CPT Heber Blankenhorn

COL Heber Blankenhorn

WWI and WWII Psywar Pioneer
(1884-1956)

Bio

Born on 26 March 1884, pre-war journalist Heber Blankenhorn ‘sold’ leaflet warfare to the War Department after the U.S. entered WWI in April 1917. Direct-commissioned in January 1918, Captain Blankenhorn headed the Psychologic Subsection in the War Department, which planned for combat propaganda. Later that year, he led a small Propaganda Section in France, which disseminated three million leaflets for the American Expeditionary Forces.

Leaving active duty in April 1919, he authored several works on WWI propaganda. Following U.S. entry into WWII in December 1941, he joined the civil service as a psychological warfare (psywar) researcher. Re-commissioned in November 1942, Major Blankenhorn reported to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in early 1943. Assigned to OSS Morale Operations, he headed the Leaflet Section, Psywar Branch, Allied Force HQ, orchestrating leaflet operations in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy.

Lieutenant Colonel Blankenhorn transferred to London in 1944, directing leaflet missions for the Psywar Division, SHAEF, while planning independent OSS propaganda. In August 1944, he became the Psywar Officer, Ninth U.S. Army, supporting the psywar campaign against German forces besieged at the French port of Brest.

Re-deploying in October 1944 and authoring further psywar studies that informed doctrine, Colonel Blankenhorn left active duty in March 1946. Passing away on 1 January 1956, COL Blankenhorn was buried at Arlington.

PHOTOS

Taken inside the Propaganda Section office inside GHQ, AEF, in Chaumont, France, this picture shows the relative amount of U.S. (left) versus French (right) propaganda so far in the war. From August to November 1918, that section developed and coordinated delivery of over three million leaflets of nineteen designs.
An AEF officer demonstrates an experimental timed fused system for releasing leaflets from a hydrogen-filled balloon. Limited research and development on balloon leaflet delivery occurred during the war, but dropping loose leaflets from fixed-wing aircraft was the method of choice.
Leaflet-laden hydrogen balloons are released by Allied propagandists during World War I.
This leaflet, translated from German to English, was the first and most popular leaflet developed by the AEF Propaganda Section during World War I. It was merely a reprint of the 1 July 1918 GHQ, AEF General Order #106, which required fair treatment of enemy prisoners taken by American soldiers. It intended to dispel myths that U.S. soldiers killed captured enemy soldiers.
Developed by the AEF Propaganda Section, this leaflet shows the relative increase of American soldiers in France each month from May 1917 to October 1918, by which time they numbered 1,900,000. The goal was showcase the overwhelming strength of U.S. forces coming to bear on the enemy on the Western Front.
Detailed to the Morale Operations (MO) Branch, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), MAJ Blankenhorn headed the Leaflet Section, Psywar Branch, Allied Force Headquarters (PWB/AFHQ) during World War II. He coordinated all leaflet operations in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy, from February 1943 to February 1944.
Loosely translated “Italy will get by [or succeed] on its own,” this PWB/AFHQ leaflet hearkened to an Italian patriotic phrase used during that nation’s unification period in the mid-19th Century.
Having led the Leaflet Section, PWB/AFHQ; coordinated leaflet delivery for the Psywar Division, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (PWD/SHAEF); authored black propaganda programs for the OSS; and served as the Psywar Officer, Ninth U.S. Army, during the Battle for Brest, COL Heber Blankenhorn left active duty in March 1946.