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Airborne leaflet propaganda
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Airborne leaflet propaganda is a form of psychological warfare that militaries use in foreign conflict to alter the behavior of people in enemy-controlled territory. Airplanes have been instrumental in the deliverance of leaflets over enemy territories. In conjunction with air strikes, this method has been successful in influencing the enemy’s way of thinking. In particular, persuading them to surrender, abandon their positions, and to cease fighting.
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Encyclopedia
Airborne leaflet propaganda is a form of psychological warfare that militaries use in foreign conflict to alter the behavior of people in enemy-controlled territory. Airplanes have been instrumental in the deliverance of leaflets over enemy territories. In conjunction with air strikes, this method has been successful in influencing the enemy’s way of thinking. In particular, persuading them to surrender, abandon their positions, and to cease fighting. Humanitarian air missions, in cooperation with leaflet propaganda, are also successful in turning civilians against enemy leadership while preparing them for the arrival of enemy troops.
Functions of leaflet propaganda
There are six different functions of airborne leaflet propaganda that have been used over the past century:
- Threaten destruction
- Warn enemy troops and civilians that their area will be targeted.
- Prompt the enemy to surrender
- Explain to prospective deserters how to surrender.
- Offer rewards
- Rewards would be offered to the enemy for downed pilots in enemy territory.
- Disseminate or counter disinformation
- Reduce enemy morale through propaganda.
- Neutralize enemy propaganda.
- Advise radio listeners about frequencies/times of propaganda broadcasts and methods for circumventing radio jamming.
- Facilitate communication
- Create a friendly atmosphere for the enemy by promoting ideologies such as freedom, capitalism, and "noble intentions".
- Provide humanitarian assistance
- Inform people where to find airdropped food, how to open and consume it, and why it comes.
Historical background and use
Airborne leaflets have been used for military propaganda purposes at least since the 19th century. One early example is from the Franco-Prussian War when in October 1870 during the Siege of Paris a French balloon coming from the city dropped government proclamations over Prussian troops that stated the following (in German):
"Paris defies the enemy. The whole of France rallies. Death to the invaders. Foolish people, shall we always throttle one another for the pleasure and proudness of Kings? Glory and conquest are crimes; defeat brings hate and desire for vengeance. Only one war is just and holy; that of independence."
Leaflet propaganda has been delivered by airplanes since the Italo-Turkish war 1911-12. Even though leaflet propaganda has been an effective “weapon”, its use has been on a decline. This decline is a result of the advance of satellite, television, and radio technology. Six billion leaflets were dropped in Western Europe alone during World War II. One billion were used during the Korean War while only thirty one million have been used in the war against Iraq. Other conflicts where leaflet propaganda has been used are Vietnam, Afghanistan (both during the Soviet and more recent NATO invasions), and the Gulf War. Leaflets encouraging Iraqi troops not to fight were dropped during the first Gulf War which contributed to eighty thousand Iraqi troops surrendering in 1991.
Leaflet Bomb
The first ideas to construct special bombs with which to disperse airborne leaflets was put forward by French and British air force officers during World War II but it was not implemented until 1943 by the American military in the form of the 'Monroe bomb' named after its inventor the USA Air Force Captain James Monroe of the 305th BG. It was developed from laminated paper containers that had been used to transport M-17 incendiary bombs
Leaflet Bombs in WWII
After World War I, Americans were skeptical due to the national consensus that America was pressured into WWI by false, manipulative propaganda laced with lies from both the British and the Germans. Since this time, propaganda has embodied a connotation of foreign deceit which American citizens dismissed as only good for foreigners
A change was needed in order to harness the useful capacity of propaganda. Therefore the American government focused on leaflets for American troops fighting in Europe and the Pacific as a means to keep morale high and remind the troops of why they were fighting.
One example of American leaflets was the Army Talks series. Army Talks was a series of short works published by the government for the GIs during World War II. The leaflet's purpose was “to help them become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers”. The publication began in 1943 and lasted until the culmination of the war in 1945. The issues were printed weekly and included the most recent updates on the war in Europe as well as news from the states.
The war department sent notice to all army officials announcing the arrival of the Army Talks series for the soldiers. The propaganda was given to the American Army in Europe and designed to be the straightest thinking on the most important matters that involve every man. The war department wrote, "It is material intended to stir up the thinking of the soldier. It is material to be argued about and disagreed about. It is brain fodder for the American way of life." Also, the same document states, “It is an American program for the most important men in the world”. Lastly, the editor's note states the underlying desires that the government had for the propaganda. “The purpose of the program is to give the soldier psychological preparation for combat and a better realization of the import of every phase of his military training”. The war department had a direct approach to the publication of these printed leaflets and their purpose. The Army Talks leaflets are an example of how propaganda can be used on a nations own people in order to reinstate the country's motives for war and also encourage optimism within the armed forces.
Propaganda leaflets were instrumental against the Axis powers as well. Nachrichten für die Truppe was propaganda written by British and American journalists in German and then dropped by plane onto German troops daily. It was designed to subtly inject Allied propaganda into the minds of the Germans. The paper covered the status of the war from both the Axis and Allied fronts, often published days before the German papers. News of air raids, bombing schedules, and army movement were accurately published by the Allies. The paper appealed to the Germans largely because it offered depictions of men’s home-lives and the conditions under which their families had to live in their absence. The Nachrichten für die Truppe also contained scandalous truths about government squandering and Nazi bosses living off the profits of war. If that was not enough to elicit avid readership, the paper contained a pin-up girl within every issue.
The success of the Nachrichten für die Truppe was rooted in truth. It consisted of selective truths designed to cast doubts among the German soldiers. The American and British forces knew that with the strong, negative response to propaganda after WWI that the truth, or rather information that was poised truthfully and consistently, was the strongest form of persuasion available. This was highly effective because the Germans felt that the most trustworthy material they could read was the American paper and not that of their own government. These leaflets set the stage for the American government's strategy: “If the certainty of German defeat could be planted in the German soldier’s mind, then it was only a small step to having him come over to the Allied lines to surrender."
The Allies were able to take advantage of other materials for leaflets. The most famous example was the final leaflet of the German resistance group, The White Rose, calling for the people of Germany to resist the Nazi government, which was smuggled to the Allies after the organization was arrested. Allied propaganda personnel took advantage of this native material to edit it, rename it as "The Manifesto of the Students of Munich." and then airdrop millions of copies on Germany.
The effectiveness of leaflet propaganda in the European theatre depends on the messenger's accuracy to reach the target audience, the receptivity of the audience it is targeted to, and on the emphasis of the benevolence the messenger promises. The United States dropped myriad types of leaflets that promised a safe surrender to Germans through different mediums. This is effective because people absorb information in different mediums via pictures or scripts. Everything from flyers to multiple paged magazines, to cigarette packs were distributed by the United States to the populace of Germany with the hopes of communicating a message to all who sees it. The results show that "[i]n 1944 a sampling of 92% of German POW's felt that they believed in what they read in the Allied Leaflets."
Leaflet Bombs In the Korean War
Later during the Korean war a modified version of the leaflet bomb - the 'feather bomb' - was developed by the American military to be used to disseminate biological warfare agents. It was also controversially claimed by the Chinese government - and supported by a United Nations commission led by the British biochemist and historian of science Joseph Needham - that US had actually used biological weapons during the Korean War. This claim has recently been the subject of a book by two historians . In 1998 evidence was found in Russian archives that has been used to make the claim this was fabricated by the Chinese and Soviet governments. The relevance of these documents to this question has been disputed.
Leaflet bombs and terrorism
Leaflet bombs have not only been used by states for purposes of military warfare but has since the 1940s also been used by radical political and ideological substate groups known for using anti-state terrorism. The meaning of terrorism used here follows what can be described as the new academic consensus definition i.e. that terrorism is ”a politically motivated tactic involving the threat or use of force or violence in which the pursuit of publicity plays a significant role”.
Historian of terrorism David C. Rapoport have developed one of the most well used models of modern terrorism dividing it in four waves. The leaflet bombs has been used by terrorist groups mainly belonging to the second 'anti-colonial' and third 'new left' waves of rebel terrorism.
Anti-Colonial Terrorism in Asia and Africa
The use of leaflet bombs by non-state terrorist groups began in 1945 when the Irgun group developed a bomb that was not dropped from planes but "deposited in the street, ticked away until detonation, then scattered news sheet over a wide and smoky area". In September 1945 three of Irguns leaflet bombs exploded in Jerusalem and injured nine people.
In the late 1960s the African National Congress (ANC) started to use a version of the leaflet bomb in South Africa. This bomb was developed in collaboration with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and South Africans living in exile in London. The first time this leaflet bomb, known to South African activists as the 'bucket bomb' and to the South African police forces as the 'ideological bomb', was used was in 1967. This was one of the most important propaganda weapons of the ANC as can be seen by the resources devoted to it and its frequent use during the 1960s and 1970s spreading tens of thousands of leaflets. ANC hailed it publicly as a central technology in their efforts as shown by this quote from ANC:s journal Sechaba in 1970 looking back at the uses of leaflets as propaganda in the 1960s:
"It was in this new period that underground propaganda, demonstrating the effectiveness of the ANC machinery and projecting its voice,
became of incalculable value. Underground leaflets began to appear in the townships, factories and city streets. Passed on from hand to hand, these reminded the people that the spirit of resistance must never die. These were often complemented by slogans painted on walls proclaiming: "Free Mandela," "Free Sisulu" and "Long Live the ANC." as modest as these propaganda efforts were [...] they showed that the ANC could survive the most severe measures of the regime." [Emphasis added]
Furthermore, the South African press and security forces also saw it as a very important weapon of the ANC as can be evidenced by the threats from the police to take action against the South African press for publishing parts of ANC:s leaflets. The South African Minister of Police even acknowledged publicly that the importance of ANC:s leaflet bombs when he was quoted in a South African newspaper stating that "the explosions are an indication that subversive elements are still active" inside South Africa and warned the "public" that they "must not think the dangers are a thing of the past. It is something with which we will just have to live." As this statement makes clear the South African police saw this as a weapon causing and indicating a terror among the public. In that sense the leaflet bombs and its words were weapons of terrorism as its effects were seen as creating a widespread fear.
New Left Terrorism in Latin America
The leaflet bomb has been relatively popular in Latin America with several recorded uses of various groups advocating political violence and using terrorist tactics.
In the 1980s the FMLN in El Salvador used this technology under the name of 'propaganda bomb'. It was one of the "favorite tactics" of its urban militia groups and preferable used in public places like markets or public parks. The design of the bomb was adapted to the local environment in that it
"consisted of a cardboard box with a small, low-power explosive underneath a large number of propaganda leaflets. The explosive was set off by a homemade time igniter. The box was disguised to look like any ordinary package or box that might be carried by someone going or returning from a trip to the marketplace."
The use of leaflet bombs played a part in the FMLN:s recruitment process known to them as fogueo - which meant to experience fire or fire-harden something - which was the process by which the recruits "were toughened and the weak and fainthearted were weeded out". The fogueo process was
"a very carefully designed program of increasingly risky operations in support of the guerilla movement. As the candidates successfully completed each operation, it gave them confidence to carry out the next danger level of operation until they became full-fledged guerilla combatants."
This process began with low-level information-gathering and propagandan activities in support of FMLN where the culminating activity before being ready for "combat military activity" could be the making and exploding of a leaflet bomb.
In Honduras the Popular Movement for Liberation (MPL) and Morazanist Patriotic Front (FPM) have also used propaganda bombs during the 1990s.
The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity URNG in Guatemala also used leaflet bombs. In 1996 the group occupied a radio station and set off a leaflet bomb.
In Ecuador several terrorist group have used leaflet bombs. The Revolutionary Armed Corps (CAR) was according to the Ecuadorian police "an extreme leftist group" which is only known for one attempted attack on February 20, 2001 when a leaflet bomb containing 150 pamphlets was discovered and successfully defused by the police.
The communist Group of Popular Combatants (GCP) has on several occasions during 2001-2005 used leaflet bombs. In 2001 it was blamed by authorities for a pamphlet bomb and later the same year the group claimed responsibility for detonating a pamphlet bomb in downtown Quito that let out hundreds of pamphlets protesting against Plan Colombia. In 2002 The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Ecuador set off a leaflet bomb in a McDonald’s restaurant in Guayaquil that injured three people and caused severe damage to the property.
Soviet/Russian AGITAB bombs
Advantages of leafleting
- The printed words on the leaflets were more authoritative before the advances in technology.
- One leaflet has the potential to reach many civilians.
- Leaflets can be hidden and easily destroyed in case of emergency.
Disadvantages
- Due to illiteracy not all civilians are capable of reading the leaflets.
- In order to have accurate deliverance, airplanes need to fly at low altitudes and low speeds making them easy targets for the enemy.
- Leaflets are capable of being destroyed or altered by the enemy.
- Messages must cater to the cultural norm of society.
- Weather conditions can alter the message being delivered to civilians
See also
- Operation Cornflakes: A more subtle propaganda operation in World War II involving inserting propaganda leaflets by air into the mail system of Nazi Germany.
External links
- : A website about airdropped, shelled or rocket fired propaganda leaflets in World War 2.
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