---
title: 'Give ''em the old 1-2: 1-Load 2-Unload all cars promptly'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/give-em-the-old-1-2-1944/
description: 'A pink-and-black railway freight car in boxing gloves knocks down two caricatured enemy figures: one with a toothbrush moustache and forelock.'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Give 'em the old 1-2: 1-Load 2-Unload all cars promptly

**Content note:** Japanese enemy figure drawn in a racial caricature of the period (bared teeth, exaggerated features) beside a caricature of Hitler. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Give 'em the old 1-2: 1-Load 2-Unload all cars promptly, 1944 US poster: A pink-and-black railway freight car in boxing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/give-em-the-old-1-2-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/give-em-the-old-1-2-1944.jpg)

# Give 'em the old 1-2: 1-Load 2-Unload all cars promptly

A pink-and-black railway freight car in boxing gloves knocks down two caricatured enemy figures: one with a toothbrush moustache and forelock, one a grimacing figure with bared teeth drawn in the racial caricature style of the period. The sheet equates prompt loading with a punch at the enemy; the technique is name-calling by caricature.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
Give 'em
the old
1-2
1-LOAD 2-UNLOAD
ALL CARS PROMPTLY
Your Government says
"Every hour saved in
freight-car turnaround
time means more cars
available for the
Victory March to
Berlin and Tokio!"
[signature: FRED COOPER]
[imprint: U. S. OFFICE OF DEFENSE TRANSPORTATION]
[imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1944-O-608225]
```

[← Give 'em hell! Use your spray on malaria mosquitoes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/give-em-hell-malaria-spray-1944/) [Give it style: Leftovers can taste good and look good →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/give-it-style-leftovers-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [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.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)