Psychological Warfare, Psychological Operations (PSYOP),
Black Propaganda, and Aerial Propaganda Leaflets

- Posted on 14 May 2008 at 1:17 pm

The Psychological Operations Photo Library has been updated with a number of images, especially from Iraq (see here) and Afghanistan (see here) including photographs from the 15 (UK) PSYOPS Group on operations (see here).

15 (UK) PSYOPS Group Annual Report 2007/2008

- Posted on 13 May 2008 at 1:47 pm

The British 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group has just published its first Annual Report which highlights its activities over the last year. The group has been heavy committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and has greatly increased its technical capabilities over the year. The report can be downloaded here.

Propaganda and Espionage Philately Update

- Posted on 8 May 2008 at 5:27 pm

Herb Friedman's incredible Propaganda and Espionage Philately article has been updated again with more examples of forged postage stamps used for propaganda purposes in both the First World War and Second World War. This is a must read for PSYOP researchers, leaflet collectors and philatelists alike.

Information Operations Europe 2008, June 24 - 26, 2008

- Posted on 12 April 2008 at 12:44 am

Announcing this year's Defence IQ's, Information Operations Europe conference, to be held between June 24-26, 2008 at Le Meridien Piccadilly, London, UK.

Europe's premier conference for the Psychological Operations, Influence and Strategic Communications community…

In 2008 several significant challenges face the Information Operations community. At the strategic level, it has become increasingly necessary for senior staff to coordinate information strategies across governments and across coalitions, requiring structural reorganisations and changes in mindset. At the tactical and operational levels, the techniques for delivering messages and penetrating different cultures remains troublesome and question marks still exist around the issue of Measurement of Effect of influence activities.

Now in its 7th year, Information Operations Europe 2008 is specifically designed to provide the Strategic Communications, Influence and Psychological Operations communities with an opportunity to share expertise, strategies and Lessons Learned from recent activities. Taking place at Le Meridien Piccadilly in London on the 25th and 26th June 2008, the guest speakers and audience will discuss the most important topics of today:

• Information Operations Case Studies and Lessons Learned: Insight into information campaigns and message delivery techniques in Lebanon, Chad, Afghanistan and Iraq
• Measurement of Effectiveness (MoE) for Influence Activity: The latest techniques employed in theatre for evaluating the success of information campaigns, including briefings from the Bundeswehr Zentrum of Operational Information's (ZOpInfo) Focus Group from Northern Regional Command in ISAF and the findings from NATO’s Task Group for MoE of Psychological Operations
• Coordinating an Information Strategy across Different Departments and Nations: Strategic level perspectives from senior officers of UK MoD and US DoD and the current initiatives at USSTRACOM Joint Information Operations Warfare Command to coordinate information campaigns across a coalition
• Policy Updates: From the US, UK, France and NATO

For more details about the conference, how to register and to download the event brochure, visit Defence IQ's website here:
http://www.defenceiq.com/UK/io2008/psywar

-- PsyWar.Org visitors can receive a 10% discount by quoting 'IGB_12201.002_PSYWAR' when registering --

Military Intelligence conference update

- Posted on 18 March 2008 at 1:07 pm

For those interested in the Defence IQ, Military Intelligence conference being held on April 28 - 29, 2008 at The Cafe Royal, London, UK, the agenda of the conference can now be downloaded here:
http://www.iqpcevents.com/ShowEvent.aspx?id=82436&details=94368

For further information on the conference or to register, then please contact Alan Smith, Military Intelligence Director, tel +44 207 368 9379.

There’s an Early Bird Discount, register before Friday, 14th March 2008 and receive up to £200 off!

Military Intelligence Conference: 28th April & 29th April 2008 - Cafe Royal, London

- Posted on 12 March 2008 at 12:30 pm

Announcing Defence IQ’s Military Intelligence Conference.

Military Intelligence is at the forefront of operations as never before and is now every warfighter’s business. 

Is your organisation prepared to absorb the latest thinking and lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan?

Contemporary Counter-Insurgency Operations have arguably transformed Military Intelligence (MI) into a distinct line of operations. However, the perspectives and input of the manoeuvre forces and combat units is crucial to realising timely, accurate and actionable intelligence.

This is why Defence IQ’s two day "Military Intelligence" conference will bring together a mix of both J2 and J3 personnel, represented as both speakers and delegates to ensure that:

You hear expert presentations from a cross-section of operators and decision-makers

-This will allow you to form a coherent and balanced opinion of the community’s latest thinking and take home the insights most applicable to your orqanisation’s challenges.

Your networking delivers valuable and representative insights

-This will help you build the contacts you need and develop relationships to enhance your wider knowledge.

Brigadier General Richard Lake, Director of Intelligence, HQ US Marine Corps will brief the conference as a Keynote Speaker: you can view the topics to be addressed in his brief on the website here:
http://www.defenceiq.com/ShowEvent.aspx?id=82436

The Aerial Distribution of Propaganda to the Enemy

- Posted on 7 February 2008 at 8:00 pm

A report by Captain P. Chalmers Mitchell, M.I.7b(4), 23rd February 1918, describing methods of aerial propaganda leaflet dissemination, including details of the experimental "Fire Balloon", effects of propaganda and German counter-propaganda.

World War I Aerial Propaganda Leaflets Distribution Methods

- Posted on 5 February 2008 at 6:34 pm

Today's update includes a report by Captain P. Chalmers Mitchell, of MI7(b)4, dated 12th March 1918, summarising the current methods of distributing aerial propaganda leaflets over the German front line in World War I. The report looks at dissemination by aircraft, balloons, kites and rockets.

Psychological Warfare Branch - Bari

- Posted on 1 February 2008 at 4:07 pm

The latest addition to the PsyWar.Org archives is an official report on the activities of the Political Warfare Executive Sub-Mission Bari – later known as the Psychological Warfare Branch, Bari – from its formation in January, 1944 up to mid-October, 1944.

Nachrichten fuer die Truppe Translation Project

- Posted on 29 December 2007 at 2:48 pm

German translations – Volunteers required!

PsyWar.Org is looking for recruits to help translate into English the WWII Anglo-American propaganda newspaper Nachrichten für die Truppe.

Nachrichten was the brainchild of Sefton Delmer, Britain’s famous WWII master black-propagandist. The newspaper was put together daily by a joint team of British and American journalists and air-dropped onto German troops on the Western front by a dedicated squadron of the US Eighth Air Force.

Nachrichten contained a combination of factual news intermixed with subversive propaganda. The front page accurately reported the war situation on all fronts, usually before German troops received the news from their own sources. It was the first newspaper to report the D-day invasion. The inside pages generally dealt with the situation on the home front. The corruption of the Nazi bosses (Bonzen) was highlighted, how they avoided military service, live in luxury outside the cities, safely away from the bombing, received extra "diplomatic" food rations and basically profiteered from the war. Meanwhile soldiers’ wives are shown to be in peril through over work in munition factories, dodging the air raids, and suffering with poor diet and diseases coming from the east. Nachrichten also had a page 3 pin-up girl and even gave details of German army promotions and awards.

During the war, the majority of Allied propaganda leaflets were translated into English. PsyWar.Org is slowly digitising these translations and making them available in our online database of PSYOP product. The database has information and illustrations of propaganda material from the First World War up to the present with examples of product from Iraq, Afghanistan and the recent Israeli-Lebanon war. [See here]

Examples of Nachrichten [here]

What you can do to help.

Unfortunately English translations of Nachrichten für die Truppe were not produced at the time and have not been since. PsyWar.Org is looking for volunteers with English/German language skills to help translate this important piece of psychological warfare and WWII history.

Nachrichten was produced almost daily from 25 April 1944 until the last day of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945; that’s nearly 350 separate issues. PsyWar.Org wants to put together a team of volunteers to work on English translations of individual issues. Ideally a volunteer will want to help until the project is completed, perhaps being able to translate a complete issue once a month or fortnight. But if you can translate one issue or just a page, every little helps.

You, of course, will be credited for all the work you undertake or if you prefer you can remain anonymous or use a pseudonym.

If you wish to help please email me.

Leaflet Drops in America's Conflicts, 1917-2007 by Jared Tracy

- Posted on 9 December 2007 at 2:25 pm

Aerial leaflet drops on enemies, neutrals, and civilian populations is an afterthought in American airpower historiography. Airpower historians have traditionally preferred topics such as strategic bombing, tactical ground support, airpower's place in national strategic planning, and the like. But since the introduction of the airplane into combat operations in the early twentieth-century, American civilian and military officials have ordered leaflets to be dropped with bombs. Historians have not sufficiently explored the topic of leaflet drops conducted independently of or in conjunction with actual combat operations. Therefore, because comprehensive studies of leaflet drops are scarce, an historical overview of the topic will add an important dimension to the study of the projection of American airpower in its conflicts... <read more>

Obituary - Edmund F. Lindner

- Posted on 26 November 2007 at 3:13 pm

Ed Lindner (OSS Code name Eddie Zinder) passed away on Saturday, 24 November 2007 at the age of 89. During WWII Ed was part of the Morale Operations Company of the 2677th OSS Regiment in Italy. As such, he helped plan and organize Operation Sauerkraut, a campaign to use volunteer German prisoners-of-war to bring American propaganda behind enemy lines. <read more>

11:00 hrs, 11/11, Their name liveth for evermore...

- Posted on 10 November 2007 at 7:14 pm

We wear a poppy On Remembrance Day, And at eleven We stand and pray. Wreaths are put Upon a grave. As we remember Our soldiers brave.

The Psychological Warfare Section, Federation of Malaya

- Posted on 30 October 2007 at 8:45 pm

An official British Government report on the organisation of the Psychological Warfare Section, the Federation of Malaya, in 1957. The PsyWar Section was responsible for the production of Anti-Communist Terrorist air-dropped leaflets and for the writing of surrender appeals and other messages for broadcast by Royal Air Force “Voice” aircraft over the Malayan jungle.

Black Propaganda - Operation Periwig

- Posted on 29 September 2007 at 4:05 pm

Early in World War II Britain’s secret services soon concluded that it would be impossible to organise an anti-Nazi resistance within Germany itself. As they could not create a genuine resistance organisation they decided to fabricate one by using black propaganda, fake signals traffic, dropping supplies to non-existent reception committees and persuading a few hapless German Prisoners of War to be parachuted into the heart of the Third Reich. Perhaps the German authorities could be panicked into believing they were in mortal danger of being overthrown by their own people or at least encourage a few anti-Nazi Germans to take up arms against their Nazi bosses. This is the story of Operation Periwig.

Book Review - Propaganda and Information Warfare in the Twenty-First Century

- Posted on 6 September 2007 at 2:54 pm

Propaganda and Information Warfare in the Twenty-First Century: Altered Images and deception operations by Scot Macdonald, Routledge, 2007, ISBN: 0415771455
The old saying "the camera never lies" has always been far from the truth. As soon as photography was invented there soon followed the falsifying or manipulation of the photographic image. Famous historic examples include Sir Conan Doyle’s fairies at the bottom of the garden and the staged pictures of the fabled Loch Ness monster. Perhaps these deceptions were fairly harmless and amusing. However, in wartime photographic forgeries are concocted for potentially much more sinister reasons...

NATO-led Information Operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, December 1995-1997

- Posted on 2 August 2007 at 12:44 pm

"With each day that passes drawing us further down the path from the Industrial to the Information Age, many officers are convinced that victory is no longer determined on the ground, but in media reporting. This is even more true in peace support operations (PSO) where the goal is not to conquer territory or defeat an enemy but to persuade parties in conflict (as well as the local populations) into a favored course of action. This monograph examines the role of information in PSO and its impact on command and control through the prism of NATO-led operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina from December 1995 into 1997."

Support the families of our wounded servicemen and servicewomen

- Posted on 31 July 2007 at 5:27 pm

If any British readers wish to help the families of wounded soldiers at Headly Court then please sign this Downing Street petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Headley

Find out more at http://www.36grayslane.co.uk/

Aerial Proapganda Leaflets for sale

- Posted on 5 May 2007 at 3:08 pm

PsyWar.Org has listed several WWII aerial propaganda leaflets on eBay. Including a couple of PWD/SHAEF leaflets for Germany and a chilling German leaflet dropped on Allied troops approaching the Rhine river in February 1945.  Also for sale is a sheet of counterfeit German food ration coupons forged by Ellic Howe for the Administrative Sabotage campaign conducted by the German sections of the Special Operations Executive and Political Warfare Executive. It's an unique part of the black propaganda war. Click here

OSS Black Propaganda in 'America in WWII' Magazine

- Posted on 3 May 2007 at 10:35 pm

The April 2007 edition of America in WWII magazine features a nice article on the US Office of Strategic Services. The article is illustrated with colour photographs of several Morale Operations subversive stickers used in Operation Sauerkraut and also of the ugly Liberator pistol intended for use in Operation Braddock.

Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War

- Posted on 1 May 2007 at 7:24 pm

Just released by the Institute of World Politics, Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War is a 147-page monograph calling for a political and psychological attack strategy against terrorists and extremists. It is an innovative re-examination of how the US and its allies should fight the battle of ideas. This book focuses on message strategies that the US should pursue for the immediate term to win the war against Islamist extremism. The author is a professor at The Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, who directs a graduate program on public diplomacy and political warfare. His students include officials from the Defense Department, State Department, CIA, FBI, DIA, and other agencies.

A printed version can be purchased here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/667139

PSYOP Photograph Library Update

- Posted on 7 April 2007 at 7:02 pm

The PsyWar.Org photograph library has been updated with a selection of new photos related to psychological warfare and aerial propaganda leaflet dropping, including this sequence of pictures relating to the Korean War.

New Book - The Psychological Warfare Division

- Posted on 5 April 2007 at 4:22 pm

PsyWar.Org has just reproduced the official history of the Psychological Warfare Division of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. It gives an account of PWD/SHAEF's operations in the Western European campaign, 1944-1945.  The original book was printed by the U.S. Army in 1945 and given a very small distribution. Original examples are very scarce so we thought it would be a worthwhile project to produce a reprint.

It has 284 pages with 13 photographs plus 24 other illustrations showing aerial propaganda leaflets, organisation tables and graphs. The contents cover the following subjects:

The nature of Psychological Warfare; the Plans and Directives Section; Operation of PWD Intelligence; Radio; Leaflets; Special Operations (black & grey); Allied Information Service; Publications and Display; Press; Cinema; Pictorial Section; Displaced Persons, Control of German Information Services, Status of Control of German Information Services in the American Zone.

The Appendices include the PWD charter; Voice of SHAEF radio scripts; Radio Engineering Report; Final Report on Leaflet Operations; Manual for Control of German Information Services; PWD organizational charts.

It should be of interest to PSYOP and Civil Affairs staff alike. The text maybe over 60 years old but there is still much useful information that can be applied today and is, of course, an essential reference text for those wanting to study Allied psychological warfare in WWII.

Our reprint is soft bound, like the original, letter size, and costs $26.99 plus shipping.

It can be ordered using a credit card or PayPal directly from this link:

http://www.lulu.com/content/765215

25th Anniversary of the Falkland Islands War

- Posted on 1 April 2007 at 11:33 pm

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands on 2nd April 1982. For more details of psychological warfare used during the campaign see our article here.

Rhodesia PSYOP 1965-1980

- Posted on 12 March 2007 at 2:15 pm

In December 1962 the Rhodesian Front party was elected to power in the British African colony of Southern Rhodesia. The party was committed to the concept of white supremacy without the involvement of the United Kingdom that was seen as particularly liberal with the election of a Labour Party Government in 1964. The leader of the Rhodesian Front, Ian Douglas Smith, was elected Prime Minister on 14 April 1964. On Armistice Day, 11 November 1965, Southern Rhodesia declared its independence. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence was internationally condemned, and at the behest of Britain, Rhodesia was placed under a United Nations Security Council sanction beginning in 1965 and lasting until the restoration of British rule in December 1979. Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith believed that his Rhodesian Front Party could hold power by force for the white minority group it represented. It wasn’t to be and fifteen years later on 18 April 1980, Zimbabwe emerged as an independent country under majority rule with international recognition.
This article documents psychological operations directed against the black population of Rhodesia by the Smith government during their control of the country between 1965 until 1980.