The strangest-named operation of World War II was actually a stroke of genius.
The OSS, precursor to the CIA, hatched several crazy and bold schemes throughout World War II. One of them was Operation Cornflakes. The plan was somewhat simple - bomb the German mail trains, then drop among the debris letters with real local addresses on them. The idea was German citizens would be handed propaganda right at their front doors, with letters describing fake German resistance groups, slandering pamphlets, and even forged stamps that featured Adolf's profile as a decaying skull.
Go through this covert operation step by step, and see how psychological warfare was conducted with battlefield ferocity.
1
Description of Operation Cornflakes, a WWII OSS project to deliver anti-German propaganda through the German mail system
Declassified in 2007
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The OSS Building in Boston, Massachusetts
Circa 1940s
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William J. Donovan, Head of the OSS during World War II
1945
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Operation Cornflakes began with gathering any German prisoners of war with experience in German postal work
German prisoners of war, 1944
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OSS printer prints propaganda newspapers for distribution in German-controlled territories
1944
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The original text Deutsches Reich ('German Empire') was maintained for the standard forgeries, but was changed to Futsches Reich ('Ruined Empire') on the "Death Head" variant, a focus of American forgers
The forged stamps of "Operation Cornflakes"
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The original plan of Operation Cornflakes called for the image of Hitler on the stamp to be replaced with the image of 4th Reichsführer, Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler, 1942
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The 15th Air Force was tasked with bombing German mail trains
The 15th Air Force, 1944
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German mail trains were targeted and destroyed, with propaganda dropped among the debris
German mail train, 1944
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A US P-38 fighter flying over California in 1944
These planes were used in Operation Cornflake to drop propaganda
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A bombed German train
1944
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A plane dropping propaganda leaflets
1944
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Mailbag used in World War II Germany
Operation Cornflakes used replicas of these mailbags in their drops
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A wartime OSS depiction of Operation Cornflake
Declassified after the war
