From the Archives: The Nazi Air Marker Hoax
Status: Pareidolia
We live in paranoid times in which people are apt to interpret harmless objects (such as battery-lit sweatshirts or cartoon characters) as imminent threats. But we're really no more paranoid than previous generations. A case in point is the Nazi Air Marker Hoax of 1942.On August 10, 1942 the Army public-relations office issued a press release warning the public of "secret markers" that had been found on farm fields throughout the eastern United States. These markers were patterns formed by the arrangement of fertilizer sacks or the way a field had been tilled. From the ground they looked like nothing, but from the air they formed the shape of arrows, apparently created by Nazi sympathizers in order to guide enemy bombers straight toward military factories and airfields.
There was a big public outcry. Editorials warned of the need to guard against the enemy within. But a few days later it turned out that the "secret markers" were really just random patterns. A case of military pareidolia. The Army admitted the story "may be untrue." In one case the pattern had been created by the Department of Agriculture, which had directed a farmer to plow his field in that way to help stop soil erosion.
More about this (as well as pictures of the "air markers") in the photo archive.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri May 09, 2008 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 9
Category: Military, Pareidolia
Category: Military, Pareidolia
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
In 1942? The US Army expected the Nazis to run bombing raids across the Atlantic on them while they were busy pillaging France and trying to invade us?
Posted by Renquist in Glasgow, Scotland on Fri May 09, 2008 at 10:05 AM
So you've got this foaming lunatic who has made it clear that he wants to rule the world and who has made any number of warlike declarations and who has ordered U-boats to patrol U.S. waters, and it surprises you that he made folks in the U.S. wee a bit nervous and paranoid?
But the photo is a hoot. I have seen any number of photos of contoured buffer strips (which is what is shown here -- people still use them today in areas prone to wind erosion), but I guess they are an unexpected sight if you haven't heard of them. It doesn't look much like an arrow to me, but then, I don't have to worry much about U-boats.
Posted by Kathleen in Indiana, USA on Fri May 09, 2008 at 11:44 AM
But the photo is a hoot. I have seen any number of photos of contoured buffer strips (which is what is shown here -- people still use them today in areas prone to wind erosion), but I guess they are an unexpected sight if you haven't heard of them. It doesn't look much like an arrow to me, but then, I don't have to worry much about U-boats.
Yes, actually, since the Russians had switched to the Allies and were giving the Germans a run for their money on the Eastern Front, they'd met their match in the North African Campaign and still hadn't managed to invade Britain, which was at the time a major priority. Hence the bombing the living daylights out of us.
And they were afraid he was going to send the Luftwaffe to the other side of the world to fly over cornfields when they couldn't beat a handful of private school loons in spitfires? (And I mean that as the greatest compliment to the boys of the RAF).
So yes, I'm surprised the US thought that. Surely Japan was a more pressing concern, and far more likely to fly to the US (still a long shot)?
Posted by Renquist in Glasgow, Scotland on Sun May 11, 2008 at 05:43 PM
And they were afraid he was going to send the Luftwaffe to the other side of the world to fly over cornfields when they couldn't beat a handful of private school loons in spitfires? (And I mean that as the greatest compliment to the boys of the RAF).
So yes, I'm surprised the US thought that. Surely Japan was a more pressing concern, and far more likely to fly to the US (still a long shot)?
During the War of the Worlds "Panic Broadcast" of 1938, many people who heard the broadcast panicked because they thought the martians were actually Germans in disguise. So the idea of a German invasion was something Americans had been worrying about for quite a while.
Posted by Alex in San Diego on Sun May 11, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Yeah. I mean, sure, the Japanese were a bigger threat, but it was a scary time -- they had lots to be scared about. So it may not have been the most realistic fear, but it wasn't pure lunacy either. If they'd known etc., etc., etc....but they didn't.
Members of my family who were living on the Gulf Coast during the war specifically remember boats getting torpedoed by German U-boats (once a banana boat -- bananas washed up on the beaches -- and once, much more vividly, a cattle boat. Guess where all those dead steers ended up?) I know, a U-boat isn't the same thing as a bomber and I know the Gulf isn't the same thing as a cornfield, but still...there lots to be scared about. I am sure it was difficult to differentiate realistic fears from unrealistic ones. It would be for me.
Posted by Kathleen in Indiana, USA on Mon May 12, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Members of my family who were living on the Gulf Coast during the war specifically remember boats getting torpedoed by German U-boats (once a banana boat -- bananas washed up on the beaches -- and once, much more vividly, a cattle boat. Guess where all those dead steers ended up?) I know, a U-boat isn't the same thing as a bomber and I know the Gulf isn't the same thing as a cornfield, but still...there lots to be scared about. I am sure it was difficult to differentiate realistic fears from unrealistic ones. It would be for me.
And what, exactly, is that arrow supposed to be pointing at? Is the guy saying 'Hey, Germans/Japanese/Aliens, come this way and bomb...another empty field....'. Very effective.
Posted by Nona on Tue May 13, 2008 at 03:41 AM
To the worried, and pretty much everybody was worried right about then, I guess it's saying "Hey! If you fly in this general direction, sooner or later you're going to find an American city! Or maybe Canadian!"
But that's just my interpretation.
Posted by Kathleen in Indiana, USA on Tue May 13, 2008 at 06:32 AM
But that's just my interpretation.
Give them some credit. I mean the Luftwaffe (assuming they flew across the Atlantic and started bombing the US instead of us) wouldn't exactly need big signs in fields. Given that they didn't usually bomb during daylight to make it harder to be shot down. So they wouldn't see the corn-markers.
They'd see the big lit-up cities. Hell the UK had blackouts and they still found the towns.
Just not a plausible plan of action from a military perspective.
Posted by Renquist in Glasgow, Scotland on Wed May 14, 2008 at 07:15 AM
They'd see the big lit-up cities. Hell the UK had blackouts and they still found the towns.
Just not a plausible plan of action from a military perspective.
Of course it's not logical -- I just said that, given all the scary stuff going on right about then, it's understandable, which isn't at all the same thing. History is full of stuff that isn't logical but is still understandable.
I mean, sheesh, did it make sense during the Cold War to have drills in which kids were taught to get under their desks (which I am reliably assured actually occurred, at least in the U.S.)? No, not really. I guess it's marginally better than standing on top of your desk and shouting "Drop the bomb here, you lousy commies," but that's about all you can say for it. So that wasn't logical, but it was understandable.
Posted by Kathleen in Indiana, USA on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I mean, sheesh, did it make sense during the Cold War to have drills in which kids were taught to get under their desks (which I am reliably assured actually occurred, at least in the U.S.)? No, not really. I guess it's marginally better than standing on top of your desk and shouting "Drop the bomb here, you lousy commies," but that's about all you can say for it. So that wasn't logical, but it was understandable.
Page 1 of 1 pages