Postage Stamps in Propaganda

How were disinformation campaigns run before the digital age?

What’s the smallest propaganda poster imaginable?

Of course — the postal service and stamps. What else would we write about?

World War II. The Office of Strategic Services — a U.S. intelligence and special operations agency, and the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency — plans a full-scale psyop to demoralize Germany.

Allied planes had long been dropping anti-Nazi leaflets, but civilians weren’t eager to pick them up and read them with the Gestapo and soldiers around. The system had to be hacked — by making the German postal service unknowingly deliver fake newspapers filled with Allied propaganda straight to people’s homes. The idea was simple: these materials would be read calmly over breakfast. That’s why the Americans called it Operation Cornflakes. Ironically, cornflakes themselves weren’t really a thing in Germany at the time — but OSS was thinking from its own cultural perspective.

The plan was bold: bomb mail trains and postal facilities, then drop sacks of forged letters among the wreckage. German postal workers would collect the scattered mail — including the planted items — and deliver it as usual.

Operation Cornflakes.Source

So first, everything had to be forged: stamps, envelopes, postmarks, even mailbags — along with real recipient addresses. OSS gathered detailed knowledge of how the Reichspost operated from former employees found among German POWs — obtained, notably, in exchange for better living conditions.

The stamps were mainly printed in Allied-controlled cities like Rome and Bari, using British postal equipment and materials. Some designs closely mimicked real German stamps — but others introduced a twist: a skull emerging from Hitler’s profile, and the inscription “Futsches Reich” (“Ruined Reich”) instead of “Deutsches Reich.” They looked authentic at first glance — but were meant to plant doubt and unease.

OSS printer. Source

The first attempt was cancelled: in 1944, the Reichspost changed its cancellation marks, making thousands of prepared letters unusable — their stamps and postmarks no longer matched current standards.

But OSS adapted. With updated postmarks, new stamps, and an even more precise imitation, they relaunched the operation. The first successful drop took place on January 5, 1945, when Allied forces bombed a mail train and planted about 3,800 forged letters into the debris. Between February and April 1945, more than a dozen missions followed, dropping around 320 mailbags with nearly 96,000 letters. At least half are believed to have reached their recipients.

There were other wartime uses of stamps, too — charity campaigns, the “V for Victory” movement, and poster stamps used to boost morale — but those are stories for another time.

By the way, Ukrposhta continues this tradition in a very different way — through real stamps that support real causes. For example, you can currently buy the “Country of Superhumans” stamp sheet and contribute to fundraising for the Superhumans Dnipro rehabilitation center.

Explore Ukrposhta Market and our blog — there are many more postal stories to come.

Postage Stamps in Propaganda

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