The warning leaflets appear, from several accounts, to have emerged as something of an afterthought to the initial invasion plans. It was this unit which was to precede the Allied bomber force into France, ironically as daylight dawned on D-Day morning, dropping warning leaflets for the civilian population and special instructions for transport workers. By early 1944 a 'Special Leaflet Squadron', the American 422nd, was established and supplied with unarmed B-17's, camouflaged and modified for night flying. From 1940, British squadrons had been engaged in dropping morale-boosting literature to the imprisoned peoples of Northern Europe and they were joined by the United States Army Air Force in 1942. The Royal Air Force had commenced leaflet raids over Germany on September 3rd, 1939, and the British Army's Psychological Warfare Branch had used the medium with some success against enemy forces in North Africa and Italy.
Radio broadcasts, too, had become a regular part of the propaganda effort culminating in the 'Voice of SHAEF', beamed into Europe from May 19th, 1944. In their pre-planning for the D-Day leaflet drops Allied propagandists of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) Psychological Warfare Division could call on four years' gradually accumulated experience and expertise from the civilian and military personnel at their disposal. Within two days of the invasion, nine million leaflets had been dropped, bringing the news to friend and foe alike.
Specially equipped bombers carrying several million leaflets were the first Allied aircraft, except for airborne troop transporters, to fly over the Normandy beaches on June 6th, 1944. Scant attention is given in the official histories of Operation Overlord to the massive propaganda operation which accompanied the initial D-day landings and then announced their success to occupied Europe.
Sargent, a chief photographer's mate in the United States Coast Guard, depicts the US 1st Infantry Division disembarking at Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944. Taxis to Hell – and Back – Into the Jaws of Death, by Robert F.
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