Aerial Propaganda and the Wartime Occupation of France, 1914-18 by Bernard Wilkin

Author:Bernard Wilkin [Wilkin, Bernard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317184928
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2016-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

General Philippe Pétain, recently appointed commander of the north and north-east armies, examined this note before advising the government.49 Pétain underlined that the Germans distributed the Gazette des Ardennes by unmanned balloon, which meant that there was not a single enemy pilot in captivity to put on trial for propaganda activities. The General also argued that sentencing other categories of war prisoners, such as Zeppelin crew members, opened the door to various forms of retaliation against captured French soldiers. Pétain concluded his report, which was to influence the Government and the Army to carry on as usual, by saying:

At a time when morale factors play a significant part in the conflict, it is out of the question to renounce aerial propaganda. Coercion, on which the German Government relies, shows that it [aerial propaganda] is a source of worries and should be intensified. I inform our pilots that they are exposed to these sentences while distributing leaflets. The enemy’s panic highlights well enough the severity of the wounds caused by this activity [the distribution of propaganda]. No matter which risk they face, our pilots’ patriotism will take precedence.50

In October 1917, the Germans informed the British that they intended to carry out their threats against the No. 22 squadron crews captured in April. The enemy brought the four British officers before a court martial, using subparagraph 9 of paragraph 59 of the Militärstrafgesetzbuch, the German manual of military laws and punishments. This subparagraph prescribed death for treason for those ‘who, with the intention to give aid to a foreign power or to prejudice the German or Allied troops spreads hostile appeals or proclamations in the Army’. The court considered that belonging to a hostile army was a mitigating factor, but not enough to avoid trial. The Germans based their opinion on paragraph 160 of the same Militärstrafgesetzbuch: ‘A foreigner or German who makes himself guilty of one of the acts mentioned in paragraphs 57–59 and 134 during a war against the German Empire, will be punished in accordance with the sentences mentioned in these paragraphs.’51 The court acquitted the first crew without debate as their plane had carried no propaganda. The second crew, whose machine had contained psychological warfare leaflets, was in a more difficult position. Despite recognising the legitimacy of the case, the court acquitted the accused officers because they had not known that propaganda distribution was illegal. Following the plea, the president of the tribunal read a declaration from the higher army command which denounced incendiary pamphlets as contrary to international laws. This note was transmitted to the French and the British through foreign legations.52

On 17 October 1917, a German fighting pilot forced a British plane from N. 11 squadron to land near Cambrai.53 Inside the aeroplane, German soldiers found propaganda leaflets encouraging troops to surrender. To the Allies’ indignation, a new court martial sentenced the crew to ten years of penal servitude for dropping leaflets. The British and French governments denounced this trial as a farce and took it as a sign of weakness in the face of Allied propaganda.

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