When it comes to Germany's most powerful weapons during World War II, everyone may have many different ideas, some may say Tiger tanks, some may say that they are late jets, and some people may think that Bismarck's battleships and missiles are the most powerful, but I want to say that I am afraid that the most powerful weapon in Germany in World War II is the "pound" made by Hitler.
The Impression of the Germans on the world is usually rigid, precise and tenacious. When it comes to the German army in World War II, people have the impression that they were brave and good at fighting, known for their blitzkrieg, but also for their brutal acts such as killing Jews. When it comes to conspiracies and assassinations or some sort of machination, it is still difficult to link these to the German army.
However, this is not the case. In September 1942, the Bank of England received a bundle of counterfeit £10 bills from its West African branch. Records at the time said: "This is the most dangerous discovery to date." Later, counterfeit banknotes of various denominations appeared in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. The British government at the time did not know that the counterfeit money was part of the Nazis' economic plan to destroy the Allies. Because of the surname of the officer in charge of the operation, the program became known as Operation Berhad. In addition, the supreme leader of the program was the German head of state Hitler himself.
The use of counterfeit money as a means of warfare was nothing new, nor was it a German invention. The history of counterfeiting can be traced back to ancient Greece. King Frederick of Prussia, in the Seven Years' War, copied his opponent's currency to attack the economy. Napoleon also signed orders to counterfeit Austrian and Russian currencies. During the American Civil War, the North and the South forged banknotes against each other in order to attack each other's economic weaknesses.
But this time it was different. Before World War II, the design of British banknotes was known for its precision. The design of the national banknote is specially commissioned, and the watermarking technology is the masterpiece of a master with exquisite achievements, the crisscrossing linen paper is dense, the multi-layer stacking process is unique, and the digital coding system is considered. In short, according to common sense, British paper money at that time could not be copied. However, from 1942 to 1945, a third of British banknotes on the market were counterfeit. The British government panicked.
On several occasions, the Chancellor of the Exchequer secretly asked the Treasury and the Treasury to prepare to cancel existing bonds and issue new ones. The news leaked out. In a related report, The Times urged the public to spend money as soon as possible and not to let paper money fall into the hands of the enemy, as a large number of counterfeit money flows out of the European continent. At this point, the British government unexpectedly blocked the news, ordered the media not to follow up on the report, and refused to disclose the potential threat of counterfeit money spreading to Britain.
In February 1945, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made an unprecedented decision: he wanted to order the recovery of all the £10 notes on the market, but the resistance was too great and the order was not carried out. A few months later, in early 1946, the new banknotes were finally introduced. The old counterfeit banknotes were replaced with new security signs. Each new banknote has a metal strip on it, which is the originator of today's anti-counterfeiting line, which can be regarded as curbing the problem of counterfeit money.
But Hitler's counterfeit money was not only the pound sterling, but the Americans were no exception. At that time, the CIA found a printer named Jacob Goodgrass and learned that hundreds of counterfeit $100 bills had been produced but had not yet circulated.
Jacob Goodgrass estimates that the Germans have printed around £135 million. This figure, while conservative, frightens Americans. In McNally's report, he estimated that about £1 million went to Turkey and the Near East, £2 million to France, and £8 million to Spain, Portugal and Scandinavia.
These counterfeit banknotes can be said to be powerful and far-reaching.
It was later discovered that in many international transactions during World War II, counterfeit money was a key tool for the Nazis to wave. For example, the bold action to save Mussolini, and the subsequent rescue of Italian Foreign Minister Ciano, both cost Bernhard's counterfeit money. The most famous SS spy, the Turkish Kikalo, found the opportunity to open the British ambassador's safe, which contained confidential documents about the D-Day plan (the Normandy Landing Plan).
Before the super-spy was arrested, the Nazis gave him 200,000 pounds of counterfeit money. The SS also used counterfeit money to buy gold and food on the black market. The Nazis opened many bank accounts with these counterfeit coins, eventually helping many Nazis flee to South America or elsewhere in the world.
It can be said that these fake pounds made by the Germans during World War II made Britain and the United States feel frightened, and once almost led to the collapse of the British and American economies, but this ultimately could not change the end of the collapse of the Nazis, it should be said that the demise of fascism is irreversible.