POLAND 10 NOVEMBER 1940

[malcolmjameswilson]

I am conducting research into an operation flown by 49 Squadron against Danzig on 10 November 1940. It is noted in a DFM citation relating to the event nickels were ‘dropped on Poland”.

I would like to ask Forum members for help with trying to identify what leaflets would most likely have been dropped that evening. Any ideas?

I have not been able to find any examples from this period with a Polish text?

Kind regards, Malcolm.

[VoyTech]

I don't think they dropped any leaflets in Polish. Gdansk/Danzig had been a free city (neither part of Poland nor of Germany) before the war. After German invasion of Poland both it and the neighbouring Polish territory were declared by the Germans as incorporated into the Third Reich. Generally, the Poles who used to live there before the war had the option of declaring themselves as Germans (Volksdeutsche), moving to the part of German-occupied Poland that was not incorporated into the Reich (the so-called Generalgouvernement), or being sent to the Konzentrationslager Stutthof. So, by November 1940 Danzig was pretty much an all-German city, and probably considered as such by the RAF.

[malcolmjameswilson]

Hello VoyTech,

Many thanks for the information which I have found very helpful. The leaflet has been identified by a member of another Forum but no image is available – yet!

Kind regards, Malcolm.

[Franek Grabowski]

Allies did not recognise new borders, until they created their own ones at Teheran and then Yalta. Therefore Poznań was still considered Polish at the time, despite being in the Reich. In regard of Gdańsk/Danzig, perhaps the actual target was Gdynia/Gdingen/Gotenhafen, which still should have substantial Polish population. Otherwise, it was a psy war, and no doubt plenty of Danzig Germans spoke Polish well enough to read the leaflet and get mad. Unfortunately, possessing any leaflets was quite risky, so they are rare collectibles.

[malcolmjameswilson]

Hello Franek,

Many thanks for the reply. I have been informed that the RAF Museum will have an example with translation. Hopefully I will, at some point, be able to visit and view the leaflet.

The 49 Squadron published history has a reference to this operation which states that: 'They bombed and dropped leaflets on a railway target and also dropped leaflets over Danzig.'

A recommendation for a DFM awarded for this operation includes the line: ' . . . the Captain of an aircraft detailed to attack military objectives in Danzig and scatter "Nickels" in Poland'.

If Forum members are aware of any surviving examples of this leaflet I would very much like to here from them! It is titled: 'Poland is Not Yet Destroyed' which carries the reference number: EH(P) 446.

Kind regards, Malcolm.