File:British 1 pound back.jpg

English: German parody of British 1 pound with Arabic text

The first German parody of the British pound appears to be an imitation of the 1940-48 pink and blue one pound note. The Wehrmacht propaganda section (OKW/WPr) produced an imitation in green, serial number H86D729630, signed "Peppiatt." For years it was believed that this was a copy of the British green one pound note. However, close examination of the background indicates a diamond pattern at the top and bottom that is found on the pink and blue note. The Germans apparently printed this parody in the wrong color.

All evidence points to the Luftwaffe dropping these notes in November and December of 1942 over a 200-mile area of Northern Egypt that included Cairo, Alexandria and El Alamein. On the back is the following eleven-line message in Arabic:

Signs of Disintegration. If you inspect this banknote, you will remember the time when it was worth ten times its present value in bright shiny gold. That was because at that time the strength and riches of the mighty British Empire supported such notes. But that greatness is fading as is the value of this worthless piece of paper. What is this note worth today? You certainly know the answer to that. With each passing day of this British inspired war, the strength of the Empire is depleted. Each battle that England loses causes a further weakening of their currency. The day draws near when even the beggars in the street will refuse the British banknote, even as a gift. Truly, Allah wills the collapse of Britain, which will surely come to pass.

Some translators have stated that the Arabic is poorly written and the note contains both typographical and grammatical errors. One Arab scholar who studied the note said "While not full of errors, it is definitely written in a stilted, dictionary style that would not be expected from an Arab. There are a few outright errors, and some dangling expressions. The style is schoolbook rather than colloquial or fluent." There are rumors that British "Tommies" passed these notes in Egyptian bazaars until the Arab shopkeepers caught on.

I should make one other interesting point about this banknote leaflet. In 2013, I received a letter from the son of a South African Air Force veteran who had served in North Africa. He had found this leaflet in his father’s papers and wrote to the Bank of England to find out what it was. He told me:

I wrote to the Bank of England. They referred me to your website where I found your article about the WWII propaganda notes.

So, apparently the Bank of England uses my articles as a reference source. I find that fascinating.

The second German parody of a one pound note came to light almost twenty years after the war when a former British officer stated:

I picked up currency leaflets in Tunisia in the area of the Mareth Line (Gabes/Sfax) in April 1943. The success of the drop was obviously negligible, at least as far as the British were concerned. We never used English currency, but that of the country we were in. Egyptian money was used, as far as I can recollect, well into Cyrenaica, also the British Military Administration notes that were, after the initial suspicious phase, readily accepted by the local Arab population.

This officer brought back several copies of the one pound notes, as well as German parodies of United States $2 and $10 notes with identical messages that were air-dropped at the same time.