Persuasion Artillery

This small wartime leaflet carries a chillingly direct message. Dated 12/44 in the bottom right corner, with the code 374/12/44, it appears to be a German propaganda leaflet aimed at advancing British forces in the final winter of the Second World War.

The front design is stark and memorable: “Good Luck! 1945” sits above a cartoon soldier walking a tightrope, while below him rises a red forest of bayonets, skulls and bones. The reverse is even more unsettling. Under the heading “Here we go again!”, the text leans hard into fear, exhaustion and homesickness, asking soldiers how many of their friends will still be alive by the end of 1945.

Propaganda leaflets were used by all sides during the conflict, but this example has an extra point of interest. On close inspection, the paper has a rippled, lightly raised corrugated texture, similar to modern absorbent tissue. This was not merely decorative. It may have helped tightly packed leaflets separate and disperse more effectively when fired from an artillery shell.

By December 1944, Germany had lost air superiority, making artillery delivery a practical alternative to airborne drops. That detail turns this from a simple paper survivor into a fascinating object of psychological warfare: a message designed not just to be read, but to land at a soldier’s feet.