Interesting WWII Public INformation Leaflet

BadBrain

Here's a leaflet which was distributed over Germany and Poland, apparently during the year 1944 (as it refers to the drop tanks which would have been regular equipment aboard the P-51 Mustang long-range escort fighters then being fielded by the 8th Air Force), by the National Socialist government then in power within that area, which leaflet appears as follows:



And translates (primarily from the German, as my German is much better than my Polish), as follows:

[In Polish]

NOTICE!

[In German]

Not a bomb!

Report immediately to the nearest police station or military airfield!

ATTENTION!

FUEL CONTAINER!

***

Further, the Polish "To nie bomba!" appears to be the same phrase as the Russian "Eto ne bomba!", or "This is not a bomb!" (once again, my Russian is mush better than my Polish, so gimme a break, hey!).

Finally, the Polish "MATERIAL PE(n)DNY!" means: "PROPELLANT MATERIAL!", or "FUEL!".

zoobyshoe

What was the point of the leaflets? Did they want to recycle these tanks, or just let people know they weren't dangerous?

BadBrain

The point was to tell the population that they weren't bombs, but that they were still dangerous, as they might contain considerable amounts of fuel.

The Mustang pilots would drop the tanks as soon as they got into a combat situation, whether the tanks were empty or not.

zoobyshoe

I see. An interesting but obscure factoid from WWII.