro-democratic sentiments that were popular at the time. The autocracy and inefficiency of the German government provided an excellent target. These leaflets urged the common German soldier to rebel against his generals, nobles, and officials. Leaflets that attacked German nationalism targeted people from Bavaria and Alsace-Lorraine. This method was used because these people resented Prussian dominance of the German Empire. The leaflets were designed to demoralize enemy troops and included the following type messages: 'The U.S. is producing vast numbers of sophisticated weapons,' 'The U.S. Army has landed in Europe,' and 'German casualties and military setbacks are very serious'. The U.S. also produced some excellent leaflets with surrender appeal themes promising the German soldiers who surrendered first-class American food, humane care, guaranteed privileges under international law, the value of remaining alive, and the opportunity to eventually return to loved ones."
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A Syllabus of Psychological Warfare adds: American psychological warfare was based preeminently on the political warfare developed by President Woodrow Wilson. The United States entered the war in 1917 with a clear conscience, since the Kaisers government was plainly the aggressor. Immediately upon participation, the U.S. Government strove for the Fourteen Points. These assured both allies and enemies that the United States sought no new territory as a result of the war, that we stood for open diplomacy, that we believed in a league to enforce peace which would make further war impossible. They also promised democratic self-government to hitherto-suppressed nationalities of the Baltic and Central Europe. The New York Times of 9 November 1918 mentions the American psychological warfare operation. The article entitled Germans Impressed by our Propaganda says in part: WITH FIRST AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE: While our forces are sending high explosive and gas shells and machine gun fire into the enemy lines on the Argonne-Meuse sector, the American Army Headquarters is conducting a bombardment of printers ink on the foe Our propaganda outlet claims Wilson as its favorite author, his speeches and notes being included extensively, while matter regarding General Pershing is also considered good for German thought. The Propaganda Department has a big printing establishment in Paris under the command of Captain Arthur Page of Doubleday, Page and Co., and the editorial work is under the direction of Walter Lippman, formerly of the New Republic It would be exaggerating to say that desertions were frequent recently, due to the propaganda, but investigations shows that the campaign of publicity is having a desired effect upon German morale. One interesting subject discussed in our leaflets is the good food supplied to the German prisoners, not forgetting the excellent quality of our tobacco.
George Creel In the United States, PSYOP was the responsibility of two groups. The Committee on Public Information was a civilian agency chaired by George Creel (and thus often called "the Creel Committee"). It was established less than two weeks after America's entry into the war. Creel was a close friend of President Wilson and as a result, his committee had a high priority of the national resources. The committee maintained a news bureau in Washington,
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which was used to disseminate American propaganda to both local and international news sources. Creel used posters, advertising, and even the new American film industry to put across his message. In October 1917, Creel established a foreign branch to point out the inequities in the central Powers and to explain America's postwar objectives. The American Commissioner to France was Mr. James Kerney who in June 1918 opened a headquarters in the Maison de la Presse (House of the Press). He was replaced by a Major James in late July. The French commission worked with the French propaganda bureau to inform the Germans about America's preparations for war. Thomas C. Sorensen says about the Creel Committee in The Word War, Harper & Row, N.Y., 1968: The fledgling propagandists had to learn while doing, and they made many mistakes. "When we started out," Creel recalled later. "it was as if the Babylonians were asked to invent the thrashing machine." But they learned fast. Though often flamboyant and amateurish, the Creel Committee played a major part in making Wilson and the U. S. war aims widely known and appreciated throughout the world.
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Germanys Confession During the life of the Committee on Public Information, it produced numerous publications supporting the U.S. policy for the war in Europe. Creel used writers and artists, and 75,000 volunteers to give 4 minute speeches to organizations in support of the War. They made more than 7.5 million speeches to 314 million people in 5,200 communities. Some of the printed publications from his Committee were small booklets ranging from about one to three dozen pages. Examples are: The Kaiserite in America; One Hundred and One German Lies; Germany's Confession; The Lichnowsky Memorandum; The German Whisper; Friendly Words to Foreign Born (This pamphlet was printed in Bohemian, Polish, German, Italian, Hungarian, and Russian); The War Message to the Farmer; To the Workers of Free America and German Socialists and the War. The military agency was Captain Heber Blankenhorn's Propaganda Section, G-2D, General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces A.E.F.). It was established in early 1918. Heber was a former editor who had been promoted to Captain and put in charge of his one-man section. The section originally had the responsibility to study enemy propaganda and prepare counter-propaganda. In April 1918 it was renamed the "Psychologic" Subsection. Apparently, President Wilson hated the word "propaganda." In July, Blankenhorn and seven officers were sent to study the propaganda methods of the French and British. The official history of the G-2 (Intelligence) unit at General Pershing's headquarters states that they were mostly involved with printed material and leaflets in particular. Linebarger says: The Americans at A.E.F. concentrated on morale and surrender leaflets. They did work that was superb from the point of view of common sense psychology...Balloons and airplanes were the chief methods for air distribution. Blankenhorn was quite a prolific writer. Many of his articles and letters are archived. He wrote a piece entitled "How America Shelled the German Lines with Paper" for Harpers Magazine, Volume CXXXXIX 1919. He says that his office was room 65, on the floor above General Pershings offices, in Damremont Caserne, at Chaumont, Haute-Marne. Some of his more interesting comments are: When America waged propaganda, as when it waged war, it avoided the German way. Our leaflets were as bitterly honest as our bayonets. With every consignment of leaflets in German went printed English versions, so that our troops might know what they were handling. Our patrols, stealthily visiting points near wire, which they knew would be traversed by enemy patrols, had put down little piles of leaflets weighted with stones to prevent their blowing away. Revisiting the spots the next night, our patrols found the papers gone and in their place hand grenades, left not as traps, but like a sort of receipt. When the silence fell (the signing of the Armistice) we had put three million leaflets over German lines.
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American pilots prepare for a propaganda leaflet mission We noted above that the British had ceased dropping leaflets from aircraft after Germany threatened to shoot the pilots. Two British officers, Captain E. Scholtz and Lieutenant H.C. Wookey were shot down and captured near Cambrai on 17 October 1917. They were charged with "the distribution in September 1917 of pamphlets detrimental to German troops." They were tried, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to 10 years at hard labor. The British government threatened severe reprisals against German officers, so in April 1918 the pilots were pardoned by the Kaiser and sent to a regular POW camp at Karlsruhe. According to Blankenhorn, the Americans, "fully aware of the enemy threats, made it a point to fly defiantly low as possible and drop their leaflets directly on German positions." This so embarrassed the British that they returned to the airplane for leaflet drops in the last weeks of the war. He also states that some British pilots burned the leaflets in their hangars to avoid carrying them over enemy lines. Neil Leybourne Smiths History of 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, RAAF adds: February through to March 1918 involved the Squadron in many photographic missions around the Armentieres area where fighting was intense. Some flights were assigned to drop propaganda leaflets over enemy rest camps well behind the front line. Their purpose was to unsettle the enemy by letting them know that good food and warm billets awaited them if they choose to surrender. However these missions were discontinued after it became known throughout the Corps that pilots brought down in enemy territory while dropping leaflets were treated brutally by the enemy.
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General Lawrence directive no leaflets were to be dropped by aircraft Dr. Philip M. Taylor, author of Munitions of the Mind - A History of Propaganda from Ancient World to the Present Day, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1995, discusses the legal issue in more depth: For most of 1918, the principal method of distributing enemy propaganda was leaflets not airplane. This was because at the end of the 1917, four captured British airmen were tried by a German court martial for having distributed pamphlets containing insults against the German army and Government among German troops in the Western Theatre of War. Although two of the accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence, and although the court itself questioned the ruling about whether this act was a violation of international law, two officers were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. When news of this punishment reached the war office in January 1918, all leaflet dropping by airplane was suspended. Reprisals were threatened, resulting in the pardoning of the two British officers, who were returned to their camps and treated as normal prisoners of war. But the Air Ministry remained reluctant to commit its men and machines to leaflet raids and the suspension order remained in force until October 1918, barely a month before the end of war.
23 page booklet written in German by the 'Friends of German Democracy'
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Friends of Democracy leaflet John C. W. Field mentions American civilian leafleting in Aerial Propaganda Leaflets, Francis J. Field Ltd., Sutton Coldfield, England, 1954. An American propaganda group called The Friends of German Democracy produced leaflets which were forwarded to the Service de Propagande Aerienne and the A.E.F. Intelligence Section. Because the leaflets were disseminated mostly by the French, they were coded with French internal numbers. The highest number I am aware of is 74. The numbers given below are all internal French codes. To emphasize the American help, The Friends of the German Democracy informed the Germans that 1,500,000 American troops had arrived in France, while many more were ready to come over. Leaflet-postcard 46 says in part, "THE AMERICAN HELP. 1,500,000 American soldiers are in France; more than twice that number is being trained in America. One single draft call in a single month gives almost as many recruits as a year in Germany. A fleet of 5 million tons, which can carry more than 13 million tons a year. A fleet which together with the English fleet would form an endless supply of steel, copper, explosives, grain, petroleum, and munitions....the cliques in Germany are struggling against these powers. (Signed) Friends of German Democracy in America. Although an American leaflet, it was the French that disseminated 500,000 of them over the Germans in September 1918.
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Feldpostkarte leaflet Linebarger illustrates an American leaflet in Psychological Warfare and says, "Surrender Leaflet from the AEF. Although this American combat leaflet from World War I copies the original form of the German Feldpostkarte (field postcard)...It is not black propaganda since neither source nor intent is concealed. "When you are taken prisoner by the Americans, give this to the first officer who checks your identity. The prisoner is ordered to fill in his own battle-order history. By marking appropriate items, he indicates whether he is hurt or not and can explain that he is well cared for and fed "beef, white bread, potatoes, beans, plums, genuine bean coffee, milk butter, tobacco, etc." Notice that the first three American leaflets all have food themes. The food fed to the German enlisted soldiers was so bad that they often complained that kommisbrot was prepared from the sweeping of military bakery floors. Wolfgang Baldus mentions the card in depth in Schwarze Propaganda. He says: The right side of the card has the word Feldpostkarte with the addition For German soldiers who are taken prisoner by the American Army. The sender had to fill in the following personal data: rank, name, number of the regiment, battalion, department, company, battery, squadron, other formations, etc. The propaganda on the back said, Keep this card. Fill in the address of your family, and when you are taken prisoner by the Americans, hand it over to the officer who takes your personal data. He will consider it his duty to mail it and thus reassure your relatives. Do not write on this side. Delete where inapplicable. I am imprisoned / slightly wounded / seriously wounded / unharmed / do not worry about me. The war is over for me. I am well supplied with food. The American
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Army provides to its prisoners the same food as to its soldiers: beef, white bread, potatoes, beans, plums, real coffee, milk, butter, tobacco Leaflet 8 says, "BROTHERS! The world is in great need. You and you alone can end this need rapidly. We are American citizens of German descent. We know you and trust you. We beg you to trust us. The great German nation is the barbarian and the breaker of trust in the eyes of the world. You can recover your good reputation only if you overthrow this government, which has made German intelligence and German industry a danger to the world. Take the determination of your destiny into your own hands.... If you will do this, the world war will end. In the name of America we give you our word that the new Germany will be taken up as an honorable member of the society of nations. Your intelligence and industry will once again be a blessing to humanity, instead of a curse.... Arise for a struggle for a free Germany! In the name of Americans of German descent. UNION OF FRIENDS OF GERMAN DEMOCRACY New York, March, 1918"
Leaflet 74 Some of the other known titles are leaflet 30 - a brochure entitled "America and the World Wars," leaflet 27 "More than one million Americans" and leaflet 74 Men and Women of the German People The most active units for distributing propaganda were the 104th Squadron of the 5th Army and the 99th Air Squadron. Later, small balloons with a diameter of 3 1/2 feet and a carrying power of 1 1/2 pounds were used. A larger balloon that carried a tin container holding 10,000 leaflets that could remain aloft for from 600 to 800 miles was also employed. There was even an attempt to use kites, but this was disapproved because the wires were a danger to allied aircraft. American morale leaflets attacked the German monarchy and militarists and echoed the democratic views of America. Other leaflets told of the vast amount of men and materiel that the United States could bring to Europe and pointed out recent German losses and retreats. The surrender leaflets offered good American food, medical care, safety and a
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guarantee that the prisoner would return to Germany after the war. Stanley Sandler discusses the American effort in Cease Resistance: It's Good for You: A history of U.S. Army Combat Psychological Operations, 1999. He says: ...The technological innovations of the later 19th and the early 20th centuries now made truly mass psychological warfare possible: Information could be sent instantaneously via cable or telephone, rotary presses could print up tens of millions of leaflets and photographs on cheap paper, and the product could be distributed quickly by rail and motor truck to the front and then behind enemy lines by aircraft, balloons and artillery. Blankenhorn complained bitterly that the French and British were dropping millions of leaflets over their fronts, but the Americans had none. General Pershing apparently found this satisfactory because it gave the Americans the freedom to write and distribute their own leaflets without foreign assistance. Eventually, Pershing divided the propaganda sub-section into two sub-divisions. One was based in Paris under Walter Lippman and tasked with the collection, printing and forwarding of propaganda material. The second, under Blankenhorn was at general headquarters in Chaumont and responsible for the distribution of leaflets to the respective armies, corps, and Airfields. In a 1918 letter to General Churchill, Blankenhorn says: I go down to the front to prison cages and with my German speaking lieutenants hold long confabs with officers and privates and argue the war with them until we know what arguments hit them the hardest. We find out what papers they read and what Reichstag spokesman they believe and then we go back and put our information with what Merz gathers in London and Lippman's ideas and draft a leaflet which goes to General Nolan (G-2 Chief). Garth S. Jowett and Victoria ODonnell discuss American propaganda in Propaganda and Persuasion. They say in part: American military propaganda activities concentrated on morale and surrender leaflets because radio loudspeaker techniques did not exceed the power of a megaphone by much at that time. Therefore, most communications with the enemy had to be by one of the most basic forms of all the printed leaflet. The British and French had pioneered in this form of propaganda, but the Americans developed some of their own inventions, and balloons and airplanes were the chief methods of dispersement, but later special leaflet bombs and mortars were also used very effectively.
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General Pershings Order 106 The first American leaflet was dropped in August of 1918. It was an edited version of General Pershing's order 106, dated 1 July 1918, which mandated proper treatment for prisoners of war. This theme was selected because Colonel Joseph V. Stillwell (later to be "Vinegar Joe" in WWII) said that Germans were afraid to surrender because they had been told by their officers that they would be killed if captured by the Americans. In addition, knowing that many of the German troops were hungry, a list of the rations fed to POWs was placed on the leaflet. Many Germans asked for those rations immediately upon surrender. Their American captors often were forced to explain that they had not eaten for twenty-four hours. George Bruntz adds: Perhaps the most ingenious scheme for getting for getting the enemy troops to desert was used by the Americans. Our propagandists dropped a "prisoner leaflet" over the German lines, which contained an extract from the orders prescribing the treatment to be accorded by the A.E.F. to the prisoners of war. Appended to it was a list of rations issued to the American soldier and prescribed for enemy prisoners. More than a million copies of this leaflet were sent over to the enemy. Major Harold E. Porter of the United States Air Service in WWI mentions a similar leaflet in the book Aerial Observation the Airplane Observer, the Balloon Observer, and the Army Corps Pilot, Harper and brothers, NYC, 1921:
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On 15 October 1918, Erwin started on a patrol and propaganda dropping expedition with some other members of the squadron. Having no particular mission except to drop the leaflets, on which was printed the bill of fare of the American prison camps and other inducements for the hungry Huns to surrender, he and his observerdecided to distribute their Food Will Win the War literature among the Huns.... Captain Heber Blankenhorn mentions his first visit to the front on 28 August 1918 in Adventures in Propaganda: Letters from an Intelligence Officer in France, Houghton Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York, 1919. The letter is heavily censored: There strode into General Headquarters a certain officer from a certain front line Division in a certain well-known sector. He was in a hurry. He said: Im told you run propaganda. I want some propaganda quick. Weve got opposite us the umpth and umpty umpth divisions and weve had some deserters from them and I want some more. I dont know much about propaganda. I believe in it I dont think it will win the war and all that, but if anything is going to get those deserters over its propaganda, and I want those deserters for informationThey are afraid to come over because they believe that Americans kill all prisoners We produced a copy for a leaflet to fit the casebut we had to get approval and the General was busy and the officer had to goI sent the copy in with a memo. Finally it came back with a big blue scrawl across it, Excellent I phoned and tomorrow night the first American made propaganda goes over the line. The shop isnt even open yet but we sold propaganda over the counter like so much meatTonight I rammed ahead, arranging to print our leaflets by the thousands, writing a new leaflet to puncture the first Austrian division to turn up on the Western Fronttrying overnight to build a great machine. The second leaflet was similar, but mentioned the rations in detail. Entitled "Daily Rations of American Soldiers - The German Prisoners of War receive the same rations," it has text such as, "Beef - 567 grams, Potatoes or other fresh vegetables - 567 grams," and "Coffee Beans - 31.75 grams."
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Leaflet number 4 - St. Mihiel Map leaflet Blankenhorn came up with the concept of a leaflet depicting a map of the American gains in the San Mihiel salient. He says in Adventures in Propaganda, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1919, "Every soldier wants a map. American propaganda provided one, which carried its own lesson. Dropped over the German lines after 13 September 1918." We called the leaflet "The Meaning of St. Mihiel." The text was, "The salient, where the Germans had defended themselves for four years, was taken in 27 hours by the Americans." Beneath the map, "The shaded line is the front on the morning of 12 September. The dotted line is the front on the morning of 13 September. 390 square kilometers were gained. The number of prisoners amounts to 15,000." Blankenhorns commanding officer told him, "Telegraph that text to Paris. Print half a million." When Blankenhorn asked the American air commander Brigadier General Billy Mitchell to have his crews drop the leaflets, he was told, "Propaganda is all right, but it has no place during operations. Come back in the
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winter" Blankenhorn said later that some American pilots had been happy to drop the leaflets after a suitable honorarium.
Gen. John J. Pershing General Pershing described the results of the battle in Final Report of Gen. John J. Pershing, Washington, D.C, Government Printing Office, 1919: the material results of the victory achieved were very important. An American Army was an accomplished fact, and the enemy had felt its power. No form of propaganda could overcome the depressing effect on the morale of the enemy of this demonstration of our ability to organize a large American force and drive it successfully through his defenses. It gave our troops implicit confidence in their superiority and raised their morale to the highest pitch...
President Woodrow Wilson The Americans often published excerpts from President Wilson's speeches. Leaflet number 5 was entitled "The Way to Peace and Justice" had quotes from Wilson's speech of 27 September to the League of Nations. A number of leaflets were thereafter prepared which consisted of Wilson's replies to German armistice entreaties. Blankenhorn wrote to his wife, "all I have to do these days is publish to the Boche what Wilson says: he writes all our leaflet news." Other such leaflets were number 15 Wilsons answer. No armistice, as long as and number 19 President Wilsons note of 23 October 1918.
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Growth of Army Leaflet Leaflet 6 shows the continual monthly growth in US troop arrival in France starting In July 1917 with 1,718 and ending in September 1918 with 311,000. The title of the leaflet is "More than 1,900,000 American troops are now in France, and more than ten times as many stand ready in America." Some of the text at the bottom is, "The yearly increase of the American Army in France: From 76,000 men to 1,800,000 men. The picture above shows the monthly arrivals of American troops." Leaflet 14 was entitled "Official numbers. Between 1 and 30 September" and asked the Germans a number of difficult demoralizing questions such as, "Will you ever be as strong as you were in July, 1918? Will your opponents grow stronger or weaker? Have you the slightest hope of victory in the future?" There are just over 20 American leaflets known. Some of the other titles are number 10 "Official numbers" number 11 "Inquiry of the German government" number 16 Czechoslovak!..." and number 20 - To the German soldiers. Turkey" Leaflet 18 - "The German withdrawal of the 15 July to the 21 October 1918" updated the war map to 21 October and mentioned 210,000 German prisoners taken in just 50 days. Both Creel and Blankenhorn took credit for the vast number of demoralized Germans who either were captured or quit the war. Creel said, "Eight prisoners out of every ten captured by the Americans had our stuff in their pockets" Blankenhorn said, "by the end of the Argonne campaign the bulk of prisoners were found to have our leaflets on their persons." The Official history of the AEF says that 75% of all German officers thought that the leaflets were laughable and had no bearing on the morale of the German soldier. On the other hand, when surveyed, 75% of the enlisted soldiers said that they believed the American leaflets. In the last three months of the war in 1918, the Americans dropped about three million
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leaflets over enemy lines. Most were disseminated by aircraft, some by balloon and a very few by shell. President Wilson approved the sum of $76,000 for propaganda balloons. There was talk of 10,000 such balloons with a range of 600-800 miles. However, they were not favored by American commanders who preferred to keep the expensive hydrogen gas for observation balloons. As a result, the great majority of American leaflets were disseminated by aircraft. The AEF apparently used very few leaflet artillery shells or grenades although they were very popular with the British and French. The British constantly experimented with better means of dissemination. They experimented with a trench mortar. It worked well, but the idea of picking up leaflets during a mortar attack was deemed unlikely.
A Patriotic French Wartime Label The WWI French civilian patriotic label above is one of the earliest images to depict an aircraft dropping propaganda leaflets over the countryside. This label is one of many thousands produced by Gaston Fontanille, also known as Delandre. He was a famous con-man who was in and out of jail his entire life. With the onset of World War I, he set up shop to produce and market stamps for the various units of the French Army. When military censors refused to allow him to distribute the stamps to soldiers in the field, Delandre sold them to the general public. The text is: RESPECT to God. Soldiers!..Swear by: THE NAME of a GERMAN!
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THE NAME of a GERMAN SHELL. This seems to be a reference to the Biblical 3rd Commandment, You shall not take The Name of The Lord your God in vain..." It appears that instead of saying Nom de Dieu! (By God!) when attacked by the Germans, the soldier is being asked to say Nom de Boche (By the Germans). As soon as France entered World War One the government took control of the communications media. No news concerning mobilization or military movements that might reflect unfavorably on the army could be published by the French press. Three days after the start of the war Foreign Minister Viviani appropriated 25 million francs for propaganda purposes. However, this money would not be spent until 1916 when the French got serious about PSYOP. For the most part the French leaflets are all text with no illustrations. Some, like the newspaper leaflets have a touch of color in the masthead, but the great majority of leaflets are rather plain. Few of the French leaflets have the punch-hole used to tie the leaflet to a balloon. We therefore assume that most of them were either dropped by aircraft or taken behind the lines by agents or patrols.
French Balloon Propaganda
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Leaflet of President Wilson's speech French soldiers balloon leaflets reprinting President Wilson's speech of 2 April 1917 to the Germans. These photographs first appeared in the Paris newspaper Le Miroir (The Mirror), 20 May 1917. The text is, "Small balloons carry the complete text to the enemy. On 2 April, in Washington before Congress, President Wilson gave his famous speech that will go down in history. The newspapers of the whole world published the complete text. The German newspapers were the only ones to cut and edit it. To correct this lack of information, we sent the complete text of the message over the enemy lines. The paragraphs originally omitted were printed in red. They are indicated here by vertical lines." The newspaper depicted the leaflet in question and certain paragraphs were marked to show those portions that the Germans had censored and the French had reproduced. In October 1914, the Germans were at the gates of Paris. They were drafting Frenchmen to dig their trenches and build fortifications. The French government tried to motivate the French civilians to resist. It dropped the following leaflet over Lille on 13 October, "TO THOSE WHO LIVE AROUND LILLE! In refusing to execute the military works prescribed by the enemy, you are within your rights and in so doing you fulfill your duty a Frenchman. The Hague Convention, ratified by all the civilized nations, gives you justification. The worthless citizens who accept work of immediate or remote military interest will become most guilty to their native country. In addition, they will expose themselves to the rigors of the law when the French flag flies again over Lille. That moment is not far away. The Allied forces unceasingly increase. Those of the Germans, to the contrary, exhaust themselves as time goes on. Soon they will no longer be sufficient. Everything tells you to hope. Have courage and confidence always. As in the case of all the Allied powers, the French growth toward an efficient propaganda service was slow and uneven. In 1914 the French government organized a "Bureau de la presse et de l'information," ("Office of Press and Information"). Minister of War Millerand formed a "Service de la Propaganda aerienne" ("Aerial Propaganda Service" sometimes called "SPA") attached to the 2nd Bureau of the Army General Headquarters. In 1916, the
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French government established the "Maison de la Presse" in a six-story building of some 200 rooms in Rue Francois Premier in Paris. One section of the Maison de la presse was the SPA. It was composed of Professor Tonnelat and Jean Jacques Waitz, the Alsatian artist code-named "Hansi." In 1916, Raymond Schuhl joined the team. Schuhl is of particular interest because he crossed the border into Switzerland after the German invasion of France in WWII where he did exactly the same thing that he did in WWI. This time, he secretly designed leaflets for the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) using the code-name Salembier right under the eyes of the very suspicious, nervous, and neutral Swiss. I wrote about Schuhl years ago in a magazine article about OSS Berne and said; "The OSS mission had early established contact with a Frenchman, known under his cover name of 'Salembier,' who had been one of the French Deuxieme Bureau's chief propaganda artists in World War I. He knew his trade and was set up in business, operating from Geneva, by OSS and OWI jointly."
The proclamation du Generalissime Francais aux Alsaciens Paul Villatoux wrote an article entitled "The Allies and the Leaflets War in 1914-1918" published in The Falling Leaf, winter 1999. He mentions a very early use of leaflets, "On 9 August 1914, a proclamation by General Joffre to the Alsatians was dropped by airplane above Mulhouse." The text is, "PROCLAMATION of the French Commander in Chief TO THE ALSATIANS. Children of Alsace. After 44 years of painful expectation, French soldiers are treading again the soil of your noble country. They are the first workers of the great task of REVENGE. What emotion, what pride is theirs! In order to complete this task they give up their lives! The French nation unanimously urges them on, and the magic words 'right' and 'liberty' are inscribed in the folds of their flag. Long live Alsace! Long
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live France! The French Commander in Chief, Joffre. Delivered by the French squadrons from Mulhouse." Villatoux continues, "General Joffre, Commander in Chief of the French Army suggested in July 1915 that France "centralize the diffusion of news and documents spread in the invaded regions and in enemy territory by a specific organization which would be answerable to the Central Service." In the years between 1914 and 1917, a number of unofficial civilian political and religious agencies were formed to produce propaganda for specific groups. By March 1917, there were some 30,000 societies with more than eleven million members banded together in a Union des grandes associations contre la propaganda ennemie, ("Union of Big Associations Against Enemy Propaganda"). In March 1918, The British and French met to coordinate propaganda and from that grew a new French agency, the Centre d'action de propaganda contre l'ennemie, ("Center for Propaganda Action Against the Enemy"). The French therefore had two propaganda agencies working until the end of the war. The Maison de la presse was mostly involved in atrocity propaganda, religious propaganda, and propaganda in neutral countries. The Centre d'action de propagande contre l'ennemie worked to tear down the morale of the enemy, weaken its will to resist, and induce enemy soldiers to desert.
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Die Feldpost, number 10, February 1916. Many of the French techniques were similar to what the British were doing. They prepared leaflets that copied the letters of German prisoners of war, telling of the wonderful conditions in the French camps. They distributed large newsletter-leaflets entitled Grusse an die Heimat - Briefe deutscher Kriegsgefangener, (Greeting to the Homeland - Letters of German War prisoners) profusely illustrated with many pictures of happy German POWs and to their loved ones. Eleven such leaflet-newsletters were printed, the first in December 1916, the last in May 1918. Another similar series of 14 large leaflets was entitled Briefe aus Deutschland (German letters) were distributed from October 1916 to October 1918. Once again the leaflet was filled with letters from German prisoners of war. The French produced a number of fake German newspapers and disseminated them over the enemy. Among them are Die Feldpost, (The Army Postal Service), Kriegsblatter fr the deutschen Volk (War sheets for the German People), Die Wahrheit (The Truth), Strassburger Post, Frankfurter Zeitung (the Frankfurt Newspaper), Die Freie Zeitung (The Free Newspaper), Lepzig Volkszeitung (The Lepzig Peoples Newspaper), and Der Kampf (The Battle).
Die Freie Zeitung and Der Bund Newspapers Die Freie Zeitung was printed in Paris every Wednesday and Saturday. The French propagandists attempted to smuggle or mail Die Freie Zeitung into Germany inside regular Swiss newspapers such as Der Bund (The Alliance). Other issues of the newspaper were dropped by aircraft. The first issue of Die feldpost appeared in October 1915, the last issue was number 12, dated March 1916. The first issue of Kriegsblatter fr the deutschen Volk was number 13 dated March 1916. The final issue was number 30, dated November 1916. There were 42 editions of Das freie deutsch Wort (The Free German Word), The first dated January 1917, the last disseminated in Novermber 1918.
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Kriegsblatter fr das deutsche Volk, number 20, June 1916. Hansi's Service Aerienne published a newspaper called "Die Luftpost," ("The Air Mail"). (Note: The allies would publish and disseminate a similar newspaper over the Germans in World War Two). This paper stressed the joys of home life, the love of a wife and children. It attempted to destroy the morale of the German frontline soldier. The newspaper was later renamed "Kriegsblatter fr das deutsche Volk" ("War-sheets for the German people"). It title was changed again in late November 1918 to "Das Freie deutsche Wort," ("The German Free Word"), and in this resurrection was much more revolutionary in nature. Villatoux adds, "Propaganda leaflets made by the SPA between 1915 and 1918 were diverse: printed sheets, sometimes illustrated, newspapers, booklets and documents of all kinds edited in the language of the adversary were determined to sap his morale and convince him that the cause he defended was bad and gave him information, true or false, which the censor hid from him." The SPA leaflets concentrated on a number of specific themes. For instance, the "occupation" of Alsace-Lorraine by the Germans. Some leaflets promised that the Alsatians would soon be liberated and once again be French. Other leaflets were aimed at the Bavarians and Poles in the German Army and stated that they were treated as second-class citizens and their Prussian masters were wasting their lives. Some leaflets spoke of the sacrifices being made by the soldier's families back home, while others threatened the Germans with the terrible new weapons of the French. As the war went on, the leaflets began to point out the weariness of the German people. With the coming of the Americans,
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an entirely new campaign was put into play. Some leaflets were anti-Monarchy and pro-democratic in nature, but the French had to tread lightly because their allies the Tsarist Russians were still a monarchy at the time. America had the same problem in WWII when its propaganda leaflets talked about ending dictatorship and bringing democracy to Europe at the same time that it was allied to the Russian dictator Josef Stalin.
The actual booklet Jaccuse! and disguised French copy of the booklet. A major project was the reprinting in miniature of Grellings book J'accuse ("I Accuse"). The booklet J'accuse was first produced in September 1915. The booklets were often disguised with fake covers in the German colors or depicting an Iron cross and the title Die Wahrheit (The Truth). This book argued against the German lie that they were fighting a defensive war and pointed out that the Germans Had started the war and were seeking to build a militarist empire. Bruntz points out in the book that the former director of the Krupp works (Authors note: The Krupp iron works in Essen was the biggest munitions factory in Germany, producer of the famous "Big Bertha" railroad gun) gave a scathing indictment of the whole political, social, and moral structure of Germany. Grelling said that the government was repressive to individuals, freedom of speech, and independence of thought. He said that Germany had forced war on Europe. Naturally, the book was banned in Germany. The French reproduced it as a miniature 50-gram 432-page edition. In late 1915, the French dropped 20,000 copies of the books behind the German lines. The French also reprinted portions of the book in the Zeitung fr die deutschen Kriegsgefangenen, ("Newspaper for the German War Prisoners") that was printed for German prisoners in French POW camps.
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VERDUN The French caricatured the enormous German losses at Verdun with a leaflet distributed in May 1916. It depicts piles of dead German soldiers near a marker "VERDUN." The text quotes Friedrick von Shiller from Wallenstein: "You can go to this point, Wallenstein, and not a single step further." Why did the French quote Shiller? The author wrote the Wallenstein trilogy based on the Thirty-Years War. During that religious war, populations were torn apart and neighbor exiled, beat, or slaughtered neighbor. The cause was the Lutheran versus the Roman Catholic faith. The Hapsburg Emperor Ferdinand II said, "Better a desert than a land full of heretics." Did the French seek to compare Wilhelm with Ferdinand, a butcher willing to see his own populations decimated? During the Thirty-Years War, both armies had the right to loot and steal. They confiscated all they could carry in the many small principalities we now know as Germany. Count Albrecht Wallenstein joined his troops in taking part in atrocities and raids for booty. After many years of war, he planned to make a separate peace with the Swedes against the will of the Emperor. He says, "You will never live to see the fighting end. This war will swallow up each one of us. Austria desires no peace, so I must fall, because I go in quest of peace. What is it to Austria if this long war destroys the armies and lays waste the world?...You see, I have a heart, I have compassion for the German people...It never stops. The Swedes and Germans, Papists and Lutherans! Not one of them will yield to any other. Every hand is raised against the other." Wallenstein desired peace but it was not to be. The Emperor had the general assassinated. The war continued. We assume that the French saw the current war in the light of the Thirty-Years War, with a mad Kaiser willing to destroy his own people and unwilling to consider peace.
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We might also ask, why mention Verdun in a leaflet? Verdun was the worst battle of the First World War, possibly the worst battle in history. In early 1916, the Germans attacked the French fortress city of Verdun. Their aim was to "bleed the French Army white" by inflicting so many casualties, that France would quit the war. They failed. Waves of Germans advanced into the Verdun meat grinder. The Germans sent the equivalent of 82 divisions against Verdun, more than a million and a half men. The Germans unveiled a new weapon, flamethrowers. Two hundred eighty-two thousand men, 18% of German losses in World War I, are estimated to have died at Verdun. Total casualties have been estimated at 434,000. Field Marshall Hindenburg said "The Battle of Verdun exhausted our forces like a wound that never heals." The French poured sixty-six divisions into the battle. Three hundred-seventeen thousand are estimated to have died there, 23% of the total French losses for the entire war. Total casualties are estimated at 542,000. Twelve million artillery shells were fired during the eighteen months of fighting. One of every four deaths and injuries in World War I were at Verdun. Estimates differ, but some say that over 600,000 died and over two million more were wounded, injured, or poison-gassed on the Verdun battlefields. The French considered the Battle of Verdun a great victory. Their battle cry was On ne passe pas (They shall not pass), and truly, the Germans did not pass. However, Verdun was a Pyrrhic victory. As Greek King Pyrrhus said after his victory at Heraclea and Asculum in 279 BC, "One more such victory and I am lost." Different methods were used to get the leaflets to the enemy. Early in the war, hand grenades were used. However, the French soldiers were not happy about standing up in front of a German sniper to throw a grenade filled with paper. In 1915, the French began to use airplanes. The Lafayette Flying Squadron and the Escadrilles des Armees were tasked with dropping leaflets. Twice a week these units dropped propaganda on the enemy. Many of the leaflets were prepared by the American "Friends of German Democracy." The French also dropped speeches by American President Woodrow Wilson, and when the French went on the offensive in 1918, they dropped maps showing their advance all along the German trench line.
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KAISER AND CROWN PRINCE Another leaflet shows the Kaiser and Crown Prince talking while sitting on the ground with their feet in a ditch. A group of German officers huddles in the background. The Kaiser asks, "What do they say?" The prince answers, "They say we are lost."
With God for Emperor and Homeland Perhaps the most pictorial French leaflet depicting the German as a barbarian is one entitled "With God for Emperor and Fatherland." The leaflet depicts the Kaiser and
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grandson standing before two crucified women identified as Bavaria and Prussia. The text is: "You see, little grandson, the only thing I wanted is their good fortune." The implication is that the Kaiser started the war with the idea of enriching and glorifying Bavaria and Prussia, but instead has caused it pain, suffering, and death. Villatoux says "The number of leaflets distributed by the allies in the course of the First World War is estimated at 66 million of which 14 million were just for the month of September 1918. In August 1916 the French produced a series of all-text leaflets telling the Germans about Russian victories.
Prison Camp Aurillac Nursing. In September 1917 the French produced a series of 13 illustrated propaganda postcards all showing German prisoners of war enjoying their captivity behind the French lines. The cards show the Germans well dressed, doing useful work, medically treated, and even playing cards and chess.
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Prison Camp Barcellonette Room of the Crew Two cards show the very comfortable living quarters of captured officers. Some of the titles on the front of the postcards beneath the photograph are "Prisoners Camp Blaye Administration of the Uniform Store," "Prisoners Camp Saint-Nazaire playing cards," and "Roll call of the sick in a prisoners camp behind the front."
The Bulgarians Surrender This Allied leaflet to German troops facing the French was dropped to tell them of the surrender of their ally Bulgaria. The text is: The French Military Commander of the Allied military forces in Macedonia met with the Bulgarian representatives, Mr. Lieptcheff, Radeff, and General Loukoff today on 30 September. An armistice was reached under the conditions set by the Entente. The war between Bulgaria and the Entente powers is over. [Note] We use the Allied spelling of the names of the participants in these comments. The
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actual spelling of the individuals is different in Bulgarian. The Bulgarian group sent to the surrender talks was made up of M. Lieptcheff (Minister of Finance), M. Radeff (former cabinet member) and General Loukoff (Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff). The armistice was signed on 29 September 1918, and the peace took effect at noon on the following day. The armistice decreed that the Bulgarians must evacuate the occupied territories of Greece and Serbia, demobilize the army except for three divisions which would be assigned to defend the borders and guard the railways, surrender war materials and horses, and return military materials taken from the Greeks.
For the War Loan In February 1918, the French produced a propaganda parody postcard where they caricatured an actual German postcard. The Germans had published a card showing a little angel with a German flag around his waist holding a helmet filled with coins. The text was Fr die Kriegsanleihe! ("For the war loan"). The French reproduced the card but instead of a helmet the angel now holds a chamber pot. The message is clear. If you give to the war effort you are just pissing away" your money.
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Italian leaflet to the Austria-Hungarians dated 26 June 1916 Austria-Hungarian Soldiers! Over 200,000 of your comrades have fallen in the mountains of South Tyrol, have sacrificed their lives in vain. The Italians have launched a vigorous offensive Not much is known about the makeup of the psychological warfare organizations in Italy. Italy was first to engage the airplane in military operations, using them for reconnaissance flights in its 1911 Italo-Turkish war in North Africa. The Italian airmen became the first bombardiers in the same conflict on November 1, and the following January dropped the first propaganda leaflets from an airplane. We have mentioned already that after waiting to see which way the wind blew, Italy came in on the side of the Allies 23 May 1915. Some Italian leaflets are dated as early as 17 July 1916, so it is clear that they quickly realized the value of propaganda. P. H. Robbs says in The Falling Leaf, summer 1960, "In April 1918, an inter-Allied Propaganda Commission was established at the Italian General Headquarters Famous nationalists like Dr. Ante Trumbitch of Yugoslavia, Dr. Stefanik, Dr. Eduard Benes and Professor Masaryk of Czechoslovakia helped in the composition of the pamphlets, whilst the Italian poet and patriot Gabriel D'Annunzio not only composed leaflets, but personally flew from Padua to drop them over Vienna." The painting at the top of this article depicts the D'Annunzio raid. The caption for the painting is, "Thousands of leaflets in the colors of Italy rained down on the Austrian capital, urging the Viennese to surrender. A squadron of Italian S. V. A. 5's pursuit planes circled the city, dropped more propaganda and raced off toward the Adriatic. At their lead was Major D'Annunzio. The Italians had scored one of the greatest victories of WW1. The mission was flown 700 miles." DAnnunzios first leaflet flight was over Trieste on 7 August 1915. He dropped tricolored flaglets and leaflets. Some of the text is, "Courage brothers! Courage and endurance! Fight without respite to hasten your release" On 9 August 1918, he made his famous flight to Vienna where he dropped thousands of leaflets with the text, "Viennese! Learn to know the Italians! We are flying over Vienna and could drop bombs by the ton. We only drop a salutation, tricolored, with the three colors of liberty. We do not wage war against children, or the aged, or against women. We wage war
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against your government, the enemy of national liberty, against your obstinate, blind and cruel government that gives you neither peace nor bread, and nourishes you on hatred and illusions. Viennese! You are starving for the truth. Why have you donned the Prussian uniform? Henceforth, you perceive, all the world is against you. Do you desire to continue the war? The continue it. It is your suicide. What do you hope for? A decisive victory promised by the Prussian generals? Their decisive victory is like the bread of the Ukraine. One dies waiting for it. People of Vienna, realize the truth. Awaken! Long live liberty! Long live Italy! Long live the Entente!"
Italian Map to the Germans Italian leaflet 330 Italian map leaflet to the Austrians. Dropped in 1918, code number 330. The title is "A Graphic view of the gains of the big Entente offensive in France from the 9th of August to September." It pictures the battle lines as of 9 August and shows the French gains by 1 September. Some of the text is "The material results of the Entente offensive of 15 July to 31 August. In this offensive the Allies captured 128,000 German prisoners of war, 2,674 officers, 2,069 artillery pieces, 1,734 flamethrowers, 1,383 machine guns and an extensive amount of ammunition, equipment and other material."
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Italian leaflets against Austria-Hungary featured a divide-and-conquer theme. One was dropped after an Austrian defeat at Trentino and the Russian victory at Galicia is written in Ruthenian, Polish and Croatian. It asks in part, "Why do you still fight and die for hated Austria?" It tells the Croats, "Your great Mother Russia, our powerful ally, has taken 270,000 soldiers of the Austrian Army prisoner. Why are you fighting against us? We who are the allies of your Imperial Mother." As the German Army took greater control of its allys military campaigns, the Italians continued to try to cause division among the enemy. A leaflet in Croatian, Hungarian, Czechoslovakian, Polish. Romanian and German said in part, "We are all against the Government. Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ruthenians, Italians and South-Slavs. All want their freedom. Italy is already in complete agreement with the Yugoslavs. Those who oppress you are the Germans and Hungarians."
After the German Army occupied Belgium, a mysterious service appeared in Britain claiming to be the official organization of Belgian propaganda. The name of this organization was the "Service de Propagande Belge" ("S.P.B."). They prepared and printed propaganda documents and are most noted for two series of postcards that were produced in England and airdropped over occupied Belgium.
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Leaflet postcard number 4 "We will get them!" The first series consists of six postcards that all depicted various morale-building portraits or scenes. They were allegedly dropped by British seaplanes over Belgian coastal areas early in the war. The cards have text in both Flemish and French. The cards are known both with and without text on the address side. The cards with text on the back are more rare and were printed in October of 1917. Because there are numerous mistakes in the Belgian and Flemish text, some believe that the S.P.B. might have been a British black operation. Card 1 - British Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig (161-1928), and text "Have courage! We are thinking of you...." Card 2 - Women at work in a factory, "Liberation is near...." Card 3 - British infantryman, "Have courage, until we meet again...." Card 4 - British seaman. We illustrate leaflet-postcard number 4 from the first Belgian postcard set. The full text of the card is, "We will get them! One of the British seamen who risk their lives every day in the fight against German
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submarines. The British fleet has shown that it represents the protecting shield of the Allies. It gathered its troops from all the corners of the world to collect material and ammunition from beyond the seas to blockade the German fleet in its ports." Card 5 - British airplane, "Good news...." Card 6 - British Admiral Sir David Beatty (1871-1936), "We are holding them...."
SPB number 5. "The Belgian heavy artillery." The second series is much larger and consists of 26 postcards. Many of the cards depict Belgian soldiers in the field, but only one shows an actual battle scene. Some of the cards have Flemish and French text, others have Flemish, French, and English. The cards all show different variations of "S.P.B.", some with added numbers, some without. This series was printed in 1917 and dropped by British and French aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. I will not describe all the propaganda postcards, but the first four (S.P.B. No. 1-4) have the following titles: "A banner is handed over to the victorious Belgian troops," "The brave Belgians are marching to the front,' "The brilliant Belgian cavalrymen," and "The Belgian artillery in action." We also mention number 13 because it is "President Wilson delivering a speech before the U.S. Congress." We know that the British regularly quoted Wilson, and they were probably very influential in the subjects and pictures featured on these propaganda postcards.
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Hindenburg leaflet On September 2, 1918, Marshall Hindenburg issued his famous address to the German people which was printed on a large placard and posted throughout the Empire. In this message von Hindenberg appeals to the German people to remain loyal and to pay no attention to the propaganda of the enemy and the revolutionists within Germany. Hindenburg also told of the attacks the enemy was making on the spirit of the German soldiers and people behind the lines. We are in a terrible struggle against our enemies. If numbers alone decided the war, Germany would have been defeated long since. The enemy knows that the spirit, which prevails among our troops , is making us victorious. For that reason he has begun, besides the struggle against German military force, a struggle against German military force, a struggle against the spirit of the Germans. He wants to poison the spirits of the Germans and believes that our military force will cease when the spirit is destroyed. We must not take this plan of the enemy too lightheartedly.... However, the enemy is not content to attack our morale on the front lines. He also wants, before anything else, to poison the soul of the people in the homeland. He knows what a source of energy the homeland is for the people at the front. His planes and balloon cannot, it is true, carry the leaflets well into the interior of the
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country... But the enemy hopes that many a soldier will send home the leaflet, which arrived so innocently by air. At the house it will be passed from hand to hand, people will discuss it at the pub, in family circles, in the seamstress's workshop, in the factories and work-places, and in the street. Without even doubting it, thousands of people will absorb the poison. Thousands of people will find the burden of the war heavier and will lose the will to win and the confidence in victory. Therefore, German soldiers and people, if one of these poisonous places comes to you in the form of a leaflet, or a rumor, remember that it comes, from the enemy.... Resist it, German people and soldiers! (Signed) von Hindenberg General Field Marshall Carl Berger discusses the total number of leaflets dropped in An Introduction to Wartime Leaflets, Special Operations Research Office, The American University, 1959: "During the war France had the largest leaflet program, its earliest leaflets being disseminated in August 1914. By 1918, according to one estimate, 27,000,000 French leaflets had been distributed over German lines. British propagandists, who did not start large-scale leaflet operations until the final months of the war, produced and disseminated and estimated 18,000,000 in the short period before the Armistice. The Americans under General John J. Pershing, latecomers to both the military and propaganda campaigns, had disseminated only about 3,000,000 leaflets by November 1918."
The United States Army in the World War says, "It appears that propaganda, American and Allied, helped materially to create an atmosphere of defeat, which helped to lower the enemy morale." Blankenhorn said, "The leaflet effects, while uneven, contributed in considerable measure to creating an inescapable atmosphere of defeat with which the German Army was shot through at the time of the Armistice." The German High Command reaction is more interesting. General Eric Ludendorff described the propaganda disseminated through the air, "with such cleverness, and on such a large scale that many people could no longer distinguish between enemy propaganda and their own sentiment." He added in Kriegfhrung und Politik ("War and Politics"), Berlin, 1922, that "we were hypnotized by the enemy propaganda as a rabbit is by a snake." Field Marshall Paul Von Hindenburg said, "The soldiers read and discussed. The soldiers thought surely these could not all be lies, and permitted themselves to be poisoned and poisoned others." In Mein Kampf ("My Battle"), Adolf Hitler said, "In the summer of 1915 the first enemy leaflets were dropped on our trenches. They all told more or less the same story, with some variations in the theme of it. The story was that distress was steadily on the increase in Germany; that the war would last indefinitely; that the prospect of victory for us was becoming fainter every day. Colonel Robert L. Gleason says in Psychological Operations and Air Power: Its Hits and Misses, Air University Review, March-April 1971: The science of PSYWAR and PSYOP was used extensively by both sides during World War I. This period saw the first practical use of airplanes for leaflet
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delivery. Balloons were also used as leaflet vehicles, although the time-fuse balloon technique was first used in 1870-71 by the French defending Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. Over one million leaflets were dropped over the German lines during the month of September 1918, shortly before the Armistice. This effort resulted in as many as fifty surrenders per day in certain sections of the front. One ponders the impact of this psywar effort on the surrender of the German armies two months later, especially since these armies, though somewhat mauled by the Allied summer offensive of 1918, were still generally intact. Not a single Allied footprint had been made on German soil, nor for all practical purposes had a single Allied bomb or bullet struck her territory. From all indications, the Germans attributed greater achievements to the Allied psywar efforts than did the Allies themselves. In one of the Germans last propaganda efforts they stated: The enemy has defeated us not as man against man in the field of battle or bayonet against bayonet. No, bad content in poor printing on poor paper has made our Army lame. We have barely scratched the surface of the use of propaganda in WWI. This article is intended only to introduce the subject. Interested readers are encouraged to write to the author at sgmbert@hotmail.com.
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ALLIED PSYOP of WWI

SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)

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propaganda," "Air Post" and similar have been made.

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British Letter sheet

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British Propaganda and The Ottoman Empire

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Continued SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)

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23 page booklet written in German by the 'Friends of German Democracy'

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French Balloon Propaganda

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