One of the classic episodes of the U.S. Army’s TV show “The Big Picture”, this episode looks at the use of psychological operations to sap enemy morale. At 2:43, broadcasts are made in the field using loudspeakers to North Korean soldiers, attempting to get them to surrender. At 3:10, a reel to reel tape recorder is used as part of this effort. At 3:17, brochures are seen printed by the hundreds. General Robert McClure is seen describing the “struggle for men’s minds” at 3:40. At 7:05, a C-47 is loaded with surrender leaflets for release over enemy territory. At 8:18, the aircraft flies low while loudspeakers blare propaganda. At 9:45, some of the training programs behind these efforts are seen including laboratory testing at Ft. Riley, Kansas where a Psychological Warfare School was established (a la the Manchurian Candidate ).
At 10:30, General HQ at Tokyo is shown with the Psychological Warfare headquarters activities are described. Psywar broadcasts are seen at 12:20, with broadcasts of news and information via radio. At 12:35, records are recorded on discs, and recordings are made to reel-to-reel tape for use by mobile transmitters. At 15:00, strategic printing of leaflets is shown at the Tokyo facility. At 16:50, propaganda leaflets are designed including text and image, and translated from English into Korean and Chinese. These leaflets are seen distributed by the tens of thousands by B-29 at 20:14. Artillery bursts of literature are also shown at 22:19.
Loudspeakers are seen in use with a front-line unit at 22:30 and at 24:00. An airborne loudspeaker is seen on board an A-26 being used with a Korean woman narrating, for effectiveness against the Chinese and Korean soldiers.
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