---
title: Japan's Life Line (leaflet 10-J-1, MacArthur and Nimitz cutting the supply lines)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japans-life-line-leaflet-1944/
description: A U.S. leaflet to Japanese troops. Two officers in American service dress haul on a rope that cuts a pale shipping lane running from the oil derricks and…
section: Collection
---

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

[![Japan's Life Line (leaflet 10-J-1, MacArthur and Nimitz cutting the supply lines)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/japans-life-line-leaflet-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/japans-life-line-leaflet-1944.jpg)

# Japan's Life Line (leaflet 10-J-1, MacArthur and Nimitz cutting the supply lines)

A U.S. leaflet to Japanese troops. Two officers in American service dress haul on a rope that cuts a pale shipping lane running from the oil derricks and rubber and tin stores of Southeast Asia to Japan, one standing on the Philippines and one on a carrier deck. The tell is the severed lane with ships strung along it: the picture asserts that fuel and raw materials will stop reaching Japan. The Japanese title reads 'Crisis of the life line'.

## Text on the object

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

```
生命線の危機

日本
支那
仏印
マレイ半島
フィリッピン諸島
ボルネオ島
セレベス島
```

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

```
Crisis of the life line

Japan
China (Shina)
French Indochina
Malay Peninsula
Philippine Islands
Borneo
Celebes
```

The title is printed right to left in the black panel (機危の線命生). The map labels are small and the reading of the Borneo label is uncertain (the first kana is hard to make out). The text on the back of the leaflet is not on the committed image and is not transcribed; LOC item 2008676387 holds a typed English translation of it.

[← Still from "Japanse propaganda tentoonstelling", Japanese military propaganda film shot in Java (c. 1944)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japanese-propaganda-film-exhibition-java-1944/) [滿洲中央銀行百圓 (Central Bank of Manchukuo, 100 yuan note, 1944) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/manchukuo-central-bank-100-yuan-confucius-1944/)

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- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)
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- [The Radical Programme, No. 4: Dismemberment of the Empire (Gladstone & Co. auction India), St Stephen's Review Presentation Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-programme-selling-india-st-stephens-review-1891/) (United Kingdom · Oct 31, 1891 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating)
- [En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894/) (Venezuela · Jun 2, 1894 · Fear appeal)
