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| SS Skorpion Rocket Propaganda Leaflet inviting the Allies to "Go South to Sunny Germany" (and die). Produced by the SS propaganda unit Skorpion West under SS Standarte Kurt Eggers. |
The following article is reprinted from The Psywar Society's Falling
Leaf Magazine, Volume 12 Number 4, December 1971; it is believed to have been
written by the late Professor McKenzie of the University of Washington in
Seattle.
A "black" leaflet is the most difficult of all forms of
propaganda leaflets. It purports to be the enemy himself. Therefore, great care
must be exercised and was exercised by 12th Army Group to see that, even down
to the smallest details of type of paper and ink, the "black"
leaflets were exact duplicates of the enemy's own productions for his troops
and civilians.
It is a comparatively simple thing to write a propaganda leaflet which
is sent to the enemy and carries with it the stamp of the American Army. All
that is needed are the facts and a good writer. But to write a
"black" leaflet much more is required: a mind which can project
itself into the enemy mind, think the way the enemy thinks and write the way
the enemy writes. If one slip is made the whole production is exposed and
reacts violently.
"Black" leafleting was first conducted by 12th Army Group
through agents. It was not particularly successful because infiltration of
agents was so difficult. The quantities of leaflets distributed were small and
no mass impact could be obtained. In November 1944 the enemy played into our
hands when, for the first time faced with a bad morale situation among the
front line troops he started to airdrop his Skorpion leaflet on his own troops.
When this fact was brought forth by Intelligence it was a natural step to
decide to confuse them as to the genuine Skorpion. We would give them a little
extra for good measure. And the decision was made to airdrop our
"black" Skorpion on the enemy as soon as possible.
A word about the origin of Skorpion is necessary at this point to
understand the sequence of events. Prior to and during the initial phases of
the Normandy campaign, the enemy propaganda line to his troops had been very
much the same as the home propaganda line: the impregnability of the Atlantic
Wall, the invincibility of the German Army, superior military leadership, etc.
With the breakthrough in France and the first major defeat of German arms, the
enemy propaganda line to his troops was changed and into being came the
Skorpion which was the enemy combat propaganda organization under Field Marshal
Model. Skorpion's job was not only to handle propaganda to the enemy but also
all forms of propaganda to German troops. These new propaganda lines showed up
in a new series of leaflets written to German troops which, in a quasi-factual
and sober manner, appraised the mistakes of the Normandy campaign and then went
on to develop new themes of secret weapons, additional manpower, total warfare,
etc.
The first eight Skorpion leaflets, most of them produced in the Fariser
Zeitung office in Paris, were excellent jobs of troop propaganda. They wound up
by inviting the German Landär to ask the Skorpion questions for "Comrade,
you can believe the Skorpion."
The Skorpion leaflets were so scarce among the German troops that for
wider and more prompt distribution, the German propaganda organization decided
to use aircraft to drop them on their own troops. Then they made their first
mistakes. With great care this Headquarters prepared three Skorpion leaflet
ideas. They were taken up in Paris in Supreme Headquarters, written and sent to
London for editing and production. They were carefully prepared so that they
were an exact duplicate of the German Skorpion and over a period of six weeks
were dropped in millions over German lines. Interrogation of captured Skorpion
personnel proved that the success of these "black" Skorpion leaflets
went far beyond expectations.
The first group was successfully dropped, read by German troops and
taken to be the real Skorpion. The head of the Skorpion organization knew that
it was a "black" Skorpion but said nothing about it.
The second one was dropped, and a copy landed on Model's desk. Being a
choleric man, in great anger he called in the head of the Skorpion and demanded
to know on whose authority such a leaflet had been dropped to German troops. He
pointed out that it was malicious in its final import. The head of the
Skorpion, one Maj. Damrau, explained that this was an American trick. The Field
Marshal was somewhat mollified, but still not content.
Two weeks later still another Skorpion appeared on the Field Marshal's
desk. He became enraged when he discovered that it practically invited mutiny
by the German soldiers and furthermore gave the Landär an excuse to shoot their
superior officer, a thing unheard of in the Wehrmacht and certainly, in these
chaotic times, treasonable.
According to Capt. Hassenkamp of the SS, later of the Skorpion, and
still later an American POW, Marshal Model flew into a rage, called for Maj.
Damrau and ordered him to cease and desist from all further Skorpion efforts.
Model told Damrau that if it was so easy for the enemy to make a fool of him,
he had better be put out of business. Just prior to this last Model explosion,
the Skorpion outfit had put forward as their last venture a countermeasure to
our "black" Skorpion. It was the crowning admission of defeat.
Hassenkamp related that the last Skorpion leaflet, which in fact exposed the
American Skorpion, had exactly that effect.
The following material is also from the same issue and was added to the
above article by their editor, G.O. Auckland.
In his book Black Boomerang,
Sefton 'Tom' Delmar has written quite a few pages on the Skorpion Operation and
some important relevant information is mentioned below, with acknowledgments to
the author.
Translation of the Final
Skorpion
Leaflet "der feint setzt giftige Skorpione aus!," which
exposed the Allied forgeries:
"Do you want to know the truth, comrades? Then ask the Skorpion.
Under this heading the Skorpion has always told you the unvarnished truth; we
all know this since August [1944] when the Skorpion first came into our hands.
Then, in our darkest days, the Skorpion leaflets asked the question which moved
us all: How does the war progress? And it answered mercilessly clear and
cold-bloodedly—as it should be between soldiers. We learned through the
Skorpion of the whole range of catastrophe which threatened us at that time. We
also saw for the first the true situation and our chances for victory clearly
and distinctly.
"Skorpion 1 was right.
"Skorpion 2 and 3 answered as honestly as other questions which
interested us. Then we had to wait for some time for our new friend in vain;
Skorpion 4 did not appear. I don't know why. I don't belong to the men of the
Skorpion and I don't even know them. I only know that they belong to us; they
know our kind and our questions and they or he—because it may only be one—is a
real man and experienced soldier.
"This has been proved by numbers 5, 6 and 7. Number 8 I have not
yet seen and I do not believe that it is out, but there is a forged number 9
and I have heard that there might also be a forged number 11.
"They appear quite in the style of the genuine ones and bring
their poisonous, insidious lies very well covered. Comrades, we are threatened
by a double danger. It is not really so much to the point that we believe the
enemy is lying, but much more important for the enemy—and that, comrades, only
a few of you have thought about—is that we cannot make a distinction between
the genuine and forged Skorpions and that therefore the German leadership had
to consider stopping the Skorpion completely. That is what the enemy wants. If
we want to keep our Skorpion we must help the Skorpion ourselves. There is one
certain and positive expedient. The honest Skorpion has always been distributed
from hand to hand. The forged one is dropped from the air. The Skorpion
therefore which lies on the ground is forged. Don't touch it! It's poisonous!
Remember, only rubbish lies in the mud.
"So now we will see who is the stronger one."
Genuine Skorpion Leaflets
German
Issue
#1 - Code: 5K408 -
Title: Wie Steht der Krieg?
#2 - Code: 5K414 -
Title: Was sagt der Feind über seine eigene Lage?
#3 - Code: 459 -
Title: Glaubt der "Skorpion" noch an das
#4 - Not published
#5 - Code: 517 -
Title: Werden wit hungern mussen?
#6 - Code: 609 SR
528 - Title: Hat die deutsche Fuhrung das linke Rheinufer innerlich
#7 - Code: 613 5K
529 - Title: Was macht der Fuhrer?
#8 - Code: 612 5K
530 - Title: 1st das Skorpion-Flugblatt Nr. 11 vons uns?
#9 - Not published?
#10 - no code -
Title: Die Wshrheit uber den Osten!
#11 - no code -
Title: Was ware weon ?
#12? - Code 632
SKlb5b - Title: Oie Sache mit Minchen (a verse poem)
Forged Skorpion Leaflets
Joint
British-American Forgeries
#1 - Code: ?
#2 - no code -
Title: Kommt die Inflation?
#3 - Code: ?
#4 - Code: ?
#5 - Code: ?
#6 - Code: ?
#7 - Code: ?
#8 - Code: ?
#9 - no code -
Title: Kann die Front halten?
#10 - Code: ?
#11 - no code - Title: Wet darf kapitulieren?
#12 - Code: ?
#13 - Code: 613 -
Title: Glaubt der "Skorpion" noch an das, was er vor vier Wochen
gesagt hat?
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| This is the first issue of the genuine German Skorpions. |
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| Captured German officers, when interrogated about this British production, described it as "fantastisch." It was free of mistakes and was not obviously a forgery. |
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| It's your job to die! - / Kid from the U.S. - leaflet of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, used from December 1944 on in the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive). |
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
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| It's your job to fight! - / I mean you - Franklin's boys - leaflet of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, used from December 1944 on in the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive). |
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
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| It's your job to fight! - / Hello boys from the States - leaflet of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, used from December 1944 on in the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive). |
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
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| Initiative - The Foundation of Democracy - leaflet of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, December 1944. |
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
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|
To those who Wonder / ITS MEN and not Material WHICH COUNTS
- leaflet of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, December 1944.
|
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
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| When...? - leaflet of the SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, used from December 1944 on. |
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
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| It's your job to fight! - / American Soldiers - leaflet of SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, Unit Skorpion-West, used from December 1944 on in the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive). |
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| Reverse of the above leaflet. |
