Operation N (Polish: Akcja N, where "N" stands for the Polish word "Niemcy," "Germany") was a complex of sabotage, subversion and black-propaganda activities carried out by the Polish resistance against Nazi German occupation forces during World War II, from April 1941 to April 1944. These activities were organized by Office N, which in October 1941 was transformed into an Autonomous Sub-Department N of the Bureau of Information and Propaganda of the Armed Resistance, later of the Home Army. It was headed by Tadeusz Żenczykowski (codename Kania).
Operation N constituted part of a psychological-warfare campaign against the German occupation. It produced German-language newspapers and leaflets, ostensibly distributed by German anti-Nazi groups.
Autonomous Sub-Department N comprised five sections:
Work was carried on with extraordinary precision. The studies section collected special information about the history and geography of Germany, especially about the German language, its dialects, jargons used by various milieus and professional circles, terms used in state administration, about politics, the economy, and opinions current in the army, among the civilian population, etc.
On that basis, thousands of leaflets, pamphlets and periodicals of various political persuasions were produced, from communist to monarchist, as well as satirical and religious periodicals.
In order to act efficiently, there were necessary appropriate local agencies, a set of secret printing houses, printing machines, documentation, files. About 700-950 persons participated in the Action N (editors, translators, printers, couriers and distributors), including boy scouts of Szare Szeregi. About 20,000-30,000 copies of various publications were distributed per month (newspapers, periodicals, leaflets, etc.). In total, during 1942–1944 over 1 million copies of various publications and propaganda materials.
That action was aimed at confusion, moral pressure and undermining the morale of Germans. Because of that, there were edited and distributed various publications, addressed for civilian citizens of Third Reich, for German soldiers, for Volksdeutsche, officers of occupational administration. Among periodicals, the following titles were published regularly:
Apart from that, two counterfeit issues of the Polish-language so-called the Goniec Krakowski daily (English: Kraków Courier) were published, and on 21 March 1943, 10,000 copies of a counterfeit issue of a similar daily Nowy Kurier Warszawski (English: New Warsaw Courier) were published.Additionally, defeatist pamphlets and leaflets were published. Their alleged authorship was to indicate some German anti-Nazi conspiracy organisations; they were to affirm the certainty of the close downfall of the Third Reich. All texts were elaborated by Polish translators in correct German language, with consideration of German regional dialects. Because of that, long after the war the actions were attributed to Germans.
Emphasis was placed on simulation of activities of non-existing German resistance groups and on impersonation of existing groups. For this purpose, a separate analytical cell was created in the Bureau of Information and Propaganda (Section II of Studies of the Sub-department of "N" Propaganda). Headed by Michał Mendys, it carried studies upon Nazism; its social and political context, structural changes, personal staff, and current directions of activities. Studies were carried out on the ways the Nazi party communicated with the community, its party jargon, and its language notions. Studies were carried out on the prewar history, foundations, and political programs of German opposition organisations, and on conflicts and groups in Wehrmacht. Based on the results of this analysis, twenty fictitious German organisations were created, including:
Apart from the publication of periodicals and leaflets, Operation N also assumed other forms, including targeting specific, identified Germans by sending them leaflets, false orders or forged official notices. For instance, in February 1943, a fake order was sent to Germans living in Warsaw stating that a curfew was being instituted for them, with a warning that breaking it could result in injury or death. Later that year a notice informed Germans that gas-masks would be distributed on some days of the week only because of an insufficient supply of masks. It caused chaos and panic among the addressees of the message.
On 30 April 1942 a false order was sent out to 209 factories under German administration, ordering that all workers be granted a fully paid day off work, due to the celebration of the day the NSDAP came to power.
In February 1944 a false order was issued specifying the sequence of evacuation of all Germans residing within the area of the General Government, which was that the Gestapo was to be evacuated first, then the SS, then the SA, then officials of the German administration, followed by the Reichdeutsche (i.e. Germans coming from the prewar territory of the Reich - Germany) and finally the Volksdeutsche. It contained the forged signature of SS Commander and Police general Wilhelm Koppe.
Similar actions of disinformation and other forms of propaganda were periodically carried out. After September 1943 the word "October" was written on walls, to evoke fears of the coming month of October.
Under a separate Action "tse-tse" Germans were annoyed by phone calls with threats, by letters, false notices or by sealing up the keyholes of their flats with gypsum. The "tse-tse" actions were carried by scouts of Szare Szeregi (ca 19 units) and every German was to receive two "stings" chosen from the various anti-German actions available. This was augmented by other forms of Small sabotage such as the painting of "Kotwica", the "Sign of Fighting Poland", and was also carried out by Szare Szeregi.
Operation N peaked in 1943, when the network covered most of Poland, including Szczecin, Wrocław and towns of eastern Poland. In the spring of 1944 the operation was suspended. Several factors contributed to this: