OPROP!

Leaflet dropped over Denmark during the German invasion April 9th, 1940.

OPROP! (Opraab! in correct 1940-Danish; proclamation) was a German leaflet dropped over several Danish cities in the Battle of Denmark on April 9, 1940. The leaflets were signed by the head of Operation Weserübung Süd, general Leonhard Kaupisch. The text, written in a very broken but understandable Danish mixed with Norwegian, justified the German invasion as fraternally protecting Danish and Norwegian neutrality against British aggression, denounced Winston Churchill as a warmongerer, and exhorted the Danish populace not to resist the German presence while an arrangement with the Danish government was being negotiated.

Kaupisch later told a Danish journalist that the German text to OPROP! was written by Adolf Hitler himself, after he had scrapped a draft which Kaupisch had made. It was also Hitler who arranged for the translation.^{[citation needed]}

The OPROP! leaflet had a notable impact in regards to the Danish capitulation. When the German infantry arrived at the Amalienborg Palace in the morning of April 9, 1940, they were met with determined opposition from the King's Royal Guard, which repulsed back the initial attack, suffering three wounded. This gave Christian X and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief General William Wain Prior. As the discussions were ongoing, several formations of Heinkel He 111 and Dornier 17 bombers roared over the city dropping the OPROP! leaflets. Faced with the explicit threat of the Luftwaffe bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and only General Prior in favour of continuing the fighting, the Danish government capitulated in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters.^[1]

References

1. ^ Laursen, Gert. "The German occupation of Denmark". http://www.milhist.dk/besattelsen/9april/9april.html. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 

Kjersgaard, Erik (2005) (in Danish). Danmark under besættelsen - Danskernes dagligliv 1940-45. Politikens Forlag. ISBN 9788756778534.