OPROP! ( in correct 1940-Danish; ) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

airborne propaganda leaflet dropped over several

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

cities at the

German invasion of Denmark The German invasion of Denmark (german: Operation Weserübung – Süd), was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April 1940, during the Second World War. The attack was a prelude to the invasion of Norway (german: Weserübung Nord, 9 April – 10 ...

on 9 April 1940. The leaflets were signed by the head of Operation Weserübung Süd, General

Leonhard Kaupisch Leonhard Kaupisch (1 September 1878 – 26 September 1945) was a German general during World War II who served as Supreme Military Commander of occupied Denmark. World War I and interwar period Kaupisch entered the army in 1898; from 1907 to 1909 ...

. The text, written in broken but understandable

mixed with

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, justified the German invasion as fraternally protecting Danish and Norwegian neutrality against British aggression, denounced

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

as a warmonger, and exhorted the Danish populace not to resist the German presence while an arrangement with the Danish government was being negotiated. The OPROP! leaflet had a notable impact in regards to the Danish capitulation. When the German infantry arrived at the

Amalienborg Palace Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors arou ...

in the morning of 9 April 1940, they were met with determined opposition from the King's Royal Guard, which repelled the initial attack, suffering three wounded. This gave

Christian X Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was List of Danish monarchs, King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only List of rulers of Iceland, King of Iceland as ...

and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief General

William Wain Prior William Wain Prior (18 July 1876 – 9 March 1946) was a Danish Lieutenant general and the Chief of the Royal Danish Army from 1939 to 1941. Life and career Following the death of Johan Christian Lund, in 1931, Prior became chief of the Genera ...

. As the discussions were ongoing, several formations of

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

and

Dornier 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...

bombers roared over the city dropping the OPROP! leaflets. Faced with the explicit threat of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

bombing the civilian population of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and only General Prior in favour of continuing the fighting, the Danish government capitulated in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters. In 2016 historian Hans Christian Bjerg argued that the poor broken Danish on the leaflet could be because it was a rushed translation of a similar leaflet written by the Germans for use over Norway the same day. The reason would be that Operation Weserübung initially called for invasion only of Norway and that the additional invasion of Denmark was decided at a late stage in the planning.

References

;Citations ;Sources * 1940 in Denmark 20th century in Denmark Information operations and warfare Propaganda techniques using words World War II propaganda 1940 documents Nazi propaganda {{Denmark-hist-stub