Joseph Goebbels always had the media under his control promote the German bombing raids on Britain as "reprisals" for Allied raids on Germany. When towards the end of the war Germany was unable to bomb Britain conventionally any more, Goebbels tried to save face by saying that Germany had taken its reprisals "in advance!"

There was a popular joke where a man goes to a newspaper stand to buy a paper saying, "Give me ten cents worth of reprisals."
Montag | 03.13.08 - 5:07 pm | #