---
title: 'A War Message: Don''t Discuss Troop Movements, Ship Sailings, War Equipment'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-war-message-dont-discuss-bookmark-1944/
description: Narrow card or bookmark format headed 'A War Message', with a line drawing of Uncle Sam holding a finger to his lips above the same three-item list
section: Collection
---

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3. A War Message: Don't Discuss Troop Movements, Ship Sailings, War

[![A War Message: Don't Discuss Troop Movements, Ship Sailings, War Equipment, 1944 US poster: Narrow card or bookmark format](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/a-war-message-dont-discuss-bookmark-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/a-war-message-dont-discuss-bookmark-1944.jpg)

# A War Message: Don't Discuss Troop Movements, Ship Sailings, War Equipment

Narrow card or bookmark format headed 'A War Message', with a line drawing of Uncle Sam holding a finger to his lips above the same three-item list of subjects not to discuss. The technique is transfer: the national symbol lends authority to a plain instruction, and no threat is shown.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
A WAR
MESSAGE
Don't Discuss
TROOP
MOVEMENTS
•
SHIP
SAILINGS
•
WAR
EQUIPMENT
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-602424
```

[← A Tribute from Home - Buy Victory Bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-tribute-from-home-buy-victory-bonds-canada-1944/) [A war message: Fight waste! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-war-message-fight-waste-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)