---
title: A British Tank Attack in the Western Desert - Back Them Up!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-back-them-up-western-desert-tank-attack-1939/
description: A painted British tank with a Union Jack on its hull fires across the desert past a burning German-marked tank, with more British tanks behind.
section: Collection
---

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3. A British Tank Attack in the Western Desert - Back Them Up!

[![A British Tank Attack in the Western Desert - Back Them Up!, 1939 UK poster: A painted British tank with a Union Jack on its](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-back-them-up-western-desert-tank-attack-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-back-them-up-western-desert-tank-attack-1939.jpg)

# A British Tank Attack in the Western Desert - Back Them Up!

A painted British tank with a Union Jack on its hull fires across the desert past a burning German-marked tank, with more British tanks behind, under the slogan 'Back Them Up!'. The tell for card-stacking is that only the British success is shown, with no British losses; for transfer, the flag on the lead tank attaches national symbolism to the armoured force the viewer is asked to support through work.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
A British tank attack in the Western Desert

BACK THEM UP!

[imprint:] PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY FOSH & CROSS LTD., LONDON. (51-2400)
```

[← A Raid by "Hudsons" of the Coastal Command on German Shipping at Aalesund, Norway, in which Eleven Ships were Hit - Back Them Up!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-back-them-up-hudsons-aalesund-1939/) [A Battery of Britain's Giant Coastal-Defence Guns Mounted on Railway Trucks →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battery-coastal-defence-guns-railway-trucks-1939/)

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