Published by Primary Source Microfilm

Editorial Board: Prof. Richard J. Aldrich, Department of Law and Social Sciences, University of Nottingham
Prof. David A. Culbert, Department of History, Louisiana State University
Dr Martin A. Doherty, Lecturer in History, University of Westminster

International interest in propaganda and psychological warfare, or "perception management" as it is now often known, has perhaps never been as intense as it is today. Anyone studying or implementing propaganda worldwide must be familiar with the work of the British Political Warfare Executive ("PWE") during World War II. With a significant reliance on both military and civil input, the huge airborne and radio propaganda campaigns from the very first day of the war (the first drops over Germany in 1939 were leaflets not bombs) still serve as the best and most effective lesson in psychological warfare.

This collection presents the complete files of the PWE kept at the Public Record Office in Kew as "FO 898" from its instigation to closure in 1946, along with the secret minutes of the special 1944 War Cabinet Committee "Breaking the German Will to Resist." Included here is all the correspondence, minutes and agents' mission files along with a complete collection of all the airborne propaganda leaflets dropped over mainland Europe during the war by the British and American airforces. These leaflets, single sheets and miniature books are often highly illustrated, sometimes satirical and sometimes intended to boost morale with speeches or addresses from exiled leaders. They were produced in all nine languages of the recipient countries.

Part 1: 30 reels
Part 2: 30 reels
Part 3: 38 reels
Part 4: 68 reels
Complete collection: 166 reels