New Zealand Fights
A New Zealand soldier with a netted helmet and a mounted machine gun looks out over a ridge under the words 'New Zealand Fights'; an attached slip explains that he stands for the whole army and likens the 1941 stand at Thermopylae Pass to Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. The tell is the comparison to Sparta, which borrows ancient prestige for the soldier.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- New Zealand Legation, Washington, D.C.; artist A. T. Peel
- Region
- Oceania
- Country
- New Zealand
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Fraser Government
- Leader
- Peter Fraser
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- 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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; New Zealand Legation (Washington) publication, hosted by owner decision
New Zealand Legation, Washington, D.C.; artist A. T. Peel, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-874a.
Text on the object
NEW ZEALAND FIGHTS NEW ZEALAND [shoulder flash] Peel 42 [attached slip, small print, partly legible:] This poster of a New Zealand soldier alert at his desert outpost was designed by Mr. A. T. Peel, noted New York artist. ... Here is the drama and the spirit of New Zealand at War! [Additional copies may be obtained by sending twenty-five cents ... to the Director of Information, New Zealand Legation, 11 Observatory Circle, Washington, D.C.]
