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'.
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Forces, Pacific, Psychological Warfare Branch
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Enemy forces
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Fear appeal
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; LOC: No known restrictions on publication)
U.S. Army Forces, Pacific, Psychological Warfare Branch; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LOT 8093.
Text on the object
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
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.
