Packing of miniature issues of the magazine by OSS members in “bombs” as part of “Operation Pig Iron.” U.S. Government (OSS) photo.
Formed in 1942 amid the escalating conflict of World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) emerged as the United States’ first centralized intelligence agency. Under the dynamic leadership of Major General William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan, the OSS recruited academics, scientists, commandos, and covert operatives to run operations that fused brainpower with daring fieldwork. From espionage and sabotage to psychological tactics, the OSS laid the foundation for what would later become the CIA.
Operation Pig Iron
In 1944, the OSS launched Operation Pig Iron, a bold psychological warfare initiative targeting Nazi morale. The operation centered around miniature editions of Das Neue Deutschland, an anti-Nazi magazine designed using photo-technical reduction to create compact versions measuring 10 × 6.5 inches. Each roll contained 1,500 copies packed into cylindrical devices suited for aerial delivery.
U.S. Air Force bombers based in Foggia, Italy, were tasked with the deployment, dropping the propaganda bombs over strategic areas in Germany and Austria. To enhance authenticity, OSS agents included fabricated cover notes claiming the magazine had been captured in occupied Paris, an ingenious move that helped lend legitimacy and emotional resonance to the propaganda.
Impact on the Enemy
Operation Pig Iron distributed more than 10 million copies, making it the most extensive propaganda drop of World War II. Its psychological sting was so sharp that Himmler’s personal publication, Das Schwarze Korps, launched a targeted smear campaign in retaliation.
Previously, large-scale leaflet drops were overseen by Eisenhower’s Psychological Warfare Branch. But Operation Pig Iron’s resounding success cemented the OSS’s role in mass morale operations, quadrupling production rates from 1 million copies per month to 1 million per week.
Final Thoughts
Operation Pig Iron remains a textbook example of psychological (PSYOP) warfare: the strategic fusion of deception, technology, and communications to destabilize an enemy from within. With skyborne ingenuity, the OSS rewrote the rules of resistance, one leaflet at a time.