Imprints of WWII: Nachrichten für die Truppe - News for the Troops

Thursday, 6 July 2017

Nachrichten für die Truppe - News for the Troops - Allied newspaper for German soldiers

Nachrichten für die Truppe (News for the Troops) was a daily newspaper, aimed at German troops. Created by Sefton Delmer, who was employed by the British to develop black-propaganda, the newspaper was written by British & American journalists.

Copies of Nachrichten für die Truppe were dropped on German occupied territory in Western Europe by the US Eight Air Force. Copies were also dropped by the RAF (I have met an RAF pilot whose logbook recorded such operations over the Channel Islands).

The contents of the newspaper were aimed to create concerns amongst the Germans who read them - worries about how the war was going, what was happening at home and their families.
While millions of copies were dropped on German troops, penalties for keeping copies would have been severe, so most would have been destroyed.

This copy was dropped on the Channel Islands, and retained by a local person. I purchased it at an auction in 2014.

If anyone wants to translate it I'd be grateful!

More information on Nachrichten für die Truppe can be found at:
http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/emerson00/pwe_nachrichten.html
https://www.psywar.org/nachrichtenproject.php

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About Imprints of WWII

I have been collecting items relating to WWII for a number of years. Not weapons, uniforms, equipment or anything like that. I don't get fascinated by bayonets or medals, so I am afraid I won't be sharing any photos of these as I don't have any.

My interest is in the printed material - the old fading photos, the documents carefully folded kept in shoe boxes, and the long forgotten letters which have been held by people for many years, but then sadly often get discarded. These are all items which have a direct link to the men, women and children who lived through the Second World War.

Most of the items I will be sharing have been picked up at flea markets, car boot sales, junk shops, auctions and the like. I don't spend a lot on collecting, as there is actually little monetary value associated with most of these items. But they do have a value - their value is that direct link with history.

Some of these items are personal items and unique, others were mass produced and were then thrown away once their use was fulfilled. I will be posting items from many nations. The majority will be from the UK, as that is where I live and where most of these items have been purchased, but there will be documents and photos from other countries too.

Please feel free to comment on the posts, and provide suggestions, corrections and any feedback.
I will also be posting on Twitter (@wwiistories) so please also follow me there.

Finally, if you have any family photos, documents or ephemera from the period that you'd like shared on the site, please get in contact - I'd be very pleased to hear from you.