Le 'Centre Nerveux' de la Guerre [The 'Nerve Centre' of the War], 1939 Canada poster: A naval rating in headphones holds

Le 'Centre Nerveux' de la Guerre [The 'Nerve Centre' of the War] (Canadian poster in French)

A naval rating in headphones holds a gun-firing mechanism beside a gun breech, with an inset photograph of a ship's radio equipment and a vacuum tube in a roundel. The French slogan, 'Brave men must not die through our fault', places the risk of sailors' deaths on the output of the workers who make the instruments (fear-appeal).

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date: 1939
Period: Second World War
Made by: Ministère des Munitions et Approvisionnements du Canada (Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada)
Region: North America
Country: Canada
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Mackenzie King Government
Leader: William Lyon Mackenzie King
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes: War and the military, Home front
Event: World War II
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 (Canadian Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired; no URAA restoration)
Department of Munitions and Supply (Canada). U.S. National Archives, World War II Foreign Posters (NAID 44267835).

Text on the object

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

"Sur Terre . . sur Mer et dans les Airs . . le mouvement de chaque homme et de chaque pièce d'équipement est dirigé d'une façon intelligente grâce aux instruments que vous aidez à produire."

LE 'CENTRE NERVEUX' de la GUERRE

IL NE FAUT PAS QUE DES BRAVES MEURENT PAR NOTRE FAUTE

Ce message est publié par le Ministère des Munitions et Approvisionnements du Canada

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

"On land, at sea and in the air, the movement of every man and every piece of equipment is directed intelligently thanks to the instruments that you help to produce."

THE 'NERVE CENTRE' OF THE WAR

BRAVE MEN MUST NOT DIE THROUGH OUR FAULT

This message is issued by the Department of Munitions and Supply of Canada