Early 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
North German Confederation 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 of 1911–12.
World War I Aerial leaflets were first used on a large scale during
World War I by all parties. The British dropped packets of leaflets over
Imperial German Army trenches containing postcards from
prisoners of war detailing their humane conditions, surrender notices and general propaganda against
Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German
generals. By the end of the war
MI7b had distributed almost 26 million leaflets. In August 1918, the famous
Italian nationalist writer, poet and fighter pilot
Gabriele D'Annunzio, organized the
Flight over Vienna: a famous propaganda operation during the war, leading 9
Ansaldo SVA planes in a 1,100-kilometre (700 mi) round trip to drop 50,000 propaganda leaflets on the
Austro-Hungarian capital. The Germans began shooting the leaflet-dropping pilots, prompting the British to develop an alternative method of delivery. A Fleming invented the unmanned leaflet balloon in 1917, and these were used extensively in the latter part of the War, with over 48,000 units produced. The hydrogen balloon would drift over
no-man's land to land in the enemy trenches.
World War II Distribution of airborne leaflet propaganda was used by both
Allied and
Axis forces in the
Second World War, starting with a
Royal Air Force leaflet drop over the port of
Kiel in September 1939. During the
Phoney War most of the
Royal Air Force's operations consisted of airborne leaflet dropping, as the
United Kingdom wanted
Nazi Germany to be the first country to begin strategic bombing of civilian areas to avoid deterring
neutral powers such as the
United States from supporting the
Allies. The first proposal to construct a special bomb with which to disperse airborne leaflets was put forward by British air force officers during World War II. The most successful "leaflet bomb" model of the War was the Monroe bomb, invented in 1943 by
USAAF Captain James Monroe of the
305th Bombardment Group. It was developed from laminated paper containers that had been used to transport M-17 incendiary bombs. The British improved the use of hydrogen balloons to carry leaflets over German lines. Some of the
V-1 flying bombs launched by the Germans against
southern England carried leaflets in a cardboard tube at the tail of a missile. This would be ejected by a small gunpowder charge while the V1 was in flight. Allied airborne leaflets printed during WWII were "factual, in the main truthful, and served (or so it was claimed) to create a reputation for reliability both in supplying information and refuting German accounts which we said to be untruthful". gunners fill
25-pounder shells with leaflets.
Roermond, The Netherlands, January 1945 Although leaflets were seen as effective in manipulating troops when morale was low, "During the early months of the war, leaflets or pamphlets were scattered over enemy territory by aircraft and balloons, but it was more than doubtful whether these had any useful effect, their obvious defects being that few can have reached their targets and, being printed, they were sometimes out of date by the time they were ready to distribute. The front-line distribution of leaflets was quite another matter and these were dropped by aircraft or fired by shells, the messages they bore being less careful about the general principles of consistency and frankness and only truthful about matters on which the enemy had contradictory information". The leaflet's back side reminds the soldier that his loved one is longing for him and that most of the men he had come with are now dead.
James A.C. Brown, a Scottish psychiatrist, summed up the WW2 experience with the observation that "Propaganda is successful only when directed at those who are willing to listen, absorb the information, and if possible act on it, and this happens only when the other side is in a condition of lowered morale and is already losing the campaign." Before the
B-29's exclusive deployment to the
Pacific Theater began, the
United States Army Air Forces initiated a
disinformation campaign through leaflets over the Third Reich early in 1944 that hinted at what sorts of American heavy bombers were likely to appear over Germany in the future. Partly in conjunction with use of YB-29-BW
41-36393, the so-called
Hobo Queen, one of the service test aircraft flown around several British airfields in early 1944, four-page German language
Sternenbanner-headlined,
American-published propaganda leaflets mentioning a "battle of annihilation against the
Luftwaffe" (), dated to
Leap Year Day in 1944, were dropped over the Reich, with the intent to deceive the Germans into believing that the B-29 would be deployed to Europe.
Japan Leaflets were also used by the USAAF on Japan during the
Pacific War. To create leaflets, Japan specialists and also Japanese prisoners of war were involved, and more than 500 million leaflets were dropped in Japan by the USAAF during the Pacific War. The leaflets aimed to not criticize Japan overall but to make citizens and soldiers demoralized and hostile toward Japanese military commanders. In mid-1945 it became apparent that
B-29 bombers of the USAAF were
raiding Japan's cities without meeting significant resistance. General
Curtis LeMay, commander of the
XXI Bomber Command, part of the
Twentieth Air Force, consequently ordered the dropping of leaflets hoping to reduce the needless killing of innocent people. One of the leaflets dropped on targeted Japan's cities, with the text on the back, read: Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or a friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories, which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique that they are using to prolong this useless war. Unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's well-known humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the
Japanese people but is fighting the military clique, which has enslaved the Japanese people. The peace, which America will bring, will free the people from the oppression of the Japanese military clique and mean the emergence of a new and better Japan. You can restore peace by demanding new and better leaders who will end the War. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked, but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately. B-29s dropped approximately 10 million propaganda leaflets in May, 20 million in June, and 30 million in July. The Japanese government implemented harsh penalties against civilians who kept copies of such leaflets, including surrender passes. In contrast, US soldiers could pick up leaflets dropped by Japan freely, and some kept them as souvenirs. There were several types of leaflets produced by the OWI (Office of War Information) in the US. One of the famous leaflets is Kirihitoha (桐一葉) [One leaf of paulownia] which was suggested by Ayako Ishigaki a critic of the Japanese government who led a movement for military intervention against Japan in the United States. This leaflet was a transformation of a famous Japanese poem, and the designer seems to have hoped it would end the war. However, according to W. H. de Roos, the head of Australia's propaganda to Japan in the Far East Liaison Bureau, due to an inappropriate choice of words and the design appearing to show tobacco rather than autumn leaves, Kirihitoha was not able to appeal to the Japanese people. Another famous leaflet is Unga-naizō (運賀無蔵) [Unlucky man] which shows a story designed by Tato Yajima, a painter and a communist. The story of this leaflet portrayed soldiers dying meaninglessly while their commanders became rich, using "their lives as stepping stones". However, the leaflet was assessed badly by the Japanese leaflet design department. It was pointed out that the picture style was outdated, the core of the story was not clarified, and the background of the story was not suitable for the time. In addition, according to Linebarger who wrote "Psychological War", there was no remarkable effect caused by this leaflet. The US side also created leaflets which utilized Japanese superstition. Gyoen-no-asa (御苑の朝) [Morning in the imperial garden], one of the leaflets, attempted to persuade Japanese people by their loyalty for the emperor. It was well known that if the emperor's honor was damaged, Japanese people would be infuriated, so the US side was careful about that aspect when making the leaflet. The leaflet is written to say "even though the emperor hopes for peace, Japanese military leaders focus on their self-interests and deceive the emperor" and it was an attempt to cause Japanese civilians to lose their motivation towards the war. There was also a characteristic theme in the US leaflet which was to promote the rebellious spirit of Japanese people toward Germany. Some leaflets pointed to an internal discord by expressing that "Hitler will betray Japan". Besides, the US side decided to drop leaflets at areas which were dominated by Japan because they thought Japanese soldiers in those areas may have more free time to read leaflets compared with areas where fights are conducted harshly. Leaflets of the enemy country were sometimes used as a strategy to raise hostility towards the enemy country. The US and Japan utilized each other's leaflet. They claimed in their own country's leaflet that "people in the US/Japan insult us, so we should hate them" while showing the enemy's leaflet. During the Pacific War, the Japanese military sprinkled airborne leaflets to promote surrender and lose fighting spirit. To attract the attention of people who find leaflets, manga artists were involved because it was guessed that only proclamation of a rigid military commander might not work well. Furthermore, the Japanese leaflet design department interviewed knowledgeable people about US and detective writers, like Yūsuke Tsurumi and Ranpo Edogawa, to study and design leaflets. After the Pacific War, US psychological strategy's aim shifted to Japanese civilians. They cherished telling the truth and avoiding criticizing the Japanese emperor. By telling the truth, they expected that it could keep the credibility of information on the leaflet and cause disappointment toward the present situation of war. Moreover, treating Japanese citizens and the Japanese emperor as victims of the war was another strategy of psychological warfare. They expressed that the emperor and citizens are pacifist, but the cabinet which caused the war is evil in their leaflet. Leaflets also accused the Japanese government of disturbing the peace between the emperor and citizens. Therefore, if the leaflet would hurt the Japanese emperor's dignity, Japanese people couldn't accept the contents of the leaflet. Instead, the US side pointed up the inefficiency of the Japanese cabinet and tried to weaken their credibility. Although leaflet propaganda has been effective, their use has declined due to the advancements of satellite, television, and radio technology. Six billion leaflets were dropped in
Western Europe and 40 million leaflets dropped by the
United States Army Air Forces over Japan in 1945 during
World War II. One billion were used during the
Korean War while only 31 million were used in the
Iraq War. Other conflicts where leaflet propaganda has been used are
Vietnam,
Afghanistan (both during the
Soviet and more recent
NATO invasions), and the
Gulf War. Coalition forces dropped pamphlets encouraging
Iraqi Army troops not to fight during the first Gulf War, which contributed to eighty-seven thousand Iraqi troops surrendering in 1991. In 1992,
Ly Tong (a former soldier of the
Republic of Vietnam Air Force) hijacked
Vietnam Airlines Flight 850 to drop leaflets calling on people to overthrow the Vietnamese government. He himself continued to use planes to drop leaflets calling for opposition to the governments of Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea in 1999, 2000 and 2008. During the Korean War, Chinese forces alleged that the United States used leaflet bombs as a vehicle for
dispersing biological warfare agents. The United States government consistently denied such allegations. During the 2011 enforcement of a NATO
No-Fly Zone over
Libya, the
Royal Canadian Air Force and
U.S. Air Force used
C-130J Hercules and
CP-140 Aurora aircraft to broadcast radio signals and drop leaflets over Gaddafi controlled areas. The messages predominantly asked
Muammar Gaddafi's troops to return to their families and homes for their safety, but also included the message:
"The forces of the Gaddafi regime are violating United Nations Resolution 1973." Some messages called on the troops to stop hostilities and not to harm their compatriots, while other messages broadcast by NATO included female voices asking Gaddafi's forces to "stop killing children". Leaflet propaganda was also used in the
Syrian civil war to deter possible
ISIS recruits from joining in 2015. During
Gaza war, the
Israel Defense Forces dropped thousands of leaflets over Gaza, offering rewards for information on
hostages taken during the conflict and urging civilians living in the north half of the
Gaza Strip to evacuate. ==Means of delivery==