......
In December 1918, the member of parliament for the Kosmaj region and reserve officer Aleksa Žujović hurriedly left the recently renovated "Gutenberg" printing house in Niš with a bundle of freshly printed leaflets and went in the direction airport. There, an airplane was waiting for him to transport him to the newly created capital of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - Belgrade. During the war years, he had the opportunity to meet the leaflets that various enemy armies threw at his soldiers in order not to further demoralize them and encourage them to surrender or desertion.
This time MP Žujović wants to please his countrymen and voters under Kosmaj with a leaflet with a completely different content, wanting to congratulate them on freedom and the coming holidays: "MP and reserve captain, returning from the front by airplane, sends his friends and acquaintances a warm greeting, congratulations their liberation and upcoming holidays."
"PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN TO END THE WAR ASAP IN YOUR FAVOR"
Ever since the war, there has always been a desire to demoralize and weaken the enemy through propaganda, in order to save the lives of their soldiers and save much-needed ammunition. Slate spies spread false (sometimes less false) rumours, bodies and messengers shouted (almost always) false promises to the opposing army before the battle, and with the development of the press, posters promising certain and slow death if the army continues its advance. So, for example, French soldiers could read such posters in Russian cities during their campaign to the east in 1812.
......
With the development of printing and the cheapening of paper, leaflets as a form of propaganda became particularly convenient for this type (today so current expression) of hybrid warfare. The fact that in the second half of the 19th century the population, and thus the army, became literate to a large extent also had a significant impact, and thus the leaflet gained even more importance. Even when airplanes were developed so much that they could fly far and high enough, there was a propaganda tool that is still used to this day, after more than a hundred years.
Already in August 1914, the Austro-Hungarian aviation dropped a large number of leaflets over the positions of the Serbian army on the banks of the Drina, Sava and Danube. The content of the leaflets is more or less the same: an "ordinary" soldier is called to surrender because his officers are lying to him, while their king is already far away from the events of the war and his kingdom. It should be pointed out that the propagandists were aware that the leaflet would not be able to shake the morale of a well-motivated soldier, but that it would only be used as a slip for wrapping tobacco or toilet paper.
......
With the offensive of the Central Powers against the Kingdom of Serbia, Bulgaria also joined the war, so already in October 1915 leaflets started falling near Pirot reminding the local population of his alleged Macedonian/Bulgarian origin and calling for loyalty to the Bulgarian army. In the battles that followed, the Serbian army had to retreat towards Kosovo and Metohija, then across the Montenegrin mountains and the Drima valley to the Albanian coast. Deployed in the area from Shkodër through Medova, Durres and Valona, they were waiting for evacuation by allied ships. The seaplanes of the Emperor of Vienna and the King of Hungary take off every day from Kotor and Zelenika in order not to bombard the ports that represented the only straw of salvation for the exhausted Serbian army. Sometimes, in addition to the bombs, they threw out leaflets in which the Serbian soldiers were reminded that the Kingdom of Montenegro had capitulated, that any further struggle was hopeless, and that they should return to their homes "where peace and order now reign, and where your people eagerly await you".
After recovery and equipping in Corfu and later in Halkidiki, from the summer of 1916, the Serbian army occupied combat positions on the Thessaloniki front. Even in the Macedonian mountains, the enemy did not stop with propaganda, so Sreten Žujović writes in his diary how the Bulgarian army used balloons to distribute leaflets. The proximity of the Serbian trenches made this job easier, and the soldiers could read: "Put down your weapons so that the war ends in your favor as soon as possible."
SHOOTING PASS
Less than twenty-three years after MP Žujović wished his countrymen the long-awaited freedom with flyers from the plane, the war propaganda machinery started to use flyers as a cheaper and more harmless substitute for bullets and bombs. In the days after the capitulation of the army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the state printing press in Sarajevo printed leaflets day and night in which the units of the Yugoslav army, without connection with the army headquarters and left abandoned in Bosnian villages, were informed that the war was over and that they should surrender to the nearest German or Italian unit.
Not everyone responded to the call to surrender, so already in the summer of 1941, two insurgent armies appeared in the area from Karavanki to Đevđelia. With the formation of larger insurgent units and the capture of cities, the enemy, primarily the Germans, began operations to encircle and destroy Chetnik and Partisan units in the wider area of Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Croatia. After the collapse of the so-called "Republic of Bihac" in early 1943, the partisan main body with the Central Hospital and the fleeing civilians retreated towards the Neretva valley. In addition to machine gun fire and aerial bombs, thousands of leaflets begin to litter the long retreating columns. This time, German propagandists are using a new type of leaflet, the so-called passes. In addition to the standard text about how they have been manipulated by their leadership and how they should abandon the futile struggle, on the back of each leaflet is printed the so-called "Ausweiss", with the coat of arms of the Wehrmacht, to make it look as serious as possible. Let's try to see the position of a wounded insurgent. He has to walk tens of kilometers every day, he is happy if his wound is bandaged once every ten days, he misses food, which normally consists of a boiled and bland piece of horse meat and some forest grass that gives the meat at least some taste, because he has not seen salt since the injury. If he's really lucky, he'll get a portion of overcooked Italian macaroni. During one of the long marches, he comes across a "pass", which he puts in a torn overcoat under the pretext that he needs to roll a "polovče" (cigarette). And while he sits by the campfire in the evening and thinks about the fate of his family who managed to escape from the Ustasha punitive expeditions, the leaflet comes into his hands again and the message from it seems more and more tempting.
......
A considerable number of insurgents were crushed under this form of propaganda, especially fighters whose families remained alive and at large. German troops shot most of the deserters on the spot, while individuals "got away" by going to forced labor in Greece or the north of Norway, to build coastal fortifications.
Even more perfidious were the leaflets that imitated the pre-war peasant women and promised "freedom, life and bread" for as many as one hundred people. They were cynically called "refugee identification cards", and they were intended for numerous deserters of the civilian population who were a common phenomenon in Bosnia and Krajina during 1942 and 1943.
......
On February 26, 1944, a German light reconnaissance plane was circling above Bukulja, while the co-pilot was throwing leaflets out of the bags, which again have the form of a pass. In them, they call on members of the Yugoslav Army in the homeland (Chetniks) to surrender peacefully and that "...he will be treated like a defector, not like a prisoner." Next to the reassuring text is the coat of arms of the Wehrmacht, while the other formations are not mentioned. During those days, operation "Hail" is in full swing, which is carried out jointly by German, Bulgarian and Ljotić forces supported by the "Russian Protective Corps", and their goal is to destroy several JVuO corps in the area from Jadro to Smederevo. Despite the difficult situation, the Chetniks break through the Bulgarian and Ljotić positions and manage to elude the "Brandenburg" division and the 5th motorized SS police regiment. Unfortunately, we cannot know how many Chetniks and civilians surrendered believing the contents of the leaflet, but it is certain that the number is not insignificant.
......
"LET WHO CAN SAVE THEMSELVES"
On the first day of Easter in 1944 (April 16), 600 bombers of the US 15th Air Fleet appeared over Belgrade. Many citizens thought that the planes were headed for Romania, to bomb the oil facilities in Ploesti, where most of the oil for the German war machine came from. Unfortunately, they were wrong. The target was the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, i.e. Railway station, factories of aircraft parts on both sides of the Sava and Danube, as well as gasoline warehouses in Čukarica. Thousands of people died, and the main bridges were damaged.
The bombings continued in the following months, so that in the period from April to September 1944, Belgrade was bombed as many as 11 times. Realizing that the people of Belgrade will not easily go over such actions of the Western allies, leaflets are dropped from the "flying fortresses" next to the bombs, saying: "On this day, we, your allies, remember your holy victims who fell during the bombing of Belgrade on the 6th. April 1941 by the Germans."
In the lower part of the leaflet, it is graphically shown how many more bombs fell on Berlin compared to Belgrade, although we are not sure how much comfort this was for the suffering residents of the city that so resolutely stood up to Nazism on March 27, 1941, and thus ensured a martyr's fate in the years that followed. they are coming.
......
After the landing on Drvar, at the end of May 1944, Josip Broz Tito was evacuated with his closest associates and part of the allied military missions to Bara, from where he moved to the island of Vis. The propaganda departments of the German army did not miss this opportunity, and as early as June, leaflets appeared under the title "Let all who can be saved", in which the partisans were informed about Tito's escape, the destruction of partisan formations in the area of Drvar and Bosanski Petrovac, and the determination of the German army to fight. ... until the last bandit sees the futility of fighting for communism". On the back is a new "pass" which, this time, mentions the "Amnesty Law" of the NDH from January 16, 1944 as a straw of salvation.
With the entry of the Red Army into Serbia, the outcome of the civil war between the Partisans and the Chetniks was resolved. The remnants of the Chetnik corps are transferred to Bosnia, where they try to spend the winter and get out of combat contact with a far superior enemy. During that time, the partisans grow into a modern army with armored units and squadrons of fighter planes. The decisive skirmish took place on Zelengora in May 1945, where the Chetniks were defeated, after which they ceased to be an organized combat formation.
According to the recollections of Major Aleksandar Milošević, the commander of the 2nd Šumadija Corps (which in the spring of 1945 numbered no more than 100 soldiers), partisan squadrons showered Chetnik columns with leaflets, which again took the form of passes (which speaks volumes for the effectiveness of that propaganda method). Ordinary soldiers are urged to kill their elders and return home, where they can continue their normal lives. According to the same source, the contents of the leaflet were believed by some Chetniks from Posavina, who were shot immediately after surrendering.
"BELGRADE MORNING"
Fifty-five years later, papers are appearing again in the forests of Serbia calling for the army to surrender, with the promise of a better and more peaceful life. According to the testimony of retired Brigadier General Stojan Konjikovac, in April 1999, the slopes of Pasrtika were covered with leaflets, which this time were being dropped by NATO aircraft. In addition to the advancement of technology and the development of other, far more effective media, palm-sized pieces of paper still have a useful value in the propaganda war, if only to inform on which frequencies they can listen to and watch the news that is created in the headquarters of the NATO alliance. The shows have cynical names like "We want to talk to you" or "Belgrade mornings".
During the bombing of FR Yugoslavia, more than 30 different leaflets in millions of copies were dropped over Serbia and Montenegro. Since their creators are well versed in the social and political divisions in Serbian society in the last decade of the 20th century, the messages sent to the soldiers of the Yugoslav Army try to create a rift between them and the members of the MUP. There are references to non-existent demonstrations in the cities, all with photographs of demonstrations being broken up during the winter of 1996-1997. year. The text follows that "Mupovac has time to jump to the house to count the loot from his prey." They get a regular salary, better and newer equipment, and they monitor you to see if you follow their orders."
Then they fly with pictures of Marko Milošević (son of the president of the FRY, Slobodan Milošević) and his alleged villas and yachts in fashionable resorts on the Mediterranean, reminders of banking "geniuses" like bosses Jezda and Dafina Milanović and many other misfortunes that befell the citizens of Serbia in the past years. If such messages did not shake the morale of members of the army and the police, just in case, photos of the deadliest combat machines such as Apache helicopters or B 52 strategic bombers appear with the message: "If you want to survive and see your family again, leave your unit and battalion means and immediately leave Kosovo and Metohija".
In addition to presenting the "facts" about the daily and mass desertions of army members, the loss of Krajina, eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Sarajevo in the recently ended wars was particularly underlined, and the question was raised: "He is betting with the Serbian cradle, with the Serbian place in the world and with lives." his people. Is it all his, personally, and is he allowed to gamble?", with a photo of a frowning Slobodan Milošević.
This brings us back to the beginning of the text and the basic rule of war propaganda throughout the centuries. Promises are always false, but they are often supported by facts that the opposing soldiers are aware of, even if only subconsciously.
