You Raise 'Em - We'll Shoot 'Em Down (12 cwts. of coal go to make 1 minute's supply of shells for these guns)
A photograph from below shows a ship's crew firing a four-barrelled anti-aircraft gun against a yellow sky, with a figure draped in ammunition belts at lower left. The caption puts a quantity on the link ('12 cwts. of coal go to make 1 minute's supply of shells'), and the slogan 'You raise 'em - we'll shoot 'em down' lends the gunners' action to the miners' output (transfer); the figure is not checked against any source.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Fuel and Power; printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Fuel and Power / H.M. Stationery Office, c. 1942-1945. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.
Text on the object
12 CWTS. OF COAL GO TO MAKE 1 MINUTE'S SUPPLY OF SHELLS FOR THESE GUNS YOU RAISE 'EM — WE'LL SHOOT 'EM DOWN ISSUED BY MINISTRY OF FUEL & POWER C.2.3 PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY FOSH & CROSS LTD., LONDON. 51-5348
