---
title: And if our lines should form and break
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/and-if-our-lines-should-form-and-break-think-american-1941/
description: Silhouette of helmeted infantrymen at dusk, one with a fixed bayonet, above an eight-line verse. Tagged by technique, with source and rights.
section: Collection
---

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3. And if our lines should form and break

[![And if our lines should form and break, 1941 US poster: Silhouette of helmeted infantrymen at dusk, one with a fixed bayonet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/and-if-our-lines-should-form-and-break-think-american-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/and-if-our-lines-should-form-and-break-think-american-1941.jpg)

# And if our lines should form and break

Silhouette of helmeted infantrymen at dusk, one with a fixed bayonet, above an eight-line verse. The verse asks whether producers will 'take the blame' if supplies fail and says the soldiers, not the producers, will pay the cost. The technique is testimonial, a Marine's message, with an implied accusation of blame.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

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

```
And if our lines should form and break,
Because of things you failed to make --
The extra tank or ship or plane
For which we waited all in vain,
And the supplies that never came
Will you then come and take the blame?
For we, not you, will pay the cost
Of battles you, not we, have lost.
[imprint:] THINKAMERICAN INSTITUTE
[imprint:] THINKAMERICAN REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. No. 140 -- COPYRIGHT -- KELLY-READ & CO., ROCHESTER, N.Y.
[imprint:] MESSAGE ON THIS POSTER BY AN AMERICAN MARINE NOW "SOMEWHERE ON THE PACIFIC"
[signature:] C R MILLER
```

[← America's Answer! Production](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americas-answer-production-1941/) [And if our lines should form, then break (a U.S. Marine) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/and-if-our-lines-should-form-then-break-general-cable-1941/)

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