---
title: Poster 'Nippon Mengoeasai Laoetan' (Japan controls the seas), Djawa Baroe, Java (1 June 1943)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nippon-mengoeasai-laoetan-djawa-baroe-1943/
description: 'Halftone reproduction of a vertical poster: three lines of outlined block capitals, ''NIPPON MENGOEASAI LAOETAN'', over a photograph of aircraft and a…'
section: Collection
---

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

[![Poster 'Nippon Mengoeasai Laoetan' (Japan controls the seas), Djawa Baroe, Java (1 June 1943)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/nippon-mengoeasai-laoetan-djawa-baroe-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/nippon-mengoeasai-laoetan-djawa-baroe-1943.jpg)

# Poster 'Nippon Mengoeasai Laoetan' (Japan controls the seas), Djawa Baroe, Java (1 June 1943)

Halftone reproduction of a vertical poster: three lines of outlined block capitals, 'NIPPON MENGOEASAI LAOETAN', over a photograph of aircraft and a column of warships, a sailor and gun barrels at right and a rising-sun naval ensign at lower left with a Japanese date line. A bottom line in Malay-Indonesian says the Allied fleet gets no more mercy. The tell of bandwagon is the slogan as settled fact, with momentum and massed ships offered as the proof.

## Text on the object

Original (Indonesian (Latin script, pre-1947 spelling) and Japanese) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
NIPPON
MENGOEASAI
LAOETAN

皇紀二六〇三年
海軍記念日
NIPPON KAIGOENKI

ARMADA SEKOETOE TAK DIBERI AMPOEN LAG[I]!
```

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

```
JAPAN
CONTROLS
THE SEAS

Imperial year 2603
Navy Memorial Day
NIPPON KAIGOENKI [romanisation as printed; Japanese 'Nippon Kaigun-ki' would be 'Japan naval ensign']

The Allied fleet is given no more mercy!
```

Read from a 500 px rendering of an 880 by 1450 px scan. The final letter of the bottom line is cut by the page edge and bracketed. The two Japanese lines beside the ensign are small and were read with some uncertainty; the romanised caption under the ensign is reproduced as it appears. 'Mengoeasai' is the older Indonesian spelling of 'menguasai' (to control); 'Sekoetoe' of 'sekutu' (the Allies). Translation is a literal machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← Aufruf / Zaklyk: call to join the SS-Schützendivision Galizien (Sanok)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/aufruf-zaklik-ss-galizien-sanok-1943/) [Cartoon of Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek, Djawa Baroe, Java (1 June 1943) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/roosevelt-churchill-chiang-cartoon-djawa-baroe-1943/)

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