Front-Line Breakdowns Can Lose Battles - That's Why Our Workmanship Counts
A soldier lies under a numbered lorry holding a wrench while a tank burns in the background. The headline warns that a breakdown can lose a battle, and 'OUR' in italics ties the factory worker to the soldier's fate; the fear appeal and the identity link are both in the text.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Supply (poster no. 101), printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Haycock Press; artist Wright Hessack
- 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
- Labor, War and the military, Home front
- 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)
British government poster, printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Haycock Press, London. National Archives and Records Administration, WWII Foreign Posters (NAID 44266524, 44-PF-184).
Text on the object
FRONT-LINE BREAKDOWNS CAN LOSE BATTLES THAT'S WHY OUR WORKMANSHIP COUNTS MINISTRY OF SUPPLY No 101 PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY HAYCOCK PRESS. LONDON.
