The preparation of surrender leaflets calls for the tactical use of printing facilities. This is the job of the combat propaganda unit, with its high-speed press, its liaison with both ground and air forces, its up-to-the-minute intelligence on enemy movements, situation, and order of battle. The enemy should be given leaflets showing him how clearly he is pinned down, identifying him, generally stripping him of the sense of secrecy and the trust in his commanders that make it possible for him to go on fighting. When surrender can be effected, he should be given the simplest, plainest command the circumstances allow. In the case of the Japanese, there were difficulties on the American side about letting the Japanese come over to surrender; too many of them were suspected of having tucked hand grenades into their fundoshi. Many a Japanese started out for the Allied lines and failed to make his peaceful intentions plain enough. The result was a strong deterrent to other Japanese who may have been trying to decide whether they wanted to surrender or not.
Figure 63: Action Type: Air-Rescue Facilities. These leaflets from China Theater were designed to help the work of the Fourteenth Air Force. Action called for from the civilians included the assistance of hurt flyers, the identification of Americans as allies and not as Japanese when they parachuted to the ground, the avoidance of bridges and other bomb targets.
It was found that the bright white leaflet with the identifying stripes on it ([figure 69]) would be shown to our troops, who could be taught to hold their fire when they saw Japanese carrying that type of leaflet. To the Japanese, the plainness of the surrender formula was a considerable help in coming over.
Figure 64: Pre-Action News. Psychological warfare facilities can be extremely helpful in favorable situations. One of the most important ways of developing a favorable situation is to predispose enemy soldiers toward the idea of surrendering. News of surrender, emphasis on the comforts and relief of prisoners of war, and above all, emphasis on their numerousness can contribute to the actual act of surrender. This newspaper looks like a newspaper, but its chief emphasis is on the extent of surrenders.
Variations on the surrender leaflet include the following devices:
- Letters, with signatures blacked out, of prisoners of war who havefound conditions decent and who are enjoying rest, good care, and good food;
- Photographs, with the faces blocked out when security procedures or the rules of war so require, showing enemy prisoners actually enjoying the benefits of being out of the war;
- Political arguments to the effect that the highest duty of the soldier is to his country (or Emperor) and that if he dies for the sake of some general in a foolish war, he will be denying his country a fine postwar citizen like himself, needed for reconstruction and progress;
- A list of the foods available to surrenderees (see [figure 13], from World War I);
- A statement of the conditions of military imprisonment, reaffirming the rules of the Geneva convention;
- The promise that the potential prisoner will be allowed mail communication with home;
- Anger-motif, showing scum and profiteers at home, and attempting to induce surrender by telling the soldier that he is being made a sucker;
- Obscene pictures, showing naked women, designed to make the involuntary celibate so desirous of women that he surrenders out of bad nerves. (Japanese idea, and did not work; the troops naturally kept the pornography but merely despised the Japanese as queer little people for having sent it. This type cannot be illustrated; the Library of Congress has copies in a locked file.)
Figure 65: Direct Commands to Enemy Forces. As the situation develops against the enemy, it becomes possible to use leaflets to force the surrender of enemy troops by direct command. This kind of appeal is lost when enemy morale remains irrationally high because of a beloved commander or some other unpredictable factor, but in normal situations it either forces the enemy commander's hand or leaves him with a deteriorating force.