Alerte en Mer, La Nuit - à Bord d'un Navire de Guerre: un Canonnier Près de Ses Pom-Poms, Attend le Signal de Faire Feu

A close photograph shows a helmeted gunner at night standing among the barrels of a multiple pom-pom anti-aircraft gun, looking up, with a one-line French caption. The tell for plain-folks is a single named-by-role ordinary sailor standing in for the whole navy, with no unit, date or place given.

Propaganda techniques used in this photograph

Plain folks

Date: 1939
Period: Second World War
Made by: No issuer named on the sheet; British government photographic sheet in French (issuer inferred from subject and series)
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: United Kingdom
Medium: Photograph
Issuer type: State
Regime: Churchill Government
Leader: Winston Churchill
Audience: Foreign public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: War and the military
Event: World War II
Regime: Churchill wartime government
Leader: Winston Churchill
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; hosted by owner decision
Issuer not named; British government photographic sheet (inferred). National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-795b.

Text on the object

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

ALERTE EN MER, LA NUIT—A BORD D'UN NAVIRE DE GUERRE: UN CANONNIER PRES DE SES POM-POMS, ATTEND LE SIGNAL DE FAIRE FEU.
9.5 F.

[Translation: Alert at sea, at night, aboard a warship: a gunner beside his pom-poms awaits the signal to open fire.]