Did the US drop booby-trapped toys in WWII?

[gewehrdork]

If one looks at the commercially available pen/pistol on page one you will notice that the cap had to be unscrewed and a round loaded. If a round were loaded and the cap replaced, all it would take is a manipulation of the trigger/spring mechanism to create an explosion. The round would be fired and impact the cap.

Interesting yet so much wartime facist bunk !.

If there was any 'exploding pens' in italy then my bet is they were OSS or british commando items supplied to partisans for destruction of axis supplies/munitions.It is well known that there were many 22 caliber and 25 caliber "pen guns" used clandestinely and available for purchase even before the war. To prove a point my wife's grandfather as an infantryman with the 84th Inf Div entered a german home in the advance into the Ruhr and found laid across a dresser top coins , paper money , a pen and some trinkets. Well he picked up the pen and went to scribble on the dresser top and "bang"....a small caliber round flew up and into the ceiling. Had he not been left handed - he would have been hit in the face/neck.
The soviet munitions used in afghanistan to such effect were coined "toe poppers". They were if memory serves me correctly here copies of the US M14 toe popper mine. Little flat kidney bean shaped plastic bodied mines of about 2 or 4 ounces that would blow a foot off or hand if disturbed.They were dropped in canisters that broke open in flight - the impact of the ground armed these ( chemically ). Mainly used for denial of area and on target casualty creators. The ones I saw were like a faded olive color , and of course a big NO TOUCHIE !.
I have been told by a couple of buddies that encountered a couple of these soviet canister munitions at an Iraqi airbase that had been ripped open when the air base had it's runway holed for obvious reasons. The iraqi's had no means of air delivery as their 'airforce' seized to exhist after the opening hours of combat actions - in BOTH iraqi conflicts.
Anyhow I digress.

[Maurice Laarman]

This thread is rather sleepy the past years,but I was happy to find out the subject has been discussed. My interest in the subject was sparked by a letter, a Feldpostletter dated may 21, 1943. It comes out a lot, correspondence between a naval ingenieur in Kiel and his wife. In this letter he describes the attack on Kiel, may 19. He writes with great detail how a bomb hit a cellar were his stuff was stored. The bomb didn't explode, but got stuck in the cellar. After that he writes:

wonderful toys were also being dropped, pencils, lighters, and pens. When children touched them, they explode. Is this the way to fight a war?

I also asked another German, living in Hannover at that time and serving as Flakhelfer, if he remembered them. He said he had seen those pens.

At first I was thinking the story was made up by radio or other propagandamedia, but now I have to people who mention they have seen them themself.

It was made very clear in the previous threads that no fysical remains of such items remain till this day. Also the use would be questionable. However, the story is fascinating, I hope someday the facts will come to the light.

Cheers,

Maurice

[David Thompson]

This is a very strange story, with more questions than answers.

The US 8th Air Force bombed Kiel on 19 May 1943 -- it was one of the USAAF's earliest raids on Germany.

VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 59: 123 B-17's are dispatched against the U-boat yards at Kiel, Germany; 103 bomb the target at 1329-1333 hours local; we claim 48-7-21 Luftwaffe aircraft; we lose 6 B-17's and 28 others are damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 7 WIA and 60 MIA.

Combat Chronology of the US Army Air Forces
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/

The booby-trapped pen report associated with this attack on 19 May occurred just before the 22 May 1943 report(s) of the appearance of the pens in Italy, supposedly dropped by the USAAF, mentioned at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 33#p394633

The first USAAF attacks on Hannover date from July 1943 -- there were two attacks that month, on the 17th and 26th.

Apparently, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) manufactured exploding pens during WWII. There is an unfootnoted reference to them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Op ... _Executive and a schematic of the pen design shown at:

The real world behind James Bond
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4306221.stm

[Maurice Laarman]

Hi David,

Many thanks for your quick reply!

Indeed, more questions than answers.

The person from Hannover didn't mention a specific date, just that he had seen them. He also mentioned that these had to be reported or given to some unit, just like the leaflets. If these were collected and demolished, this would be a explanation for the absence of examples.

I will ask other veterans I know in Germany about their experiences. If five or more mention that they have seen them themself, combined with the letter and other stories in the thread, I strongly would believe that droppings like these occured. Off course, the human rememberance is not flawless.

What also strikes me, is the difference in aircraft lost, which are mentioned in the reports, sites and books. It seems different ways of calculating are being used. For example, an damaged aircraft, crashing at landing, is not always counted. Also, German and Allied numbers of shot down aircraft vary. I am not an 'airman', I focus on Kriegsmarine, but this what I found remarkable. I found it out when writing an article about these raids. Just a few lines, of which I hope they will be historical correct.

Cheers,

Maurice

[David Thompson]

Maurice -- You wrote:

I will ask other veterans I know in Germany about their experiences. If five or more mention that they have seen them themself, combined with the letter and other stories in the thread, I strongly would believe that droppings like these occured.

Would you ask, if the veterans remember anything like that, whether these drops occurred throughout the war or whether there was some kind of limited time frame involved, like mid-1943?

I had almost forgotten this thread. When it was active, I couldn't find any accounts of the manufacture of booby-trapped pens by anyone during WWII, which made me think that it was likely just a propaganda claim. It now appears that the allies actually manufactured such devices. The geographical spread (north Germany, Italy generally) of the reported appearance of these exploding pens makes me now suspect that these nasty little booby traps may indeed have been dropped.

If so, I'd be interested to find out who was responsible. If the Kiel and Hannover reports are true, a decision like that would presumably have been made fairly high up in the command chain of the US military, since different units in different Air Force groups based in different theaters of combat (northern Europe and the Mediterranean theater of operations) carried out the bombing missions. It would also be interesting to know how many of these devices were manufactured by the SOE, how they were distributed, and what happened to them.

[PropCollector]

Below are three images from a ww2 german propaganda poster for HOLLAND. It comes from my own collection. The date of this propaganda poster can be seen from the bottom imprint. I guess it must be may-june (1943). Which coincides with alleged Italian and Germany drops.
The same pic as from Italy (?). The poster warns for fountain pens and pencils dropped by the English and the Americans.

To me this looks as a well planned propaganda campaign by the Germans. A plan carried out and supported over the whole of europe.

As a member of the Psywar Society, I study all (propaganda) items ever dropped during ww2. As far as I recall, our quarterly magazine never published any devices like these pens aimed for innocent civilians to pick them up. Many of our members did already fanaticly collect airdropped stuffs during the war. And my guess is that they WOULD have found items IF they were ever dropped. However, I cannot PROVE these NEVER did exist.
I recall there was a story in the Psywar Society mag once about items like these dropped over N-Africa. The story was that IF this happened, it might have been a drop of items collected by one party and redropped over the original senders.... As I recall this article was only rumours without prove. If needed I can try to find this story again.

There are some storys from black propaganda telling about the allies dropping faulty (not working properly) sabotage igniters over Germany to confuse the Germans. I do not have the exact story at hand, but from what I remember, these devices could not easily be confused with pencils or fountain pens.

It might be interesting to read this article from one of our members. Look at the rat shown! The writer only talks about rumours. No prove. But read this article here: http://www.psywarrior.com/GiftsFromAbove.html

If I find more info on this subject, I will publish it here.

[David Thompson]

Thanks, PropCollector. My guess is that the poster dates from 1943, like the reports. You also wrote:

There are some storys from black propaganda telling about the allies dropping faulty (not working properly) sabotage igniters over Germany to confuse the Germans. I do not ahve the exact story at hand, but from what I remember, these devices could not easily be confused with pencils or fountain pens.

There are some illustrations of these devices earlier in the thread, at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 08#p404408

[LWD]

If the pens (either the bullet firing ones or the detonator types) were used it would seam highly likely that they would have been used by resistance or sabateur types. If there was a fear of this on the part of the authorities then the story could have been spread to increase the probability that drops would be reported and that they would be less likely to find their way into the hands of those that were opposed to the existing regime. Drops of this type of device in Germany and earlier into Italy don't make a whole lot of sense but a premeptive propaganda campaign by the authorities is not unreasonable. Problem is unless someone produces some documents ordering such a campaign I don't know how you would prove it. There is also the possiblity even if actual devices or documentation is produce that it was fabricated. I wonder if it could be tracked from the US production side of things. That unfortunatly will produce positive but not negative proof. Given that such things as the Liberator pistols were well documented however pen bombs would likely be as well.

[PropCollector]

In this letter he describes the attack on Kiel, may 19. He writes with great detail how a bomb hit a cellar were his stuff was stored. The bomb didn't explode, but got stuck in the cellar. After that he writes:

wonderful toys were also being dropped, pencils, lighters, and pens. When children touched them, they explode. Is this the way to fight a war?

My guess..... just a guess.....
I suspect my propaganda campaign poster from Holland was also used in Germany. Maybe a few days earlier. And I suspect this Naval guy possibly saw the Germany counterpart of the poster and did write to his wife about it as if he saw them himself.
My poster was approved for hanging on may 23 (first day). As it takes some time to prepare a poster like this, I do not believe it could already refer to a drop of pens on May 19.

[David Thompson]

LWD -- You wrote:

Problem is unless someone produces some documents ordering such a campaign I don't know how you would prove it. There is also the possiblity even if actual devices or documentation is produce that it was fabricated. I wonder if it could be tracked from the US production side of things. That unfortunatly will produce positive but not negative proof.

If the allies (or the US) made such an effort, there might be a marginal (though hard to find) paper trail. Presumably the pens were packaged in some manner for the air drop, although they might have been simply kicked out of a bomb bay. If they had to be packaged, there may be a description of the delivery system. There may have been safety handling instructions for the aircrews, who probably weren't familiar with the booby-trapped devices. Some may have been stolen and then appeared in military police or bomb disposal reports in the vicinity of the airfield or nearby towns.

Assuming that euphemisms ("6,000 bibles with bible launchers") weren't used to discribe the exploding pens, there may also be bills of lading or reports of munitions dropped. The SOE or OSS may have generated follow-up reports on the effectiveness of their use. The number of the devices which were manufactured, and when that happened, might hold a clue as well. So would reports on how the stockpile was distributed, when, and to whom. Finally, there are the letters, diaries or reports of allied troops who may have come into contact with them in North Africa or during the Italian campaign.

Of course, we don't have any of this at the moment, so it's all pretty speculative.

[Maurice Laarman]

I am glad to see this thread came to live again. Thanks everyone for your input.

For sure, the propaganda explanation might be valid. On the other hand, what would you try to reach with such a campaign? I do know from other the other letters that the German population was not always aware of the risks of an alarm or an airraid. Quote: the Rendsburger were not used to airraids and were standing outside, instead of going to the bunkers. This caused many civilians their life.

So, an awarenessprogram what do when there was a slight change bombers came your way seems logic. Such a program just after the bombardements, not to touch any strange objects even if they seemed wood, also seems logic. But how a campaign not to pick up pens fits in, seems a mystery to me.

Furthermore, the objective of supplying resistance with weapons in this way seems unlogic. Any uncoordinated dropping would result in supplying the enemy with weapons. As far as I know, resistance groups were indeed supplied from the air, but at designated times and places, and with real weapons and explosives.

Indeed, we would have to find a paper trail. I believe this could also be found in German police reports or other German documents. If true, they would have made mentioning of it.

Cheers,

Maurice

[PropCollector]

There are some storys from black propaganda telling about the allies dropping faulty (not working properly) sabotage igniters over Germany to confuse the Germans. I do not have the exact story at hand, but from what I remember, these devices could not easily be confused with pencils or fountain pens.

Found the story on the site of one of my collector friends. Operation BRADDOCK.
But it took place in 1944. So it is not related to this forumsubject. But, nonetheless, very interesting to read.
So see: http://www.psywar.org/braddock.php

[Maurice Laarman]

It's an ongoing research. This is what I found in Goebbels diary:

may 20,1943

The Americans launched yet another daylight attack on Flensburg and Kiel. First there was mentioning that they dropped pens and other utilities, filled with explosives. This message, which came from the naval commander of Kiel, proved not to be entirely factual after a few hours. On such occasions you notice again how nervous the Wehrmacht command becomes under pressure of the English-American air attacks.

Well, not entirely factual, or did not occur at all?

I will try to read further in his diary, perhaps I find more about the subject.

Regards,

Maurice

[PropCollector]

Found this story told by an "eye-wittness" from the UK. These propaganda stories were not only used by the Germans. The allies did spread similar rumours(?). Or can anybody show evidence of these devices being dropped over the UK?

Our undivided attention was also to be focussed on things lying around on the ground. The Germans had recently taken to dropping small toys, fountain pens, pencils and the like, which when picked up would explode taking off one's fingers or even a hand. There were also the anti-personnel, or 'Butterfly' bombs, which could be found anywhere, hanging in trees or on gutters and under nl circumstances were to be touched, as these were powerful enough to kill, Having said all this, we were very quick to learn, and I don't recall anybody locally, having been injured by these devices.

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stor ... 4026.shtml

[karl12345]

I read about this discussion on Google.
I'm italian and found two articles about explosive pens during II WW:
- Clerici CA, Capelletto F. Le armi della guerra psicologica, in “Uniformi ed armi”, febbraio 1994. Pag. 28 - 32 (unavailable on Internet)
- Clerici CA, Armi speciali per la guerra psicologica. Le penne esplosive tra realtà e propaganda. Storia e Battaglie, marzo 2006. Pag. 38 - 45. (a reduct versione available on internet on author's site http://www.carloclerici.com (page "testi e video disponibili")
or directly on scribd site http://www.scribd.com/doc/12399432/Penn ... lo-Clerici

I hope this infos can be useful.