ABSTRACT
To counteract propaganda in Germany and the enemy-occupied countries, the Allies turned to broadcasting and what came to be known as ‘nickeling’ — the dropping of ‘nickels’, or leaflets, from aeroplanes. The problems they faced were of two kinds: psychological and practical. Propaganda leaflets were certainly being widely distributed, but not necessarily widely, or intensively, read. The Air Ministry Propaganda Report for June 1942, however, conflates circulation by any means with reading. During the First World War, the Directorate of Special Intelligence of the War Office had become responsible for leaflet propaganda in March 1915, and two years later launched the Courrier de L’Air, which became heavily relied upon as a source of news in Occupied France during the Second World War. This chapter considers propaganda as a process, from initial conception of the target audience, through compilation of material, to its publication, distribution and reception.
