Operation Cornflakes facts for kids
Operation Cornflakes was a secret plan by American intelligence during World War II. It happened in early 1945, just before the war ended. The main goal was to trick and confuse the enemy, Germany, by using fake postage stamps. This clever operation was a way to spread important messages and make people doubt their government.
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What Was Operation Cornflakes?
This special operation took place in February and March of 1945, near the very end of World War II. The United States intelligence agency, which gathers secret information, came up with a very unique idea. They wanted to send fake messages and news to people living in Germany, without the German government finding out. This was a form of propaganda, which means spreading information to influence how people think.
How Did Operation Cornflakes Work?
The plan involved creating fake postage stamps that looked almost exactly like the real German ones. These fake stamps were designed to carry secret messages or propaganda. They were made to look like official German stamps, but they had tiny differences or hidden meanings.
Here's how the American intelligence team put their plan into action:
- They printed thousands of fake stamps that looked like regular German stamps.
- These fake stamps were then put on envelopes that contained propaganda leaflets or letters.
- The envelopes were dropped from airplanes over Germany, specifically near train lines.
- The idea was that these letters would land near mail trains that had been bombed or damaged.
- When German postal workers found the scattered mail, they would collect it and try to deliver it.
- Because the stamps looked real, the letters would hopefully be delivered right to German homes and businesses.
Why Was This Operation So Clever?
This method was very smart because it used the enemy's own mail system against them. Normally, if an enemy country tried to send propaganda, it would be stopped by postal workers or intelligence agencies. But by making the stamps look real and having them "accidentally" mixed with real mail, the Americans hoped their messages would slip through.
In the world of Philately (stamp collecting), these fake stamps are known as forgeries or "cinderellas." They are not real stamps issued by a government. However, for Operation Cornflakes, their fake nature was the whole point! It was a unique example of how stamps could be used in a secret war.
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