THE STRATEGIC BOMBER AND AMERICAN PSYOP

Japanese Cities Leaflet 2106

Most of the leaflets dropped on Japan depicted B-29 Super Fortresses, although some did show B-17s or B-24s. The most famous leaflet showed a flight of five B-29s dropping bombs and a number of Japanese cities printed in small circles below. The Air Force dropped this leaflet on numerous occasions. For instance, on one raid 700,000 were dropped by the 73rd Bomb Wing on several Japanese cities on the night of 27-28 July 1945. Text on the back is:

ATTENTION JAPANESE PEOPLE

Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or a friend. In the next few days, four or more of the cities named on the reverse side of this leaflet 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 at least four will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately.

The background of this operation is told in greater detail by William E. Daugherty in A Psychological Casebook, John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD, 1958. Daugherty mentions the leaflets in an article entitled "Bomb Warnings to Friendly and Enemy Civilian Targets."

To increase the impact of the limited number of leaflets the Air Force could drop on Japanese cities, General Curtis LeMay, the commanding general of the 20th Air Force requested that a leaflet be prepared for dropping on several Japanese cities, warning their inhabitants that there was the imminent probability that the designated cities would soon be leveled by fire bombs.

The text of the original air warning leaflet used in Japan contained the names of twelve cities, at least four of which were to be destroyed. Tokyo was included among the twelve, but a last-minute change in plans led to the necessity for deleting this name and the preparation of a new leaflet. Included among the eleven cities named, were eight on the main island of Honshu and one each on the islands of Shikoku, Hokkaido, and Kyushu.

After the final text was approved, Office of War Information printing personnel on Saipan set about to provide the 20th Air Force with a sufficient number of copies of the leaflets to permit a liberal coverage of the selected targets. On 27 July 1945, the day following the pronouncement of Potsdam, the first of these leaflets were dropped on the originally named cities. The following night, five of the eleven cities - Tsu, Aomori, Ichinomiya, Ogaki, and Uwajima - were bombed and left in ashes.

A second leaflet named twelve additional cities that were marked for probable destruction. More than 500,000 copies of these leaflets were dropped on 30 July by specially assigned B-29 aircraft. Four days later, on 3 August 1945, copies of a third leaflet, naming twelve more cities was dropped.

The B-29 bombers in the photograph were from the 881st Squadron, 500th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force. Closest to the camera is the B-29 named “Snafuperfort” flown by First Lieutenant Robert E. Altoff. The original crew named her “Snafuperfort” because of mechanical unreliability. Behind “Snafuperfort” is "Fire Bug" flown by First Lieutenant Claude E. Bower. The 73rd's Mission Summary read:

Mission No. 186. Date: 29 May 1945. Target: Yokohama Area. Number of aircraft: 510. Altitude of Attack: 17,500 - 21,000 feet.

A total of 6.9 square miles of the city were burned and destroyed. Flak was heavy, meager to intense, accurate to inaccurate and shot down 3 B-29s. One B-29 was intentionally rammed. The B-29s were escorted by 101 P-51s. Two P-51s were lost over the target. This photo was used on Japanese language propaganda leaflets warning of impending attack. It was a crime to possess the flyers, which were suppressed by the government.

United States Air Force Photo - Date Photographed: Tuesday, May 29, 1945

Japanese Cities Leaflet 2106A

This leaflet was prepared in two different formats. In one, the cities are depicted in circles at the bottom of the leaflet. In a second version the cities were listed in a box at the lower right. The second (box type) leaflet is illustrated in United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Areas Psychological Warfare, Part Two, Supplement No. 2, CINCPAC - CINCPOA Bulletin No. 164-45, 15 August 1945. It is coded 2106A. Text at the left of the vignette is, "NOTICE BOARD." The purpose of the leaflet is "To inspire fear in the Japanese people by informing them of the cities we intend to destroy, thereby making it clear by inference that the Japanese air force is impotent and that we are masters of the skies over Japan." The text on the back of the leaflet is identical in both versions.

The leaflets were prepared by the psychological warfare staff of CINCPAC-CINCPOA, in Pearl Harbor and on Saipan. In addition to the employment of leaflets, warnings were also disseminated by a Japanese prisoner of war speaking over the radio facilities of KSAI, an OWI radio transmitter, which beamed medium-wave radio broadcasts to Japan from Saipan. The texts employed in the broadcasts were patterned after those used on the leaflets.

Another variation of this leaflet, coded 2027, shows a B-17 over a bombed Japanese industrial complex. The text on the back reads in part, "Our bombers have already been over Japan many times. Yowata, Moji, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Fukuoka, and other places have been bombed. So long as you continue this hopeless resistance, it is necessary for us to bomb your home cities. It must have been very difficult for the average Japanese technician to decide if he should chance the odds, or desert his strategic factory job and head for the safety of the countryside.

Leaflet 2069

One of the most interesting Allied “bombing” leaflets depicts General “Hap” Arnold, Commander of the U.S. 20th Air Force and Allied landing barges on the front. The back depicts falling bombs and dead women and children. The leaflet is meant to weaken the morale of the Japanese militarists and civilians. Some of the text is:

CEASE RESISTANCE AND SAVE YOUR COUNTRY

General Arnold, Commander of the 20th Air Force and who is in charge of the B-29 Super Fortress bomber operations said: “There is no part of the Japanese Empire which is not within the bombing range of our Air Force and there is no munitions factory that will escape bombing no matter in how remote a place it may be located.”

The systematic bombing of Japan’s war industries started six months ago from bases in China will be carried on with greater power to soften up the heart of Japan in preparation of joint landing operations by the Allied land, sea and air forces…

General Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold was an aviation pioneer and Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1941 until 1945 and the first and only General of the Air Force in 1949. He is also the only American to achieve five-star rank in two of its armed services. During WWII he was concerned about the B-29 bomber, which was plagued with mechanical problems. In order to assure that Japan was attacked the way he planned, Arnold named himself the commander of the new bomber force. With approval from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the president, he created the Twentieth Air Force, consisting of the 20th and 21st Bomber Commands. He transferred General Curtis LeMay and the B-29s from the China-Burma-India theater to the Pacific, with bases in Guam and the Mariana Islands. LeMay commanded subsequent combat operations against Japan, including the massive incendiary attacks on sixty-four Japanese cities. Hap Arnold is credited with being the guiding force behind the aerial destruction of the Japanese Empire.

Leaflet 2098

Leaflet 2098 is the only leaflet that I ever saw that depicts a B-29 Super-fortress dropping mines. This color leaflet is meant to show the consequences of the sowing of minefields in Japanese waters. The caption next to the photograph on the front is:

This is how mines are laid

The text on the back in part is:

MINE FIELDS OF DEATH

Your harbors and waterways are full of mines. Trying to clear these mine fields is like trying to dry up the ocean with a cup. You remove one and immediately, the B-29s come and lay a new one.

Because of this insane policy, mines in daily increasing numbers are sinking the vessels, which are essential to the new Japan.

If this continues, Japan will soon have no ships left. The militarists are sacrificing Japan's future. How long will you permit their reckless actions to continue?

This leaflet continues the propaganda message started in 2097, which depicts a starving Japanese soldier and says in part:

Your loved ones have been abandoned on isolated Pacific islands where they do not receive one grain of rice or one round of ammunition. Their single hope is that ships will come to rescue them. Now that artery, too, has been severed.

Numberless mines have been laid in the harbors of Japan. In rapid succession, the precious lives of your countrymen and the raw materials that are the nation’s lifeblood are being blown up….

Leaflet 2095

This leaflet seems to show the consequences of the mines depicted in leaflet 2098. The front bottom shows a Japanese ship that has hit a mine and is covered by flame and smoke and the top depicts the same ship sinking as seen through a submarine’s periscope. The text on the front is:

Another ship sinks. Your loved ones are waiting anxiously on isolated islands in the South Seas.

The back has a long message explaining the futility of Japanese shipping against American mines. It says in part:

Ah, proud transport. Today again, ships piled high with food, ammunition and vehicles sailed from the harbor. Will those ships ever reach your fighting men?

Do you know that your loves ones are dying of starvation on isolated islands…Every day the B-29s are dropping mines around the islands of Japan…Since March more than 200 ships have been sunk by these mines…Soldiers setting out for the front lines are drowning before the very eyes of their families who are bidding them a tearful farewell….

Leaflet 2020

American OWI leaflet 2020 is interesting because instead of the usual heavy bomber, it depicts a medium two-engine B-25 Mitchell bomber, the same type that raided Japan from the aircraft carrier Hornet early in the war. It appears over a destroyed building while dead Japanese soldiers are depicted in the foreground.  

There is no text on the front. The back is all text with red flames along the bottom of the leaflet. The purpose of the leaflet is to create fear of bombing and to convince civilians that to end the war is more patriotic than to continue hopeless resistance. The text is:

If this war is continued, the destruction of you beloved homeland will result. This is obvious.

If this war continues, the greater will be the job of rebuilding the country afterwards. The longer the war continues, the more the strength of the nation will be permanently harmed.

It is easy to sacrifice one's life for the country. But to end the war and rebuild the nation is true loyalty.

We know that this is an Office of War Information leaflet designed in Honolulu by American artist Frances Blakemore. This information is found in An American Artist in Tokyo, Michiyo Morioka, the Blakemore Foundation, Seattle, WA. Morioka describes the image in artistic terms and says:

Frances employed black to represent a city razed to the ground, with corpses of soldiers, destroyed buildings, billowing smoke and the ominous presence of American bombers like large predatory birds. The markedly naturalistic style imbues the scene with a grave sense of reality that matches the somber tone of the text and reminds the Japanese of their country’s dismal situation.

Leaflet 151-J-1

The United States Army produced a bomber leaflet coded 151-J-1. The leaflet is entitled “Earthquake from the sky,” And depicts a Japanese city being attacked while civilians flee in terror to the mountains. I add this leaflet because instead of the usual B-17 Flying Fortress or B-29 Super Fortress, it depicts B-24 Liberators. P-38 Lightning fighters can also be seen strafing railroads and factories. The text is:

Earthquakes and tidal waves cannot be halted. The people realize they are powerless against these overwhelming forces of nature and accept the ruin which follows in their wake.

The military forces of Japan can no more halt the overwhelming destruction by the United States Air Force than the people can stop an earthquake.

With ever increasing fury this air force will sweep over Japan like a tidal wave. It will rock the land like an earthquake. With unbelievable striking power, it will bring widespread destruction greater than that caused by all the forces of nature.

The boasting Japanese militarists know they are powerless to stop this terrific devastation. Having thus failed, they now call on helpless old men, women, and children to defend their own homes. They are now asking you to assume responsibility for home defense. But what weapons are the military giving you to defend your homes?

Complete destruction can be avoided only by the people’s overthrowing the militarists and asking for peace. An understanding with the United States means that the peace-loving people of Japan will be saved and will be free to build their country into a modern civilized nation.

An Uncoded American Leaflet Featuring a B-17 Bomber

The previous two leaflets feature bombers other than the usual B-29. This American leaflet to Japan shows a B-17 bomber dropping bombs over what we assume is a Japanese island. We don’t know for sure who produced this leaflet, although the back has an interesting design of silhouettes of small P-38 lightning fighters and burning Japanese fighters. This sort of design on the back of leaflets is often seen in those leaflets produced in the Guam base of Admiral Nimitz. All the Navy OWI and the Army PWB leaflets are coded. We will assume for the moment that this is a Guam leaflet. The leaflet is clearly divisive, telling Japanese Army troops that the Japanese Navy has no interest in helping them. The text says (not an official translation, probably done by a Japanese POW):

To Japanese officers and Soldiers.

Our American Air Force does not want to bomb ground troops. Our intention is to fight the Japanese Air Force. But the Japanese Air Force is a avoiding a showdown with us. What kind of measures is the Supreme Commander taking in this case? What kind of measures are you soldiers going to take?

The back of the leaflet is all text with silhouettes of small P-38 lightning fighters all over. The text is:

To the Officers and Soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army

Once again, the imperial Navy has betrayed your expectations. The Japanese Navy Air Force fought bravely at the beginning of the war. But now it is hiding on Rabaul, waiting for help from the Army air Corps. While they hide, they indulge in tea drinking waiting for the time when stronger flying forces of the commander are mobilized. Consequently, as they wait, the American Air Force drives ahead. The Japanese landing forces in the direction of New Guinea are faced with annihilation owing to bombings and artillery. Even though the Japanese have an Army Air Corps they are outnumbered sometimes or helpless due to fact that the American Air Force in New Guinea is being reenforced many times. The Japanese Navy Air Force is indifferent as usual.

Leaflet KA-1

The Office of War Information working with U.S. military forces also leafleted several other nations that were occupied by Japan. Korea had been occupied since 1910. Japan controlled Korea for 35 years during Japanese Imperialism. The Japanese control of Korea lasted from 22 August 1910 until 15 August 1945. During this period, Japan worked to wipe out Korean culture, language, and history. Schools and universities forbade speaking Korean, and authorities burned over 200,000 Korean historical documents, essentially erasing much of Korea’s historical memory. Additionally, Japan took over Korea’s labor and land, and hundreds of thousands of Korean women were forced into life as "comfort women" in military brothels.

This 30 October 1944 leaflet depicts the same text as leaflet CA-1 did to the Chinese people. The purpose of this leaflet was to warn Korean civilians to stay away from Japanese military installations and all places which are useful to the Japanese military. The image on the leaflet depicts a B-29 Super Fortress bombing an industrial complex. Koreans have been warned and are fleeing the bombing. The text on the front is:

Get away from places of military importance to the Japanese.

The text on the back is:

Dear Korean people!

Japanese imperialism which has invaded all Asia and is disturbing the world is simply a virus [the Chinese text of CA-1 says "scourge"] which tends to destroy mankind. America, China, and their allies are determined to wipe out this virus with merciless bombs which are the best medicine for it. From now on powerful American air forces will strike hard at Japanese military installations all over Korea. We do not wish to hurt our Korean friends. Our bombing objectives are only the installations with which the Japs fight the war, particularly airfields, steamships, docks, warehouses, trains, factories, mines, and the like. But it is not easy for our bombers to distinguish from several thousand feet in the sky between friend and foe on the earth. Therefore, all who remain near such objectives may be destroyed. Friends! Leave these areas as soon as possible!"

The American Air Force in China

The Americans dropped leaflets on the Japanese and their allies wherever they were. During WW2 Thailand aligned itself with the Empire of Japan. In 1945, the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) prepared a leaflet newspaper entitled "Liberation" and dropped it over Bangkok and other major cities.

WW II Thailand - #CTP-1 (Thai Pictorial)

The front of the newspaper depicts two B-29 Superfortress bombers. The caption next to the photograph is:

These B-29 bombers are the largest warplanes in the world. They are 141 feet in size.

The text of the main article is:

Giant B-29 bombers attack from Bangkok to Tokyo. America's giant new air weapons, the B-29 bombers, are heavily attacking Japanese military places throughout Asia. Because the Japanese use Thailand as a military base, the B-29s have bombed Japanese targets in Bangkok. They have also caused great damage to Singapore, Rangoon and Penang.

No target is too distant for these bombers. Japan itself has been attacked time after time. Great damage has been visited on the capitol city of Tokyo. The B-29s have also dropped many bombs on the Japanese cities of Nagoya, Sasebo, Ywata, Omura and Nagasaki. The dockyards, naval bases, aircraft factories, steel mills and other war installations were damaged at these places.

The bombings will be greatly intensified as production of the B-29s is being increased day by day.

Thailand CTM-39

This 17 May 1945 Office of War Information leaflet depicts an American soldier leaving Europe after the defeat of Germany and taking a giant step across the ocean to join the war on Japan. I believe this image was used in just about every nation the Japanese occupied, and Japan itself. The thought of millions of trained soldiers on their way to Japan and its colonies must have been terrifying. Notice that above the soldier we see dozens of heavy bombers on their way to blast the Japanese. The text on the front is:

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

JAPAN IS NEXT

The message on the back says:

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER IS JAPAN’S ONLY CHOICE

Germany has surrendered unconditionally. The war is over in Europe. Therefore, Japan alone must face the full might of the United Nations. On 8 May, American President Truman issued a statement making it clear that war will be pressed against Japan until she too surrenders unconditionally. Here is what President Truman said:

"Our blows will not cease until the Japanese military and naval forces lay down their arms in unconditional surrender. Just what does unconditional surrender of the armed forces mean for the Japanese people. It means the end of the war; it means the termination of the influence of the military leaders who have brought Japan to the current brink of disaster; it means provision for the return of soldiers and sailors to their families, their farms, and their jobs."

Burma CBA-43

This 27 April 1945 leaflet depicts two American B-24 "Liberator" bombers flying over Burma. The leaflets were designed to be dropped from B-24s. The text on the back is:

DANGER! BOMBS FOR THE JAPANESE!

These are American planes flying over your land. From this great height, people down below look like small dots. That is why pilots cannot always tell friends from foe. To be safe, stay away from the Japanese!

Burmans!

I am flying over your land to kill Japanese and destroy their supplies. I have no other purpose here. Before the Japanese attacked my country I lived peacefully at home. I had no desire for war. But Japan attacked the United States just it attacked Burma. Now my comrades and I must attack the Japanese wherever they are found. We shall not stop until the Japanese have been completely defeated.

But as I look down from my plane, flying at a great height in the sky, people appear very small. I cannot always tell friend from foe. When I see a group of people near Japanese military places or near the railroad, I take them to be either Japanese soldiers or those who work for them. I must attack them.

This places you in great danger. Yet I do not want to harm you. Please stay in a place of safety when I fly over you. Stay away from roads used by the Japanese. Stay away from the railroad. Stay away from Japanese military places. Do not needlessly endanger your lives.

The American pilot

STAY AWAY FROM JAPANESE MILITARY PLACES!

Burma #CBA-44

Another American leaflet coded CBA-44 showed a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber flying low over a jungle hut (basha). The leaflet was prepared by the OWI in 1945 for Burma. Text on the front is:

Danger! Bombs for the Japanese!

Text on the back is:

A message from the pilot of the plane overhead.

The days of the Japanese in Burma are numbered. Everywhere the Allies are smashing the invaders. My plane is helping to route the Japanese. The bombs I drop and the machine gun bullets I fire are speeding the day of liberation. But from the air, I cannot tell friend from foe. I must attack everywhere there are Japanese, from the biggest towns to the smallest villages. Burmese, I do not want to hurt you. I urge you to stay off the roads. Keep away from the railway. If possible, hide in the jungle.

STAY AWAY FROM THE JAPANESE.

Burma #CBA-31

Another leaflet showing the American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber depicts a pair of them flying over the landscape of Burma. The Office of War Information placed the same text in both Burmese and the Shan native language on different leaflets. Codes for Burma were CBA, CBG, CBM, CBN, CBP, CJ and CJM. This leaflet is coded CBA-31. Leaflets with text in Shan were coded XBSha, XShA, XShn and XShNL. The Shan version of the leaflet was disseminated by fighters, depicted a P-47 Thunderbolt and was coded XBSha-30.

The text on the front is:

DANGER! BOMBS FOR THE JAPANESE

These are American planes flying over your land. From this great height people down below look like small ants. That is why pilots cannot always tell friends from foe. To be safe, stay away from the Japanese.

The back has a longer propaganda message that says in part:

A Message from the Pilot of the Plane Flying Overhead

I am flying over your land to kill Japanese and to destroy their supplies. I have no other purpose here.

Before the Japanese attacked my country I lived peacefully at home. I had no desire for war. But Japan attacked the United States just as it attacked Burma. Now my comrades and I attack the Japanese wherever they are found. We shall not stop until the Japanese have been completely beaten…

Stay away from roads used by the Japanese. Stay away from the railroad. Stay away from Japanese military places. Do not needlessly endanger your lives...

Stay away from Japanese military places.

B17 over Hong Kong - #M1906

The Japanese were not safe from American bombers in China. This striking Allied leaflet entitled "Warning for Civilians" was dropped over Japanese troops occupying Hong Kong. It shows a devastating bomb raid by American B-17 Flying Fortresses.

The same image was used on OWI leaflet 2027 dropped over Japan and entitled “Save your homeland from destruction.” Some of that leaflet’s text is:

You are destroying your homeland

It is a known fact that America, with its huge resources and unlimited production facilities, is winning the war. Already your inner defense line in such areas as the Marianas has been breached.

Until a Year ago, the closest U.S. base to Japan was Pearl Harbor. Today we have bases near enough to bomb Japan.

America has already bombed Kyushu many times. Yawata, Moji, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Fujuoka, among other cities, have been bombed. As long as you continue this useless resistance, we must bomb the cities of Japan…

OWI China Appeal Leaflet CA-147

This 27 July 1945 American leaflet was dropped over China to warn industrial workers away from Japanese operated plants. It depicts heavy bombers over bombed and flaming factories. Some of the text is:

Industrial workers of Taiyuan and Shihchiachuang

Save Yourselves! Soon Chinese and American bombers will be coming to bomb Japanese installations. You Chinese who work in the mills, factories, warehouses and on the decks of ships operated by the Japanese – find work elsewhere, quickly! The Japs are doomed. For it is written in the Book of Changes, “When a thing reaches it limit, it turns around.” Don’t work with them and die with them. Let Jap blood spill, not yours….

American bombers over Taiwan - 108

Leaflet 108 depicts a group of unidentified American bombers over Taiwan in stark black and red. We clearly see the white "star" insignia on one wing. We should note that prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, the American Army Air Force symbol was a white star with red ball in the center on a field of blue. After the sneak attack, the red ball was removed from the insignia due to its similarity to the Japanese "red sun" symbol.

The aircraft are bombing a factory and buildings burn, chimneys fall, and human bodies fly through the air. The text on the front is:

To pulverize the cruel military might of the Japanese pirates one must bomb their military establishments - Japanese Imperial Munitions Factory.

The text on the back is in both Japanese and Chinese. Taiwan, like Korea, was occupied by the Japanese for many years prior to WWII. The message is directed to the people of Taiwan and explains that it is the Japanese being attacked not the occupied people:

People of Taiwan! 

Residents with families should quickly find a way to remove their old and weak from the vicinity of docks, railroad stations, fortifications, shipyards, munitions factories, depots, barracks and all other buildings and installations of value to the Japanese military forces.

Those with relatives or friends in the countryside would do well to send their parents, women, and children to temporarily live with them in order to escape the bombing of innocent people.

Leaflet SJ/54

Curiously, the British also printed and disseminated leaflets that featured American bombers. Here is a leaflet produced by the British South East Asia Command (SEAC), coded SJ/54 and dropped by the Royal Air Force over Japanese soldiers in Burma during 1944 and 1945. What is particularly interesting about this leaflet is that the British have combined the American B-17 Flying Fortress (mostly used in Europe) and the B-29 Super-Fortress. One would expect that they would depict two B-29s. The text on the front of the leaflet is:

TOKYO BOMBED

SUPERFORTRESSES ATTACK MILITARY TARGETS IN DAYLIGHT

American Superfortress bombers bombed industrial targets in Tokyo in daylight on 24 November.

The text on the back of the leaflet is:

FORTRESS AND SUPERFORTRESS

The B-29 Superfortress bomber has twice the engine power of its younger brother, the Flying Fortress, and is half-again as big. The B-29 carries a greater bomb load at a faster speed and higher than any other bomber in existence.

We should note that the B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs flew at about 33,000 feet, far higher than any Japanese fighter could reach. The photograph is a publicity photo from Boeing, the maker of both bombers. Their caption is:

B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and B-29 Superfortress bomber in flight together during a test conducted by Boeing, circa late 1944.

The Original WWII Photograph from Presse Universal (France)

B-29 aficionado Jesse Lozano points out that the tail number on the American B-29 is “42 24427.” Robert A. Mann says in The B-29 Superfortress: A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions, that the aircraft was assigned to the 321st Base Unit. Mann points out that although the B-29 is best known as a bomber, it also served in reconnaissance, as a tanker, and as a rescue plane and that this B-29 was not an aircraft used in combat. Lozano thinks that is correct since he sees no turrets or machines gun barrels visible in the tail section on the B-29 in the photograph.

Australia uses an American Bomber on a Leaflet

The Australian leaflet was printed by FELO (Far Eastern Liaison Office). It was dropped over Madang, Papua New Guinea, in early 1944. It depicts various Allied troops and weapons on their way to New Guinea to drive out the Japanese. In the center is an American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. The text in pidgin is:

The hand of the Government is retaking [New Guinea] now

  

Leaflet 2014

America threatened Japan with depictions of bombs as well as bombers. Leaflet 2014 is very impressive from a visual standpoint. It shows a highly detailed and polished vertical black bomb on a red background. There is no text on the front.

The back depicts a vertical silhouette of the bomb with black text on a white background. The purpose of the leaflet is to tell the Japanese that America did not want to kill civilians, just destroy Japan's military strength. The text is:

This leaflet could have been a bomb.

This is to warn you away from military installations, factories, railways, and harbors where our bombs will strike again and again until the gumbatsu quits this hopeless war.

Stay away from military objectives! 

The identical image of a bomb is found on the front of leaflet 2013. The message is different:

These bombings will continue until your militarist leaders give up. You know we have the strength to continue until your beautiful land is in ruins. The militarists are continuing the war because they are afraid of punishment. You are the ones who suffer. The whole nation suffers to satisfy a few selfish men. Force your leaders to bring an end to a hopeless war. That is the best prevention against bombing.

This is another OWI leaflet designed by Frances Blakemore. Morioka says about it:

Frances created a portrait of a menacing black bomb. She rendered its three dimensionality, cool tactile surface, and compact geometric shape through a precise hatching technique and fine lines. Set against a red background, the bomb’s perfect appearance emphasizes its inhuman effectiveness as a modern weapon of mass destruction.

Leaflet J.164

Curiously, the Australians also produced a bomb leaflet for the Japanese coded J.164. Apparently, the Allies believed that a threatening bomb was a terrifying image that would catch the reader's attention. The leaflet was to be dropped wherever the Japanese were for as long as it took. The leaflet depicts a falling bomb and the text:

Man kills man

This is not what we prefer to do, but this is war. Behind this bomb is the full moral and material power of the United Nations. Unlimited numbers of bombs will rain on you until your leaders recognize the futility of the struggle they have condemned you to.

Soviet Bombs over Hamburg

Many other nations used the falling aerial bomb to arouse fear in the enemy, but clearly nobody used it in great depth like the United States did. Here is an example from the Soviet Union to Germany during WWII. The front shows four bombs falling on the German port city of Hamburg. The text on the front is:

Read and Share

Hail Storm of bombs over Hamburg

The back of the leaflet has a letter to “My Dear Wilhelm” from pilot Paul Maltzahn, a comrade in the military who talks about the fate of Hamburg under the Russian pounding. There is a safe conduct pass from the Commander of the Red Army at the bottom of the leaflet.

An Anti-American, Anti-British “Bomb” leaflet

This propaganda leaflet was prepared by the Germans to be disseminated on France and should be in the European section. However, it is so similar to the U.S. bomb leaflet dropped on the Japanese that I thought it would work well here where the two could be compared. The leaflet is folded into two pages and the front and back depict a black bomb and the words:

R.A.F. = U.S.A.A.F.

During WWII this would have indicated that the Royal Air Force was the same as the United States Army Air Force. Late in the war the Americans bombed by day, the British by night. When opened, the leaflet had a long French-language text which says in part:

            FRENCHMEN! 

Here is the latest model of the incendiary bomb which the “liberators” are beginning to drop in the millions on your towns and villages. 

It is the final product of their science. The perfection is such that you will be able to see children killed outright or burned alive and your homes destroyed in an instant. 

Keep this reproduction. If you are lucky enough to escape this new attack which they promise you, you will have in front of you a picture of the weapon your friends used to liberate you… 

The text goes on to talk about the foolishness of waiting four years for Allied liberation when they have never liberated anyone. It recommends that the Frenchmen join with the Germans for a brighter and better France.  

It is interesting to see how the enemy took this very American image of a bomb and used it for their own purposes.

 

Bombs over Japan - 808

Leaflet 808 is printed in black and white and depicts 13 American bombs falling on a smoking Japan. It is obvious that there are more bombs yet to come. The back is all text and the message is more harsh than usual on a surrender leaflet:

Are you so determined to die that you won't listen to reason?

Don't you know that resistance against our overwhelming strength is futile? Do you enjoy being pounded and shelled to pieces?

What can your death accomplish here?

Come over to us! We will give you food, water, and medical treatment. Our kindness will refute the lies you have been told about American troops!

Leaflet 2038

This is rather a strange leaflet to drop on Japan because it depicts the effect of an Allied bombing on the German city of Essen. The Germans were the allies of the Japanese so this leaflet is saying in effect, "what we did to your allies we can do to you." Like leaflet 2079 below, it uses an old Japanese proverb as part of the propaganda. The proverb is: "What happens twice will happen three times." The leaflet is 5 x 8-inches, brown ink on white paper. The front depicts the bombing of German war plants in Essen. The text is:

The Great Industrial Area of Essen, Germany

The back is all text and says:

What happens twice will happen three times

You should know the strength of American Airpower. The same air power is causing your partner Germany to surrender.

Our bombers will return, not just once or twice or three times, but many times as long as your militarists continue the war.

In 2015, one of these leaflets was offered for sale from the estate of a Navy veteran who wrote on it “Souvenir of Saipan - 1945.” These leaflets were prepared on Saipan by the Office of War Information. However, the sailor obviously did not read Japanese because he also wrote on the leaflet, “Tokyo - Before & After B-29’s.” Right war, wrong theater.

Leaflet 2079

Leaflet 2079 depicts an American B-17 bomber attacking railroad yards and surrounding buildings on one side and Naha City, the Capitol of Okinawa, before and after an American bombing raid on the other side. It uses an old Japanese proverb as its theme. The text is:

BEFORE FALLING SEEK THE ASSISTANCE OF YOUR CANE!

The bombing so far has destroyed only a small part of the Japanese industry. However, as time goes on the degree of destruction will be multiplied and Japan will become a ruin. It is not loyal to your country to sit and watch its destruction without doing anything. That is an attitude taken by cowardly persons.

Save your country! Stop resistance! Seek the assistance of your cane before falling!

The caption on the side showing the results of the bombing is:

Naha City of Okinawa Prefecture before the bombing.

After bombing.

I have also seen this leaflet printed on a bright yellow paper that would stand out well on the ground after a bombing.

Leaflet 2046

OWI leaflet 2046 is extremely well done. It has the appearance of an art poster with interesting colors and design. The text is meant to describe the bomber, its range, load and fire power together with indication of the havoc its bombs can create. The text uses the standard propaganda theme of turning the people against the military leaders. The front of the full-color 5 x 8-inch leaflet depicts a pinned down man burning amid the aftermath of a bombing. The text is:

These American bombers above your heads are very advanced and powerful. Even engineers could not have dreamed of these powerful planes just five years ago. These bombers are twenty times bigger than yours, and its armor is so thick and bullets would not penetrate, unless the bullets hit its crucial areas, which is less than one third of total surface of its body. Not only these bombers able to fly at a much higher altitude than your latest fighter planes, but they also can carry a full load of bombs as far as two thousand miles away. Their ability to fly long distances are twice as much as the distances of the Liberators or Fortress as well as their faster flying speed. These bombers powerful firing abilities are equal to a battalion of your Japanese Army Infantry. Therefore our bombers are much stronger and much faster and able to fly at a much higher altitude than you bombers.... These planes above your heads are carrying orders to attack your country everyday with high explosives and incendiary bombs. You already know how powerful these bombs are . These bombs are capable of destroying any military facilities and or factory making military goods, unfortunately killing people who live near these places. These horrible sights are indescribable by words. The fires can spread to civilian housing and destroy everything....Nothing can protect you from these new weapons. Our weapons are created by the most advanced science technology and its purpose is to kill and destroy. We advise you to either run or persuade your leaders to surrender, otherwise you will witness your loved ones horrible death and your mother country destroyed by bombs and fire and in the end you self will become a victim of our new weapons. Until your leaders realize how useless it is to resist our power, we will continue bombings and destroying your country and your people.

Leaflet 2047 

Leaflet 2047 depicts two Japanese workers in a blazing factory with beams and machinery falling all around them. The purpose of the standard 5 x 8-inch leaflet was to show the futility of trying to escape the American bombs. The leaflet tells the Japanese civilian of the inadequacy of air raid shelters provided by the government and the inevitable results of bombings. The text on the front is, "The Aftermath of Bombing is Hell."

The back is all text. The text is:

JAPANESE CIVILIANS!

The Gumbatsu boldly urge resistance from the safety of their fine air-raid shelters, but your shelters are only the entrance halls for death!

Every day of added resistance will bring greater terror upon you. Bombs will blast great holes in your cities. Bombs directed at factories will also destroy your homes while you scurry desperately for a place of shelter, which does not exist. Incendiary bombs will start conflagrations, which will envelope you and consume you in flames. Every plane will leave horror in its wake.

You cannot escape. You cannot hide. Resistance means a horrible death.

Demand an end to such hopeless resistance. This is the only way to save the nation.

Leaflet 2048

I was not going to illustrate OWI leaflet 2048 because the message is redundant and we already have what I consider a better example of the fear of bombing theme in leaflet 2047. However, it is interesting to note how different artists approach the same themes. Instead of the full color very realistic artwork found on the previous leaflet, 2048 is printed in red, and the Japanese victims are almost caricatures, like the character in the Edvard Munch painting, "The Scream." The standard 5 x 8-inch leaflet uses the earthquake of 1923 as a sample of the horror and destruction that will be caused by bombs dropped by American aircraft. The leaflet depicts fear-maddened masses fleeing the toppling flame-ridden buildings. Tokyo is falling down and burning in the background. There is no text on the front.

The text on the back is:

Do you remember the great damage done to your country by the earthquake of 1923? America is capable of producing earthquakes that will cause damage a thousand times greater.

Such earthquakes will be brought in bundles from 2 1/2 to 4 tons. The bundles are capable of destroying in 2 or 3 seconds the results of several years of struggle and hardship.

Note carefully the American style of earthquake. Feel the trembling of the earth when they are let loose. Your homes will be destroyed, factories will vanish, and your family killed.

Note carefully the American style of earthquake. You will know the time when it will occur. You will be experiencing it!

This is another OWI leaflet designed by Frances Blakemore. Morioka says about it:

The message on leaflet 2048 compares a bomb’s destructive capacity to the great Kanto earthquake of 1923, in which more than 100,000 people perished. Frances presented a scene of the disaster caused by the great Kanto earthquake with people in a panicked frenzy in the midst of falling buildings and rising flames. Red, the color of deadly fire, emphasizes the apocalyptic destruction.

John W. Dower depicts the three leaflets above from this article in Cultures of War, W.W. Norton, NYC, 2010. He gives his own interpretation to the effects of the bombing:

Terror bombing was not aimed only at destroying enemy will. The devastating urban-area raids simultaneously proved an enormous boost to American morale as the pacific entered its ferocious endgame against a fanatical enemy now engaged in kamikaze attacks and suicidal last stands of Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. As one internal military report put it after the great incendiary raid on Tokyo in early March, the outstanding success of the new bombing policy “salvaged the morale and fighting spirit” of LeMay’s crews and persuaded them that the B-29 was an efficient and reliable aircraft.

Beyond this, of course, news that war had finally come home with a vengeance to Japan, and the emperor’s loyal subjects were being “erased” in a wholesale manner, was uplifting to virtually everyone on the Allied side – not only in the theaters of battle but also on the home fronts of the Anglo-American powers and, to the extent that such information could be disseminated, in China and much of the rest of occupied Asia as well.

 

OWI Leaflet 2087

This leaflet uses the fate of children to shatter Japanese morale. It features an unhappy Japanese baby crying on the front of the leaflet. The text on the right is:

Helpless children are trembling with fear of air raids and crying for food. They are waiting for the return of their fathers.

The back is all text:

Recently, according to reliable sources, it was said that since the beginning of the Asiatic War the Japanese Navy has lost 262,000 men (including attached civilian personnel). 262,000 dead! It is easy to say these words but to count the number one by one would take considerable time. And for all these dead, there are countless numbers of grieving persons who have lost their fathers, husbands, or brothers. The above represents the figure for only the navy. If you continue with the figures for the army the grand figure for the total of the dead would exceed 1,000,000. Furthermore, if you add the number of wounded, the total is enormously increased.

If the Japanese militarists do not give the signal to cease fighting the number of live Japanese will rapidly diminish.

And the number of unfortunate families will increase rapidly. Isn’t this something to think about?

 

OWI Leaflet 129

This leaflet depicts a photograph of Tokyo taken after an American bombing raid, and those with a sharp eye might notice that the Imperial Palace has some damage. The back is all text:

You must have heard the news of the American bomber raids over Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyushu and other areas. The picture on the back of this leaflet was taken after one of those raids. Tokyo station, Niju bridge, and the Marunouchi can be seen in the picture.

Air raids will continue until the Japanese leaders admit their defeat and negotiate their surrender with us. To occupy your island would be easier than raiding Tokyo. Soon we shall demonstrate to you our astounding naval and air power. Then you will find out how much damage was done to Japan proper by our air raids.

OWI Leaflet 116

This is another leaflet designed to lower Japanese morale and make them realize the hopelessness of their position. Japan has lost control of the sea, air, and production and cannot win the war. On the front we have two photographs of burning Japanese cargo ships and a picture of a Japanese officer. The text is:

OPEN YOUR EYES!

The strategy of the Japanese militarists, who regarded production capacity as unimportant, has suffered miserable defeat at the hands of America’s enormous resources and powerful production power.

Japan, beaten in the production battle, cannot win the war.

To supplement the weakness in production, the Japanese militarists have developed a slave-like military training which disregards human nature and have deceived the Japanese people with lies and false propaganda.

Even thought there were some that believed in the false victories because of the news that refused to recognize Japanese defeats at MIDWAY and in the SOLOMONS, can there be any who still doubt the American occupation of SAIPAN, the PHILIPPINES, IWO JIMA and other places? Moreover, OKINAWA has already fallen into American hands.

The incessant day and night American aerial attacks from these bases and from aircraft carriers are weakening Japan’s production capacity and making it impotent. 

Leaflet 2114

A very plain small 4 x 5-inch all-text leaflet may be one of the most important bomb messages ever dropped by Allied aircraft over Japan. The leaflet is coded 2114 and is in the form of an extra addition of the American propaganda newspaper Mariana Jiho. Its purpose was "To inform the Japanese people of the new atomic bomb and to make them aware of the great devastation that is in store for them.” Some of the text is:

COMPLETED

Washington - August 6 - President Truman today issued the following statement:

Sixteen hours ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than 2000 times the blast power of the 11-ton British "Grand Slam," which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.

It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.

  

Hiroshima before and after the atomic bomb was dropped

We mentioned British rumors in the section about setting the sea on fire. It is amazing to note that while the atomic bomb was one of the greatest secrets of WWII and everything possible was done to keep American research on the bomb hidden from the enemy until its actual use in August, 1945, the British, apparently not knowing of the American project blithely used the threat of it in their rumor campaign. Some examples:

17 January 1941 – America’s Flying Fortresses are specially designed to carry atomic bombs with a blast area of two miles generating intense heat.

22 January 1941 – Sir William Bragg has been knighted for perfecting the uranium bomb.

19 March 1943 – Air Marshall Harris is very satisfied with the Essen try-out of the new uranium atom bomb.

If American security heard of these rumors they surely were in a state of panic. The less said of the atomic bomb in the early years of the war the better.

KOREAN WAR

 

Korean War - Leaflet 1013

The United States used the very same image of a bomb blast during the Korean War that had been used against the Japanese in WWII. (see 150-J-1 above)It was prepared by the Military Intelligence Section of the Psychological Warfare Branch and dropped on major cities in North Korea.

Leaflet 1013 depicts an explosion in the center of a bright red field and the words in contrasting blue:

Air Raid Warning

Act quickly!   Move away from military targets!

The back of the leaflets is an all text long propaganda message that targets 10 North Korean cities. The first of two paragraphs is:

Act quickly!   Move away from military targets!

Citizens of Chongjin, Pyongyang, Chinnampo, Ilungnam, Songjin, Sariwon, Wonsan, Hamhung, Sinanju, and Haeju:  The UN forces urge you to leave these cities and go to the country or to the mountains. Your city is one of those in which your Communist leaders have built war factories and concentrated military supplies to kill other Koreans. UN planes will destroy all such military installations, including railway marshaling yards, communication centers, dock installations, war material factories and supply depots.

The leaflets were mentioned in the Toledo Blade of 19 August 1950. Some of the text was:

North Korea was served a grim warning last night that 10 major cities, including the capitol Pyongyang, are about to be bombed…

Leaflet 1011

The same striking image was used earlier on a leaflet coded 1011. The data sheet says the leaflet is entitled “Civilian evacuation of military target areas.” The text is Korean and it targets the civilian population of major cities in North Korea and occupied areas. It is a warning leaflet urging civilians to evacuate cities which contain military targets likely to be bombed. The text on the front is identical to 1013. The back of the leaflet depicted a blue U.N. flag at the top and the text in red:

Act quickly! Move away from military targets!

The U.N. Forces urge all civilians to leave cities containing military targets. Your city is one in which the Communist gang has built war factories and concentrated military supplies to be used in killing other Koreans. One by one these military installations will be destroyed by U.N. planes. The U.N. Air Force will do everything possible to protect innocent civilians from the war forced on Korea by the Communist traitors. But you must act quickly. Stay away from military targets. Move to the country. Many others have wisely left cities where the Communists have military depots and war factories. Join them, and preserve your live so that you may help build a strong, free Korea after the Communists have been driven out. The U.N. forces wish to avoid harming civilians.

Korean War - Leaflet 1020

Curiously, the same image was used again on Leaflet 1020, but this leaflet was printed only in red and without the blue contrast is not quite as striking. Instead of naming a number of cities, it is aimed only at the Capitol of North Korea. The text on the front was the same as the two leaflets above. The back text in red is:

CITIZENS ON PYONGYANG!

Your city still contains important military targets which must be destroyed in order to bring an end to the war of aggression which the Communist leaders started.

THESE TARGETS WILL BE BOMBED WITHIN 48 HOURS!

You are warned to leave Pyongyang immediately. The United Nations wants to avoid harm to innocent civilians. To remain where you are is to place your own life in needless danger.

MOVE OUT QUICKLY!

Mark R. Jacobson mentions these “bomb blast” leaflets in his PhD dissertation “Minds then Hearts: U.S. Political and Psychological Warfare during the Korean War.”

The use of warning leaflets with strategic bombing campaigns continued throughout the Korean War. In July of 1951 Washington specifically directed Far East Command to drop warning leaflets in conjunction with renewed strategic bombing campaigns against Pyongyang and 77 major North Korean cities. Far East Command, Eighth US Army Korea, and especially Fifth Air Force viewed the propaganda offensive, code named Plan Strike, as not only an attempt to reduce civilian casualties but to lower civilian morale and disrupt industrial production – something even well placed bombs could not always do well. Plan Strike specifically focused on communications centers and major supply routes while Plan Blast supported attacks against military targets in Pyongyang. In addition to leaflets, Strike and Blast used Radio Seoul and other media outlets to warn residents of the upcoming missions.

 

Leaflet 1277

This leaflet was part of a series called “Plan Strike.” It was printed by the U.S. 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Group, on 4 February 1953 in Korean. The front shows B-29s on a bombing run and the word:

Warning

The back depicts the same B-29 bombers and four images of Koreans near targeted sites: an Industrial plant; a military supply site; a military vehicle and a Troop billet: The text is:

Stay away! Save your life!

To destroy communism these targets must be destroyed.

SAVE YOUR LIFE! STAY AWAY!

Leaflet 1056

Just as in WWII, many of the Korean War leaflets depicted falling bombs. Leaflet 1056 was produced by the Military Intelligence Section General Staff, Psychological Warfare Branch of the Far East Command. On the front it depicts falling bombs bearing the flags of many of the nations allied against North Korea. The back shows naval carrier aircraft attacking trains and vehicles. Some of the text is:

No soldier can fight without supplies! – No man can live without food!

Day by day more and more United Nations planes are bombing your lines of supplies.

Day by day more of your food supply trucks lie in burning ruins. Trains carrying the vital war materiel you need so badly are being blasted from the face of the earth.

Leaflet 8515

Leaflet 8515 was produced by EUSAK, dated 6 April 1951 and targeted the Chinese military in Korea. It attempts to raise their fear of night bombing. On the front a USAF heavy bomber drops a string of bombs. The text is:

Even at night you cannot hide

The back is all text and says in part:

Officers and men of the Chinese Communist forces:

Death might strike you at any moment! You are no longer safe at night. United Nations aircraft equipped with radar can find and destroy you. Bodies made of flesh and blood cannot encounter the aircraft and bombs of the United Nations. Do not die a foolish death. Come to the United Nations lines at once….

Leaflet 8527.

Leaflet 8527 seems to be from the same series as 8515, is also in stark black and white and probably from the same artist. This EUSAK leaflet shows two bombers on the front, one dropping leaflets, the other bombs. The text on the front is:

CHOOSE YOUR WAY TO LIFE

Safe Conduct pass. Do not hesitate. Save your life. Come to the United Nations lines and receive good treatment.

Text on the back says in part:

Officers and men of the Chinese Communist forces:

The United Nations forces possess two kinds of bombs. One destroys your life: One saves your life. Are you willing to die in a foreign land for nothing? Be wise, friends. Choose the way to life….

Leaflet 1123

This leaflet depicts bombs falling on a Korean munitions factory. It was printed by the 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Group on 24 November 1951. The data sheet explains that the color red was chosen because of its eye-catching ability and the increased weight it gives the bomb warning message. The back depicts Communist troops and police suppressing the bomb warning leaflets and forcing the Koreans to work at the point of a gun. Some of the text is:

Warning!

Save your life

Communist police keep civilians from reading U.N. bomb warnings. Communist police are to blame for needless deaths.

Stay away from military factories. Stay away from airfields. Stay away from entrenchments. Stay away from soldiers. Stay off railroads. Stay off main highways and crossroads.

Leaflet 7053

This leaflet depicts a wave of B-29s bombing the Communist Chinese and destroying everything in sight. It is a frightening scene. The Leaflet was designed by the Far East Command, Psychological Warfare Branch, and targets Chinese troops. The back has a picture of a Chinese soldier hiding under a cloud, thinking he cannot be seen. A hand comes through the cloud to grab the soldier, an implication that the UN forces know exactly where he is hiding. The text on the front is:

UN materiel superiority – Radar Bombing.

Leaflet 1080

Leaflets showing heavy bombers were used once again during the Korean War. The USAF dropped leaflet 1080 printed by the First Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet group on 18 September 1951. It showed a B-29 Super Fortress on one side and a bombed rail yard on the other. It was prepared to “stimulate the individual soldier’s fear of the United Nation’s material superiority in meeting an attack. The leaflet text is:

These bombs of fire await your next attack

Because your Communist leaders refuse to stop fighting, they force the UN troops to use every powerful weapon against you when you attack. Have you heard about your next attack?

In your next attack you will meet our fire bombs, flame-throwers and destructive artillery. Many of you will not survive the Communist "human sea" offensive…

But you can come over to the UN side and save your life.

The same leaflet was printed in Chinese for the Chinese troops fighting in Korea, coded 7085. Printing the leaflets in two languages with different code numbers was quite common during the war.

Most of the early B-29 raids were performed by a very limited number of B-29s. The bombers had many malfunctions which forced them to return to base. Still, some of the missions were a great success. One example is mentioned by my friend Dan King in the Yalu River Boys, Pacific Press, North Charleston, NC, 2018.

General Hong Zuezhi, deputy commander of the People’s Volunteer Force in Korea and Chief of Logistics wrote: “The U.N. air interdiction campaign against North Korean rail and road networks was particularly devastating to Chinese forces. On 8 April 1951, American napalm bombing runs set 84 rail cars afire, destroying 1,500 tons of grain, 408,000 uniforms, and 190,000 pairs of boots. On this single mission, roughly 40% of their supplies were destroyed and as a result, the Chinese People’s Volunteers were going hungry.

Leaflet 1081

Several other bomb warning leaflets were dropped at the same time as leaflet 1080. For instance, leaflet 1081 depicts B-29 bombers over a barren pock-marked airfield (red color). The text is:

People of North Korea.

Airfields in North Korea are unsafe!

To save your lives, stay away from airfields at all times!

Leaflet 1091 depicts the same scene of B-29 bombers over a barren pock-marked airfield but in blue. The text on this bomb warning leaflet is:

North Korean civilians!

North Korean airfields are targets for U.N. bombing.

Don’t go near them or risk your lives while the armistice negotiations are going on!

Leaflet 9012

Leaflet 9012 was produced by the Military Intelligence Section of General Headquarters, Far East Command. It depicts a single North Korean soldier with rifle pointed at the sky filled with U. S. B-29 bombers and about to be run over by a tank. The text is:

The Sky Thunders, the Earth Rocks, Human Flesh Cannot Stand Against Planes and Tanks.

The text on the back is:

THE SKY THUNDERS WITH THE ROAR OF UNITED NATION PLANES…

But Communist leaders have not given North Korean soldiers protective covering.

THE EARTH ROCKS WITH THE GROWING POWER OF UNITED NATIONS ARMS…

But Communist leaders expect North Korean soldiers to fight tanks and planes with rifles.

HUMAN FLESH CANNOT STAND AGAINST TANKS AND PLANES…

Why support leaders who don’t support you?

The strategic bombing of North Korea was called Operation Strike. Towns were warned weeks ahead of a major bombing raid. Civilians were warned that they were about to be bombed because their homes housed enemy military personnel and materiel. They were ordered to flee the area before the bombers attacked. Before the actual bombing, Radio Seoul broadcast additional warnings. After the bombings, leaflets were dropped reminding the people that they had been warned and telling them once again why their town had been a target. The purpose of this operation was to show the North Koreans that the United Nations forces had complete control of the air and could strike when and where they desired.

A typical Radio Seoul message was:

People of North Korea. Attention. This may save your life.

Today the United Nations Air Force bombed fifty villages, towns and cities that were military targets. These were military targets along highways and railways. You may be next. Save your lives. Flee to the hills.

Obey this warning and you may live.

Leave your village immediately. Take your families with you. If the Communists force you to remain in the danger area, send your women and children to safety.

The United Nations Command wants to protect Korean civilians. You must obey these instructions to leave.

Leave the doomed area at once.

Remember. You may be the next to die!

The U.S.A.F. was different from the other services in that it believed that its bombing raids were a form of psychological operations. To the Army, PSYOP was leaflets and loudspeakers. The Air Force knew that 100 bombers destroying a division or a city changed the way that the enemy thought. As a result, they often specifically asked for leaflets to be used after a raid when the troops or civilians would be in a more susceptible state. The following three leaflets are an example.

Leaflet 8288

This leaflet was produced by the Psychological Warfare Division Headquarters EUSAK on 26 May 1952. It is a tactical leaflet requested by the 5th Air Force to be dropped immediately following an unusually heavy air strike. The leaflet exploits Communist lack of air support.  The front depicts a drawing of Flying Tiger (An actual winged beast, not the WWII P-40 Tomahawk) and U.S. F-80 Shooting Star Fighter bombers in an air strike. The back depicts small flying tigers on the four corners. Text on the front is:

The Flying Tigers of the Free World Strike Again!

Text on the back is:

Officers, Sergeants and Privates of the North Korean People’s Army:

You have just had a taste of the might of the free world’s aircraft! Does the taste not smack of death? The flying tigers of the free world will refresh your taste again and again!

Do the false promises of your Communist leaders compensate for their lack of aircraft?  Can you believe your own eyes” Have you been defended by any aircraft from China?  From North Korea?  From Russia?

Kim Il Sung has betrayed the North Korean People. He is the running dog of Stalin and has sold the Glorious Heritage of your race for the slave-like ideology of the “Big Nose.”

Under the bombs and guns of the UN flying tigers you risk a dog’s death for nothing.  Our tigers will return again and again!  You must escape inevitable death!

Come to the side of the UN and preserve your precious life for the future of Korea.

Leaflet 8301

This leaflet was produced by the Psychological Warfare Division G3 (Operations) EUSAK on 10 June 1952. It is a tactical leaflet requested by the 5th Air Force to be dropped immediately following an unusually heavy air strike. The leaflet exploits Communist lack of air support. It was requested by the 5th Air Force to inform NK soldiers of the results of the two years air strikes by UN aircraft. The front depicts a U.S. F-80 Shooting Star bombing various targets. The text is:

THESE ARE THE RESULTS OF COMMUNIST AGGRESSION!

The back is all text:

Two years ago your Communist leaders launched an attack on your brothers and sisters in the Republic of Korea. The attack was cowardly and unprovoked.

What are the results after two years of war?  What has happened to your beloved country? Read these figures and you shall know what UN aircraft alone have done in answer to Communist aggression:

	Destroyed	Damaged
Buildings	127, 769	109186
Vehicles	56,230	4,409
Carts	2,816
Supply Dumps	1,346	593
Bridges	2,100	5,233
Tanks	1,105	988
Railroad Cars	14,001	27,084
Gun Positions	5,406	2,531
Troops	239,023
Rail Cuts	34,118
Aircraft	445	588

This is the UN answer to Communist aggression. UN aircraft fly in your skies unchallenged.  Have you seen this with your own eyes?

Your Communist leaders have caused your country to be destroyed and have placed the chains of slavery on your people!

Leaflet 8681 (front)

Leaflet 8681 (back)

This leaflet was produced by the Psychological Warfare Division Headquarters G3 (Operations) EUSAK on 14 September 1952. The leaflet was requested by 5th Air Force to be dropped immediately following an air strike on Chinese Communist Forces troop concentrations. The leaflet exploits Chinese lack of air support. The front depicts a U.S. F-80 Shooting Star attacking a Communist installation. The back depicts three U.S. B-26 Martin Marauder light bombers dropping bombs.

The text on the front is:

THE AIR FORCE OF THE FREE WORLD STRIKES AGAIN!

Text on the back is:

Sergeants and Privates of the Chinese Communist Forces:

United Nations Fighters and bombers shortly will destroy all military targets along the railroads and highways outlined in red on the map.

You have just had a taste of the might of the United Nations’ aircraft. The Air Forces of the Free World are daily increasing in number and in strength. From now on, you will taste more and more of their might, until peace is restored in Korea.

You are lacking of aircraft; the empty talk of the Communist Party will never cover up this deficiency. You have been in Korea long enough. Did you ever see any aircraft from China, North Korea or Soviet Russia protect your ground positions from the air? If there were such, you would certainly have seen them with your own eyes!

Under the bomb and guns of the United Nations’ aircraft, many of your comrades have died in vain. Your leaders have volunteered you to fight in Korea and now can not protect you. What a pity!

Your Communist leaders have betrayed the Chinese people into slavery and death!

Leaflet 8274

I thought I would end this section with this leaflet because of the interesting image. This leaflet was actually produced by the Republic of Korea Army and entitled “Inferiority of Transportation.” It depicts American heavy bombers attacking North Koreans carrying supply on their backs and by carts. The Koreans drew the bomber and notice that it is four-engine, with a curved tail and the old red and white stripes used in WWII. Yes, that is a B-17 Flying Fortress. The Koreans wanted a bomber for their leaflet and apparently they found an old picture of a WWII American Fortress.

The leaflet was printed by the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea G-3 (Operations) and numbered 8274. It also carried the Korean number 230. The text on the front is:

Can a Cart and A-frame stand against B-29s or Jet Planes?

The back says in part:

We are watching a fight between a tiger and a rabbit in this civilized 20th century – a fight between an airplane and an A-frame or cart….

VIETNAM

The top secret 1966 CIA Report: “Vietnamese Communists Will to Persist” mentions the bombing of North Vietnam:

Damage caused by air strikes against economic and military facilities and equipment in North Vietnam through June 1966 amounted to $86 million of which $52 million were sustained by the economy and $34 million by the military. If the bombing of North Vietnam persists to mid-1967, an additional $38 million to the economy may be expected. The cost of replacing the bulk petroleum facilities will be another $4 million. The total damage to the economy of North Vietnam will them be $94 million. Using the same assumptions, we estimate that the cumulative economic and military damage of the Rolling Thunder program will total $144 million by mid-1967. Losses at this level will not represent a significant drain on North Vietnam’s resources. The damage sustained by air attacks is a bill that can be passed to the Soviet Union or China.

To stimulate patriotic fervor the regime’s propaganda makes clear the direct connection between North Vietnamese support for the war in the South and the bombing of North Vietnam. Civilians in the North take great pride in their country’s achievements in downing American aircraft and often mention the well-publicized achievements of Communist forces in South Vietnam.

At the same time, the Joint U.S. Public Affairs Agency was printing regular guidance for American troops explaining what the enemy was thinking. Guidance number 9 is titled Viet Cong Morale and Vulnerabilities. It mentions the Viet Cong's fear of the bombers:

The most notable change in the weapons used against the VC has been the introduction of B-52's in mid-1965. Fear of B-52 attacks seems to be widespread and not confined only to the areas which have experienced them. The B-52 was described as "the most devastating and frightening" weapons used so far against the VC and were said to have a great effect on VC morale. Even North Vietnamese soldiers were warned against them and told to exercise extreme caution to avoid detection.

The impact of B-52 raids is intensified by their surprise effect. The VC becomes aware of them only when, as they report, "the ground erupts," and by the sheer devastation and damage they cause not only to VC units and installations, but also simply to the vegetation. The interviewees reported in addition to losses to VC units that the raids collapsed tunnels, trenches, and bunkers which were previously  believed to be safe. VC soldiers and civilians said that they felt there is no protection against these attacks which uproot such large trees or leave behind such wide and deep bomb craters. The use of heavy bombs by the B-52 and other jet aircraft was said to have undermined the VC's faith in being able to counter air attacks with passive defense measures. For example, one VC cadre noted: "Before, the VC relied heavily on the efficiency of trenches. But at present the trenches cannot give them enough security during bombings."

Finally, even death on the field of battle, normally not a threat for dedicated fighters, should begin to turn into a frightening expectation. Exposed to superior fire power, the Viet Cong are no longer able to take care of their dead as they used to do. The ignominy of burial without proper rituals, of unmarked and unknown graves; the horror of deaths and of graves which will remain unknown to the families of the dead represent possibilities, if not probabilities, which all those Viet Cong must ponder who are not totally indoctrinated in the tenets of communist materialism and atheism.

A While back I was sent a booklet called Vietnam Air War ARCLIGHT. It has no author, no publisher, no date of printing but has detailed reports of the B-52 in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It discusses bombing tactics, the Strategic Air Command, Khe Sahn, and even the tankers that refueled the bombers. I said at the start of this article that the strategic heavy bomber is the major symbol of American power throughout the history of our psychological operations. No other nation has ever used bombers as a regular reappearing image on their propaganda. The booklet EXPLAINS THE power of the heavy bomber It says (edited for brevity):

Of all the Air Force weapons employed during the war in southeast Asia, none had a more devastating effect on the enemy than the B-52 Stratofortress. Originally built in the 1950’s as the nation’s long range, deep penetration nuclear bomber, the B-52 demonstrated awesome conventional power against Communist forces and military facilities in the two Vietnams. Laos, and Cambodia. In the early 1960’s, as U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia grew, the Air Force modified some of the big bombers for conventional warfare by installing external racks capable of carrying 24 bombs and increasing the internal load from 9 to 27 bombs. Thus, in toto, the modified B-52 could carry 51 of the 500-pound or 750-pound bombs. As a final touch, the bomber’s white and highly visible nuclear blast reflective underside was repainted black to make it undetectable by the naked eye at high altitude.

Secretary of Defense McNamara, speaking before a Senate subcommittee on the subject, provided the rationale behind the decision to use B- 52’s over area targets:

"We are faced with very, very heavy jungle in certain portions of South Vietnam, jungle so heavy that it is impossible to find an aiming point in it. We. know some of these jungles are used by the Vietcong for base camps and for storage areas. You can imagine that without an ability to find an aiming point there, there is only one way of bombing it and that is with a random pattern. With the force we had (B-52’s) trained as it was in pattern bombing, the military commanders felt, and I believe this was a proper use of the weapons, that these strikes would destroy certain of the Viet Cong base areas, and, as a matter of fact, they did. There is no other feasible way of doing it."

Combat Intelligence Lessons

The Confidential report Combat Intelligence Lessons was printed from about 1968 to 1971 and adds:

Evidence has shown that VC are using B-52 strike areas as a "cover" for continued base camp operations. Several base camps and caches have been found in near proximity to B-52 strikes. Some were in the tree line in proximity to the strike and others formed by reconstruction of bunkers along the fringe of craters. Some of the bomb strikes were six months to one year old. They seem to believe that lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice.

 

Photo of B-52 dropping payload

Vietnam - #146-66-R

During the Vietnam War a number of leaflets were dropped showing the B-52 Stratofortress. This was our major strategic bomber carrying up to 54,000 pounds of ordinance at an altitude of 30,000 feet. One leaflet coded 146-66-R has the following text and the image of the official 7-flag safe conduct pass signed by Nguyen Cao Ky on the back:

THIS IS THE MIGHTY B-52.

Now you have experienced the terrible rain of death and destruction its bombs have caused. These planes come swiftly, strongly speaking as the voice of the Government of Vietnam proclaiming its determination to eliminate the Viet Cong threat to peace. Your area will be struck again and again, but you will not know when or where. The planes fly too high to be heard or seen. They will rain death on you again without warning. Leave this place to save your lives. Use this leaflet or the GVN National Safe Conduct Pass and rally to the nearest government outpost. The Republic of Vietnam soldiers and the people will happily welcome you.

Let me first tell you the real background of the two leaflets that are very early. They were originally designed by the 6th PSYOP Battalion. At that time the printing was done on Okinawa by the U.S. Army Broadcasting and Visual Activity Pacific (USABVAPAC), soon to become the 7th PSYOP Group. The 7th Group had a detachment in Vietnam. During 1965, The Okinawa printing plant produced 125 million leaflets for the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) and the Vietnam Detachment produced another 62 million on its web-fed press in Saigon. The Vietnam detachment worked with the Vietnamese POLWAR people (the General Political Warfare Directorate), and the United States Information Service. Eventually the equipment and most of the personnel were absorbed by the 6th PSYOP Battalion. The Vietnam Detachment of the 7th PSYOP Group remained a separate element from the 6th PSYOP Battalion.

Although I do not have a copy of the original leaflet, apparently the first leaflet possibly using the image above was coded 4-66, nicknamed "The Dreadful hours," and the text was in part:

You yourselves have just experienced the dreadful hours. Your own eyes have witnessed the direst condition of what the communists have used to adorn their deceitful label, the so-called "Revolution for the South Liberation." The activities of the B-52 jet bombers which you just saw, will go on indefinitely and increasingly, until the Hanoi government agrees to sit down and negotiate for the termination of the war in Vietnam, or their gangs in the South will be completely exterminated….

We now go to the official story of the two leaflets:

240,000 of these leaflets were dropped just north of the DMZ (Ben Qang). According to my files the leaflet is called “B-52 Leaflet” and 10,000,000 copies were ordered by the 6th PSYOP Battalion in November 1967 to be printed by the 7th PSYOP Group on Okinawa. They were to be sent to Saigon (1,000,000), Da Nang (2,000,000), Nha Trang (1,000,000) Pleiku (2,000,000), Ben Hoa (2,000,000) and Can To (2,000,000)

Apparently, at some time there was an intention to use pictures of a skull and crossed bones and a figure of death in place of the image of the bomber. I have not seen any such leaflets. The 4th PSYOP Group Monthly Operation Report for December 1969 says:

Revision of B-52 leaflets was initiated in the past on the basis of reinforcing fear with the use of death symbols such as a cloaked skeleton or skull and crossed bones. An initial discussion by several panels indicate that the skull and crossed bones as a recognizable symbol of death as presently used was partially confirmed by Hoi Chanhs. However, further interviews with prisoner of war personnel tended to nullify the initial assumption, and on the contrary the aircraft itself appeared to stand as somewhat of a death symbol. In addition, there appeared to be a division of response between people from the North and the South, and the North Vietnamese Army men exhibited no special association at all with the skull and crossed bones…

Leaflet 147-R-66 showing the results of the B-52 bombing.
On the back the official safe conduct pass showing seven flags.

The text on the front of the leaflet warns:

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THIS EXHIBITION RETURN

The back of the leaflet is all text except for a small picture depicting the safe conduct pass. The text on the back is:

You have been warned before, these aircraft will come back to give quick death, you all do not have much time to make another choice. Follow the example of 70,000 citizens that have used the Safe Conduct Pass and returned to a better life full of peace; or stay here for death, heartbreak, and sudden danger. Those people who stay will never know when the bombs will fall. Be smart, do not delay again. Use the Safe Conduct Pass of the Republic like the one printed on this leaflet, and quickly return to the just cause.

Former SP5 Dan Heckstetter mentions how the B-52 leaflets were used. He says:

I was the Squadron draftsman for the Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron / 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division from January 1968 to September 1968. The Cavalry’s Headquarters were in An Khe in the Central Highlands.  Their operations were from Hue to the Demilitarized Zone.

My job was to post the Operations Map.  I would keep all enemy locations, our locations & no fly zones posted for the Squadron briefing each evening.

One evening I posted an Arc Light mission for the next day at 1200 hrs in the hills west of Camp Evans.   The next morning it was snowing PSYOP leaflets.  A post card size picture of a B-52 dropping a load.  The information on the back told the time and location of this event.  I inquired with the S2 (Intelligence officer) why we are telling the bad guys when we are going to bomb them.  He stated that it was so the good local people could leave the area. 

[Note: Arc Light was the code name given to the use of B-52 strategic bombers in Southeast Asia. The first mission took place on 18 June 1965 when twenty-seven B-52 bombers flew from Guam to Vietnam and dropped 750 and 1000-pound bombs on a VC stronghold.]

With the increased implications that B-52 strikes were causing fear, low moraa1e, and desertion among the enemy, the PSYOP Division instituted a program to exploit the enemy's psychological vulnerability after B-52 strikes. The method adopted was to follow each B-52 strike in South Vietnam with a leaflet/loudspeaker operation. The objective was to: Reinforce the fear producing effects of the B-52; Create a spoiling effect on impending enemy operations; Lower morale and encourage malingering, desertion, or defection of enemy personnel; and Create friction between Communist cadres and soldiers.

This program was implemented in October 1968; however, by mid-December 1968 problems developed. Frequent1y, it was impossible to follow an ARC LIGHT strike within four hours. because the light PSYOP aircraft had no radar navigation equipment. could fly only in daylight hours. and was often grounded due to weather conditions. As a result, many B-52 strikes were not being exploited by the method originally envisioned.

To correct this situation, on 22 December 1968. an immediate and automatic PSYOP leaflet exploitation program was ordered by having one B-52 in each three-ship cell carry one M129 leaflet bomb. This would not only ensure immediate exploitation, but the 50,000 leaflets then being dropped could be trebled in the process. On 1 April 1969, the program was placed in effect. Two of the leaflets selected for the exploitation program are depicted above, 146-66-R and 147-66-R. The leaflets come in two sizes, the standard 6 x 3-inches and a slightly larger 6 x 4-inches.

Recommended Leaflet Messages

When studying the files of the 7th PSYOP Group I found two recommended messages to be used with the B-52 leaflets. I have not seen these messages so they either were not used or were adapted. The notes start with: “In writing text use these notes.”

THE MIGHTY B-52 BOMBER

Message 1 - The B-52 can carry over one hundred 750 pound bombs. [The text first said “340.8 Kilogram bombs,” but that was crossed out].

It carries its bombs in both the bomb bay and attached to the wings.

It flies so high that it cannot be heard by the people in the target area until after the bombs have been dropped and the aircraft passed beyond the target.

It has brought death and destruction to many base camp areas and troop assembly areas. It will continue to bomb the enemy until the Lao Dong party stops its aggressive acts against the South.

Message 2 – The high flying B-52 is invulnerable to enemy action. Since the B-52s started operating in Vietnam, not a single aircraft has been lost to enemy action.

It can operate from distances of thousands of miles from the target by being refueled by other refueling aircraft. [Comment: It can take on gas while in flight].

B-52 drop over 200,000 kilograms of bombs each day over enemy areas in the South. It will continue until the Lao Dong party stops its aggression.

It collapses tunnels, bunkers and other fortifications. Sometimes the concussion collapses the lungs of soldiers who are not protected and are too close to the bomb blasts. Further out from the blast, it breaks ear drums and causes blood to run from the nose.

 

Leaflet SP-942

This is a fairly early Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) “Special Projects” leaflet using the threat of bombing to try and motivate the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong to end their attacks on South Vietnam. The front of the leaflet depicts 11 American bombers and the text:

LOOK OVERHEAD!

Every day you see more airplanes attacking your unit and other secret bases of the Viet Cong.

You have survived the air attacks by luck, but it is only a matter of time. If you keep on fighting you will surely die.

You must desert from the Viet Cong ranks to save your life. The South Vietnam Government will welcome you and help you.

ACT RIGHT NOW!

The back of the leaflet depicts two B-52 bombers dropping their bombs. The text is:

LOOK OVERHEAD!

Believe what you see before you. Don’t listen to the false propaganda issued from command level.

Escape the distressing scene of being buried in a deserted tomb in a strange country.

The National Government with the assistance of the Allied Forces will win the war.

Try to look up. There is no way to escape from a force that grows stronger every day.

Desert the ranks of the Viet Cong and return to the Government’s side

RETURN NOW!

 

Leaflet 151-66

This crude early 1966 leaflet was printed by the 244th PSYOP Company as part of the I Corps Tactical Zone Joint PSYWAR Civil Affairs Center. The front depicts two Viet Cong squatting in a cave. Above, a B-52 bomber drops a bomb that is heading directly toward that cave. It is interesting to note that about four decades later that same general theme will show Taliban hiding in a cave in Afghanistan about to be bombed. I good idea is never obsolete. The back of the leaflet depicts Viet Cong flying through the air from the B-52 bombings. The text on front and back is:

The tunnel where you try to hide is never safe from the bombs of the B-52

The B-52 can search out its enemy anywhere

A Vietnamese told me about the effects of a B-52 raid:

My uncle's regiment in 1969 moved from Son Tay to the South. After they entered Quang Tri province, his regiment was bombed by B-52s. One battalion was destroyed and two other battalions' morale was shattered. The whole regiment was withdrawn back to Quang Binh province (in the North) to regroup. They only came back to the South four months later. My uncle said the real Army veterans never underestimated the US fire power - they learned it by their blood.

My uncle could not sleep in his bed at night years after the war. He was haunted by the bombing and artillery fire during the war. Sleeping under his bed, he felt he was in his bunker and safe. US fire power is horrifying for anyone fighting them. For years the Army of South Vietnam fought and defeated the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army because of US fire power. Without such fire power, the ARVN collapsed in only 50 days. That is clear evidence that how US fire power kept the South from collapsing.

In 1968, Orrin DeForest was sent to Vietnam as the CIA’s Chief of Military Region Three. He later wrote a book titled: Slow Burn – The Rise and Fall of American Intelligence in Vietnam. In the book he mentions the many defectors that surrendered due to the heavy bomber raids:

Quite a few talked about the B-52 bombings. They had survived the attacks (though often with ruptured eardrums). They had witnessed the horrifying results: the concussions that killed many of their friends or buried them alive in their bunkers. The B-52 strikes had paralyzed them with fear, and their descriptions were dramatic – the bomb path that began a mile away and walked toward them, wham, wham, wham: the ground under them shaking harder with each explosion; then pitching and rocking. American units would sweep through the woods to mop up after a B-52 strike and they would bury 400 or so people. That would happen in place after place. We kept getting reports of severe enemy casualties.

Tal Tovy tells us more about bombings in Learning from the Past for Present Counterinsurgency Conflicts: The Chieu Hoi Program as a Case Study (Edited for brevity):

The interviews with defectors provided a wealth of information about the thinking processes of the ordinary Viet Cong fighter, The Chieu Hoi program was an attractive program for the fighters of the lower ranks, since it provided for all their needs such as shelter, food, medical care, clothing, and saved them from the threat of the US army, particularly from the giant B-52 bombers. This weapon was the most threatening one both because one could not anticipate or hear the arrival of the bomber and because of the intensity of the bombing ("carpet bombing"), which did not allow one to find anywhere to hide, since bunkers and tunnels did not always offer sufficient protection.

I thought it might be interesting to hear an American tell what it was like just to be within a few miles of a B-52 raid.

Larry Kipp was a medic in Vietnam from 1967 to 1970 and wrote a collection of memories C. 2019 he titled “SMALLWAR: My Time as a Medic in Vietnam.” I asked his permission to copy his description of being awakened up by a B-52 raid. He says in part:

I have only heard one B-52 raid, even though there were hundreds of raids by these bombers, and I have viewed them in the air from tens of miles away. They are a fearsome display of power. I was in my cot at Lai Khe, fast asleep. I was a deep sleeper. If I was woken up abruptly, it took me a while to get my bearings. This night I was fast asleep, and then suddenly found myself on the floor and hearing a tremendous barrage of bombs fall. Our canvas tent was flapping in every direction as the rapid changes in air pressure pushed the fabric around. Then it stopped.

By then I was fully awake and wondering what the hell just happened. All of us were wondering this. One of the officers came in smiling and asked us if we liked that. Then he told us it scared the “bejeezes” out of everyone in Radio Telephone Operations, and the 1st Division Headquarters called us to tell us it was a B-52 raid “not far off.” The only way I can imagine I ended up on the floor was that I was bounced out of my cot by the first blasts. I weighed 200 pounds at the time, so that was no small feat.

SP-2609

An all-text leaflet coded SP-2609 quotes a member of the enemy who has survived B-52 bombings while taking part in the siege of Khe Sahn. His diary entries are depicted in the leaflet. It says in part:

Surviving after the fierce B-52 bombings, Ma Phong, a soldier of the 304th Division fighting in Khe Sahn, wrote in his diary. He witnessed the unstoppable destruction of the B-52 bombings and realized that nothing could stop them. 300 men of Group 926 that had infiltrated into the South in February 1968 deserted the battlefield. Ma Phong wrote:

Fourteen days after the siege began things turned out to be worse than ever…We retreated to our trenches and left our friendly forces to continue the mission…B-52s bombed our positions day and night. At first they came at regular times. Later they came at all times of the day and dropped more bombs. They seemed to have no target, they bombed everywhere. If someone came to visit this place whey might say this was a rain of bombs and a storm of bullets. Vegetables or living creatures, standing or marching, flying or lying, located in caves or deep underground shelters, all were exterminated. Nothing but destroyed earth remained.

In the book Slow Burn – The Rise and Fall of American Intelligence in Vietnam, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1990, former CIA Chief of Military Region Three in Vietnam Orrin DeForest discusses the cause of Vietnam defection and the effects of B-52 bombing after interviewing thousands of prisoners and building immense files. He says in part:

In 1969 and 1970 thousands of Viet Cong and NVA were coming over for the most part because of intense American military pressure. The Chieu Hoi Centers were full of people whose unit had been overrun two or three times and who had just decided they had had it. Some of the North Vietnamese defectors came in saying they were simply not going to die in the South…They got no R and R leave, no sick leave, nothing of that nature. They had no contact with their families, often they could neither send nor receive letters…Quite a few talked about the B-52 bombings. They had survived the attacks (though often with ruptured eardrums) but had witnessed the horrifying results: the concussions that killed many of their friends, or burying them alive in their bunkers…One interesting fact was that most often they knew when the bombers were on the way…From our own headquarters we knew that Russian radar trawlers located in the Pacific beyond the Philippines tracked the bombers, checking speed, altitude and headings, and relayed the information to the North. The targeted base areas would receive word an hour or so ahead of time. But still the VC and NVA units couldn’t run fast enough….

We know from military records that in November 1967 the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam requested that the 7th PSYOP Battalion in Okinawa print 10 million copies of this leaflet for delivery by 15 January 1968. The leaflet number shows that it was first printed in 1966, and the “R” at the end of the leaflet shows that this was a reprinting.

A B-52 Leaflet that the PSYOP Specialists Really liked.

This is a wonderful picture of a B-52 releasing bombs over Vietnam. The odd thing is that I have this image on a half dozen different leaflets I mention in this section. I have it on a leaflet starting 146, on 4 miniature leaflets that are uncoded, on a 7th PSYOP Battalion leaflet dated 1969, on a Ho Chi Minh Trail leaflet coded T-07, On a 6th PSYOP Battalion leaflet dated 1970, and a leaflet targeting the PAVN coded "P". Looking through my files I found this uncoded version today. I wonder how many I have that never caught my attention. The U.S. often tried to motivate the enemy to surrender by dropping leaflets on them directly after an aerial bombardment. They wanted to catch the VC or NVA at the worst possible moment when they were injured and psychologically weak. This seems to be one of those leaflets. The text on the back is:

TO SURVIVING VIET CONG SERVICEMEN.
YOU HAVE JUST FACED YOUR MOST DREADFUL MOMENTS.

You have heard awe-inspiring explosions and felt as if the universe has collapsed. The bombs dropped by the Allied forces were as powerful as thunder and lightning. They were equally quick and intense as the Republic of Vietnam government's vows to smash any Viet Cong threat to the peace of the Republic of Vietnam.

The bombs will not cease falling until the Communists stop the war they raged in South Vietnam. No place, no shelter will be safe until you return to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. Stop your immoral acts! Return to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam, to your families!

Curiously, after I wrote the above, I was contacted by a friend that told me the image is being used today. After Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, many Swedes protested. I assumed this was a 2023 version of a Vietnam War leaflet saying, “Join NATO NO!” I was shocked to find that this was allegedly a pro-NATO leaflet with the text:

Form Military Pact – with the USA now!
Social Democrats for more NATO.
photo: Hanoi Christmas 1970

I thought this might be satiric, but Sweden's ruling Social Democrats said they backed the country joining NATO, creating a large parliament majority in favor of membership. The party abandoned decades of opposition to NATO membership in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Still, the sight of a B-52 bomber dropping bombs on Hanoi makes me think this is most likely a satiric meme and is against Sweden joining NATO.

B-52 Miniature Leaflets

There is a rather odd set of four miniature leaflets (1.75 x 5.25-inch) each showing the same picture of a B-52 bomber at the left and a propaganda message at the right and on the back. They were made by the 7th PSYOP Group for the Military Assistance Command Vietnam to be dropped as a mix in I Corps in 1968. The text on all four fronts is the same:

This is the B-52 bomber.

Your death will bring much grief for your families in the North

The messages on the back of the four leaflets are:

FELLOW COUNTRYMEN IN THE NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY

The Army and people of the Free South have known about your plans for a major offensive. The Vietnamese and the Allied armed forces are ready. On this Year of the Monkey 1968 you will meet the same fate as the 200,000 Chinese invaders on Tet 1789. All of our most modern weapons await you.

FELLOW COUNTRYMEN IN THE NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY

You are preparing to die because your plan for a major offensive has been revealed. The leaders of the Communist Party miscalculated when they decided to launch the offensive before Tet, Year of the Monkey, 1968. The Vietnamese armed forces are ready to launch all of their most terrible and modern weapons. You will surely be defeated.

FELLOW COUNTRYMEN IN THE NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY

The Government of Vietnam and its Allies have known your plans for a general offensive in order to gain political superiority. Therefore, all of the most modern weapons will be used by the Government of Vietnam and its Allies. You will surely be defeated and have no chance to survive. The armed forces and people of the South will surely win.

FELLOW COUNTRYMEN IN THE NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY

Your plans for a general offensive have been revealed. Therefore, you will meet the mighty counter-offensive of the Vietnamese armed forces and the Allied armed forces. We are ready to crush the plots of the leaders of the Communist Party. Death awaits you on the battlefield. You will be defeated like 200,000 Chinese invaders as before.

The Americans liked this picture of a B-52 flying from right to left and dropping bombs. We see it in this article three times on just a few pages. Another leaflet featuring this picture was coded 7-316A-70. This leaflet was tactical in nature and targeted the 27th North Vietnamese Army Regiment. On the front, under the bomb is the following text:

Your name may be engraved on one of this B-52’s bombs

The text on the back says in part:

ATTENTION ALL NEW REPLACEMENTS OF THE 27TH NVA REGIMENT

Have you asked yourself what happened to the comrades you replaced? Can you survive until the next replacements arrive? The fact that you were sent here indicates that your unit has suffered heavy casualties. When the next replacements arrive, you will probably be buried in a cold and unmarked mass grave, along with several of your comrades. That is the unavoidable fate of those who live under the communist yoke.

Leaflet 7-364-68

The leaflet depicts a bomb-loader sitting on some bombs that are being prepared to drop on the enemy. The text on the front is:

LEAVE THIS DEATH ZONE!

These are the bombs that brought death upon your hapless comrades who did not escape.

The back is all text:

BEWARE: YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER.

Allied Forces are determined to destroy anyone who decides to stay in this area. Your only hope to escape death is to depart at once. Take your chance and leave. Escape from violent forces that grip you and seek protection with the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. It is your best chance. Leave now if you want to live.

 

Leaflet 7-365-68

This leaflet image is the same as the one above, but the text has been slightly changed. The text on the front is:

ABANDON THIS ZONE OR ACCEPT DEATH

Many of your brothers-in-arms were killed by these bombs during B-52 air raids.
If you stay there, you will also be killed!

Leaflet 7-396-68

This crude 1968 7th PSYOP Battalion leaflet depicts a USAF B-52 bomber and bright red explosions and dead enemy fighters on the battlefield. The bright color should stand out among the jungle foliage and passing Viet Cong should get the message. The back is all text:

North Vietnamese Regulars

Your leaders have told you that South Vietnam has been almost completely liberated. The truth, as you know, is that the Winter-Spring Campaign has been defeated and that there has not been a general uprising in the cities. Your leaders could not fool the people into supporting their inhuman Communist ideology.

You are now being forced to hide yourselves deep in the jungle. You have to dig bunkers and holes in the ground to avoid the bombs and shells of our aircraft and artillery pieces. The Government of the Republic of Vietnam, with its massive firepower, will continue to hunt you down until you are totally annihilated. The bunkers and holes that you dig will become your graves. If you continue to oppose the Government of the Republic of Vietnam you will be annihilated. The mountain jungles around you will become your tombs. They will hide your final resting place and no one will ever know the dark fate that befell you.

You should return to the nationalist just cause. If you do not, you will suffer hardships, adversity, and death. Is the goal you are fighting for simply to be buried in an unmarked grave? You should rally quickly so that you will be able to live a full live under the protection of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam.

Leaflet 7-449-68 

OFFICERS OF THE 52nd REGIMENT!

YOUR FUTURE WILL BE LIKE THIS IF YOU DO NOT RETURN TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM - SOUTH REPUBLIC.

The text on the back is:

ATTENTION FRIENDS OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE 52nd REGIONAL DIVISION OF NORTH VIETNAM!

What happened to the fate of the wounded soldiers in your ranks? A large number have died because of insufficient medical equipment and doctors to oversee treatment, and more than a few have died. The leaders realized that your unit would suffer many heavy losses, so they prepared 100 chests for you, but the number that day was not enough, so many of your comrades were buried in the crates. A grave that has no owner and no one knows about you.

You are in a very desperate situation.

Allied military power, such as frequent B-52 air strikes, along with a lack of medicine, equipment, and doctors, are threatening you.

We sympathize with that suffering, so we sincerely hope that you will soon return to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam to be warmly welcomed and wholeheartedly supported. Let's return to justice to have the opportunity to join the entire people in building a stronger and more prosperous Vietnam.

Leaflet 7-464-68

Another leaflet clearly done by the same artist as above. This one has a bright red explosion right in the face of an enemy soldier. Overhead we see the B-52 bomber and the F-106 fighter. At ground level we see a tank and infantrymen. Since we translated the long back message on the last two leaflets. The text on the front is:

No one has ever resisted the ample firepower of the forces of the Government of Vietnam and of the Free World. Return under the protection of Government of the South before you are destroyed.

The text on the back is:

ATTENTION FRIENDS OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE 2nd REGIONAL DIVISION OF NORTH VIETNAM!

What happened to the fate of the wounded soldiers in your ranks? A large number have died because of insufficient medical equipment and doctors to oversee treatment, and more than a few have died. The leaders realized that your unit would suffer many heavy losses, so they prepared 100 chests for you, but the number that day was not enough, so many of your comrades were buried in the crates. A grave that has no owner and no one knows about you.

You are in a very desperate situation.

Allied military power, such as frequent B-52 air strikes, along with a lack of medicine, equipment, and doctors, are threatening you.

We sympathize with that suffering, so we sincerely hope that you will soon return to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam to be warmly welcomed and wholeheartedly supported. Let's return to justice to have the opportunity to join the entire people in building a stronger and more prosperous Vietnam.

Leaflet 7-237-69

This leaflet depicts a B-52 dropping its bombs over Vietnam. The text on the front is:

Do not wait to be sacrificed uselessly. Think about it. Make your own decision before it is too late.

The back is all text:

THE MIGHTY B-52 BOMBERS VERSUS YOUR LEADERS

The B-52 bomber has a capability of carrying over 100 340-kilogram bombs and when a strike mission is called, over 300 bombs are dropped on you. You have been under attack by the B-52 strikes and know the sounds of destruction from these bombs. You have seen the immense results after the bombs have been dropped. Every fortification, no matter how strong, can be crushed by this severe form of destruction.

Are you going to wait until the communist leaders commit your lives to this destruction?

It is only a matter of time until the bombs fall again. This time they may drop on you and your comrades.

Other B-52 leaflets were dropped over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. About 100 different leaflets bear the "T" code and all were dropped as part on an interdiction campaign along that supply trail used by North Vietnam to secretly bring supplies to the south.

  

B-52 over Vietnam – Vertical Leaflet T-07 Front - Back - The orange version

Vietnam Ho Cho Minh Trail leaflet T-07 is very odd because two versions were printed, one in a horizontal format and one in a vertical format. This rarely happens in the world of psychological warfare. Each leaflet code number is individual and it is hardly ever reused. However, in this case I believe that I know why this was done and I will explain below. In this first horizontal version the B-52 is depicted flying from right to left. The tail number is 70144. The back of the leaflet is in a vertical format; text at the top and a five-flag safe conduct pass at the bottom. The five flag passes were produced prior to 1967, probably in the year 1966. To make it even more interesting, the 5-flag version of T-07 was prepared two ways, in black and white and also in a red color to make it more visible on the ground. The sun had faded my leaflet to almost an orange color, but you can still see the remnants of color. The text is:

You will never see one of these.

You probably won't hear it. It flies too high. It is a B-52 bomber, used by the South Vietnamese people's powerful American allies to blast aggressors out of their hiding places. One B-52 carries 29,700 kilos of bombs and can drop them with pin-point accuracy, dealing certain death to everyone within the target area. The B-52 can strike you at any time during all seasons and weather conditions.

Your chance to avoid this fate will come. Look for your safe conduct pass.

 

B-52 over Vietnam – Horizontal Leaflet T-07 Front

B-52 over Vietnam – back on Horizontal Leaflet T-07, 5-flag on Green Paper

The vertical version of the leaflet T-07 depicts a B-52 dropping bombs flying from left to right. It is poorly printed and seems to be a rush job compared to the first version. The text is identical, but without the question mark in the heading. The version is known in two varieties, printed on green paper with the Five-flag pass, and printed on a grey paper with the safe conduct pass is now a Seven-flag version. We know that the seven flag pass came in about 1967. That seems to explain why there are different leaflets with the same code number. The vertical grey version is a later leaflet, and after the flag safe conduct passes were changed about 1967, T-07 was changed to match the current safe conduct pass. Why? Some reports I have read worried that the Viet Cong might be confused and think that the old pass no longer was valid. To insure continued defections, the U.S. went to the trouble of showing the Viet Cong the latest type of the safe conduct pass. It eased their mind.

Leaflet 20

I have no idea who printed this leaflet. The Code “20” should be the North Vietnam Bombing Campaign but I have that number 20 and it is different. It could be T-20 from the Ho Chi Minh Trail campaign but I have that one too. This leaflet was printed by some unknown party, probably early in the war before there was a formal system for numbering and coding leaflets. It is very possible that this leaflet was made by U.S. Special Forces before the PSYOP units arrived in Vietnam. I just recalled that I have some very early low number leaflets, and I recall that one is numbered 21. Notice the front is almost identical to T-07 above. The text on the back is:

TO THE SURVIVING VIETNAM SOLDIERS WHO HAVE JUST EXPERIENCED HORRIFYING MOMENTS.

You have heard terrible explosions and felt like the universe was shaking.

The bombs are dropped by giant B-52 aircraft of the United States of America. Their power was like lightning in the sky. It was as fast and intense as the Declaration of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam, determined to crush all Viet Cong threats against the peace of the Republic of Vietnam.

The rain of bombs will continue and increase until the communists and the war they caused in Vietnam.

There is no place or shelter that is safe until you return to the Government of the Republic of South Vietnam.

Please stop your inhumane actions and return to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam and your families.

Leaflet 2861

Leaflet 2861 depicts the B-52 bomber on the front and the back. If you look at the vertical version of T-07 above, you will see that the leaflet uses the same photo of a B-52 as the left-most bomber in leaflet 1286. The photo of two bombers has been cropped. What I found fascinating was the very technical description of the bomb load that the bomber could carry. These leaflets were dropped on North Vietnamese soldiers and Viet Cong who might have been farmers or workers and probably understood very little of this technical details of this message. The text on the front is:

THE MIGHTY B-52 BOMBER

This jet has the largest bomb-carrying capability. It can carry over one hundred 340 kilogram bombs. Many returnees have talked of the tremendous destruction of the B-52. Every fortification, no matter how strong, can be destroyed. For each day’s bombing missions, the B-52’s combined efforts obliterates over 20 square kilometers.

You have heard of the tremendous destruction of the B-52. The best solution for you is to return to the Government of Vietnam.

The back of the leaflet has the text:

THE TREMENDOUS DESTRUCTION OF THE B-52

The B-52 is a bomber aircraft operating at altitudes of over 10 kilometers. It can carry over one hundred 340 kilogram bombs. B-52s drop over 200,000 kilograms of bombs each day. They can cause blood to run from the mouth, nose, ears, and even collapse the lungs for those who are located near the area of bombing.

You have heard of the tremendous destruction of the B-52. Don’t let yourself be sacrificed uselessly. Return to the Government of Vietnam and you will be welcomed.

Leaflet 10-013-69

One million copies of this leaflet were produced by the 10th PSYOP Battalion in 1969 and dropped over the Viet Cong just after a B-52 strike. The PSYOP theory was to catch the Viet Cong when they were most vulnerable. The front says in part:

You will not be able to survive this kind of weapon.This is B-52 bomber.

The text on the back says in part:

To Viet Cong Soldiers and Cadre: The huge B-52 aircraft day and night flies to support the operations of the ARVN and allied military forces. The aircraft is always ready to drop bombs to attack your strongest areas. You will have no warning. The B-52 airplane will destroy your units and your most secret and strongest bases in the Delta. You will not have enough time to prepare or hide. You can't hear or see it coming because it flies at a very high altitude….

Leaflet 4537

It should be clear to the reader that this author has dozens of Vietnam War leaflets depicting B-52 bombers to choose from. I have made a conscious decision to show just a few of them. I added leaflet 4537 only because of the text. The idea of calling the bomber an “evil genius” is so strange that I thought we must show this one. The front of the leaflet depicts a B-52 dropping bombs and the text:

This is the B-52 evil genius; a constant threat to you

The back is all text. Some of the message is:

Dear North Vietnamese Communist Cadre:

On your supply routes into the south, you have surely heard a lot about the terrible death and destruction of the B-52 evil genius.

The B-52 evil genius is capable of carrying many different kinds of bombs. It usually flies at an altitude of more than 10 kilometers, so that you can neither see it or hear it.

Unmarked graves on both sides of the road are the consequences of bombing by the B-52 evil genius…