'44 WINDFALL AIDED ALLIES IN BATTLING NAZIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100090022-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: June 25, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

'STAY I II
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE A-12
WASHINGTON POST
25 June 1984
44 Windfall Aided Allies m
By Thomas O'Toole
Wnehlnofnn Pnet Rt ?? WA...
Battling Nazis
Late in 1944- when the Germans suddenly evac-
uated Luxembourg, they left intact a prize for the
Allies: the mwerful transmitter of Radio
urg,soon to become Radio Annie. In 127 con-
secutive nights of broad
casting. according to newly
-released CIA documents, Annie "deceived and
confused the enemy, set German against German'
an reached the fortress Germany from
within."
Project, Annie, with an estimated half the Ger-
man Wehrmacht as part of its nightly audience as
the Allies advanced toward the Moselle and Rhine
rivers, is described by the CIA as one of the two
most important U.S. ven in . psychological
warfare during World War IL
In the other, code-named "Skorpion West," the
Office of Strategic Services intercepted a Nazi
leaflet aimed at raising troop morale, turned its
message around and air-dropped millions of the
bogus leaflets over German lines. While Annie
fueled resistance to the Nazis among the Ger-
mans, Skorpion West caused the Nazis to scrap
the morale-raising effort.
The German leaflets touted the invincibility of
the Nazi army and its leaders' superiority. At the
top and bottom was the message: "If you want to
know the truth, comrade, ask the Skorpion."
Once the Allies broke away from the beaches of
Normandy in 1944, the Germans were forced to
distribute "Skorpion" from the air. 'Copies ' of
"Skorpion" blew into the hands of the Allies, who
reproduced the leaflets down to the paper and ink
but changed their slant. Since the Germans were
distributing their leaflets by air, the Allies could
deliver theirs to German troops the same way.
In the six weeks it took American and British
troops to break through German lines after D-day,
the Allies' dropped three messages. The first ques-
tioned Nazi invincibility: "The enemy possesses
great superiority and things look very bad for the
German front-line soldier." :
The second questioned German military lead.
ership and even suggested that soldiers shoot their
officers if they felt they were poor leaders. The
third leaflet explained what lay ahead::"It'is to be
expected that the English and Americans Will -try
to force a decision before the winter starts. When
the offensive does come, we must expect large
stretches of German soil to be occupied before we '
can bring the enemy to a standstill."
The first counterfeit leaflet was hushed up by
the heads of the Skorpion organization but the
-second landed on the desk of Field Marshal Wal-
tgr Mode I "He became enraged when he discov
e r e t h a t t ~! bY~l~e German
- 1-Biers, and gave them an excuse to shoot their su
nor officers " the CIA account sa , addin that
Mode or der as t t to orpion e.
forts.
7T was in our estimation the crowning admis.
sion of defeat, since it was denouncing the whore
from the pulpit and thus trebling her business,"
the history says.
Project Annie, however, had a more far-reach-.
ing imaact an was descri
bed by the IA as one'
p- me OSS' most brilliant successes. The Germans
left in such a hum that the hat Army captured
Radio Luxembourg undamaged with a tr ansmit-
ter "so powerful that its voice co lrl rear half +tie
Ruch," the CIA history save.
The OSS created a "black transmitter," estab-
lishing ' a second frequency while keeping Radio
Luxembourg on the air at its old frequency. Under
the scheme, Luxembourg would go off the . air as
usual at midnight, and Annie would come on at 2
a.m. at the different frequency. The "black btoad-
cast" stopped each day at 6:30 am., before Radio
Luxembourg resumed its broadcast at 7.
Annie went on the air in December, 1944, for
127 nights, as the Allies moved toward the Mo-'
selle and Rhine rivers. For almost two months,
Radio Annie broadcast, with complete objectivity,
military and civilian news of. the war in the un- '
..mistakable accents"'ofithe Rhine region.
"There were Germans who thought it ie
.from bunkers behind German lines becau_sP at
times it w s s+r n~~v im~eGt, ~nd_ therP~~
Germans who thought Annie was an 'unde and
station and who w reeerly awaiting its
.climax," the .iA hi nrv recount "A _ few smart
ones suspected Annie might be the enemy, but the
accurate and sympathetic character of its news*
presentation" threw off even the smart ones.
~; Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100090022-0
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100090022-0