---
title: Ik val aan... volgt mij (I attack... follow me)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ik-val-aan-volgt-mij-1945/
description: A large portrait of a naval officer in a white cap rises above burning warships and a shell-splash, on a red-white-blue field.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Ik val aan... volgt mij (I attack... follow me)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ik-val-aan-volgt-mij-1945.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ik-val-aan-volgt-mij-1945.jpg)

# Ik val aan... volgt mij (I attack... follow me)

A large portrait of a naval officer in a white cap rises above burning warships and a shell-splash, on a red-white-blue field. Under the headline 'Ik val aan... volgt mij' the text says the signal Rear Admiral Doorman used against the Japanese fleet in 1942 'applies to you too'. The tell: a dead commander's prestige and the national colours are lent to the viewer's enlistment.

- **Date:** 1945
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** Netherlands wartime recruiting poster (sponsor not printed; copy held by Stadsarchief Deventer)
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [Netherlands](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=netherlands)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Gerbrandy Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=gerbrandy-government)
- **Leader:** [Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=pieter-sjoerds-gerbrandy)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Recruit](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=recruit)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism)
- **Event:** [World War II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-ii)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (Stadsarchief Deventer, 10_TLK5 (klein)_3 : 1369 : 70148)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ik_val_aan_..._volgt_mij.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (anonymous 1945 Dutch work; Commons tag PD-anon-70-EU) Unknown author; Stadsarchief Deventer, via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

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

```
IK VAL AAN...
VOLGT MIJ

DIT SEIN

waarmee schout-bij-nacht Doorman
de Japansche vloot tegemoet ging in 1942

GELDT OOK VOOR U
```

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

```
I ATTACK...
FOLLOW ME

THIS SIGNAL

with which Rear Admiral Doorman
went to meet the Japanese fleet in 1942

APPLIES TO YOU TOO
```

The three lower text blocks sit side by side on the poster (left, centre, right); they are given here in that order. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← Attention American Soldiers! I Cease Resistance (surrender pass, leaflet 17-J-1)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-cease-resistance-leaflet-1945/) [Mulher portuguesa: a Salazar o deves! Votai por Salazar (Portuguese woman: you owe it to Salazar! Vote for Salazar) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mulher-portuguesa-votai-por-salazar-1945/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [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/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)