Oh high over enemy soil the guns can't be cocked or recoil - the lubricants froze - and the gunner now knows Joe Dope used the wrong kind of oil

Ordnance Department cartoon poster for servicemen: a gunner in a bomber turret strains at a frozen machine gun while a crewman points at a fighter outside, and a smaller panel shows ground crew reacting to a gun-oil chart. The verse blames 'Joe Dope' for the wrong oil. Name-calling aimed at a careless ordnance man, with the fear of an unfireable gun in combat.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Name-calling Fear appeal

Date: 1941
Period: Second World War
Made by: Ordnance Department, U.S. Army; artist Will Eisner
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: Military
Regime: Roosevelt Administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience: Own forces
Purpose: Warn or inform
Theme: War and the military
Event: World War II
Regime: Roosevelt administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
Rights: Public domain (U.S. government work)
Ordnance Department, U.S. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1143PP (NAID 514714).

Text on the object

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

Oh high over enemy soil
The guns can't be cocked or recoil -
    The lubricant's froze -
And the gunner now knows
Joe Dope used the wrong kind of oil!
CORRECT
OIL FOR
GUN LUBRICATION
CAL 50. - AXS-777
BUFFER
OIL - 2-36D
ARMAMENT SHOP
GUN LUBE
[struck through: LINSEED] OIL
[signature: WARRANT OFF. Will Eisner ORDNANCE]