---
title: British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain is Building 30,000 Tanks to Destroy Her Enemies
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-tanks-1939/
description: A navy-blue tank silhouette on an orange ground is explained in plain text ('This is a tank'), with inset drawings comparing it to an elephant and a horse
section: Collection
---

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3. British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain is Building 30,000 Tanks

[![British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain is Building 30,000 Tanks to Destroy Her Enemies, 1939 UK poster: A navy-blue tank](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-tanks-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-tanks-1939.jpg)

# British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain is Building 30,000 Tanks to Destroy Her Enemies

A navy-blue tank silhouette on an orange ground is explained in plain text ('This is a tank'), with inset drawings comparing it to an elephant and a horse, and the footer 'Britain is building 30,000 tanks to destroy her enemies'. The tells are the unsourced production figure and strengths-only description (card-stacking), and the 'crushing down anything in their path' wording (fear-appeal).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

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

```
BRITISH WEAPONS
TO DEFEAT HITLER

THIS IS A TANK

TANKS are moving forts, invented by Britain in the last war. They are covered with thick steel armour and carry powerful cannon and machine guns.

Tanks can travel fast over any kind of country, crushing down anything in their path.

The tank is far bigger and heavier than an elephant and much more dangerous!

In spite of its size and weight the tank in battle is swifter than a horse.

BIGGER THAN AN ELEPHANT
SWIFTER THAN A HORSE

BRITAIN IS BUILDING 30,000 TANKS
TO DESTROY HER ENEMIES

PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY GREENSLADE & CO. (READING) LTD.
FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE.
```

[← British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain Has a Far More Powerful Fleet Than the Enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-fleet-1939/) [Clean Rags - Dirty Rags - All Are Wanted! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/clean-rags-dirty-rags-all-are-wanted-1939/)

## 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)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [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.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.