The Battle for Fuel - We Must All Keep Within Our Target!!
Large type tells householders 'We Must All Keep Within Our Target!!' beneath a 'Battle for Fuel' banner, with instructions, a table of annual fuel-unit allowances by number of rooms for Northern, Midlands and Southern regions, and a unit-conversion box. The 'all' in the headline (bandwagon) presents compliance as universal, while the table supplies the concrete figures.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd, London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- 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
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Printed for HMSO by Fosh & Cross Ltd. UK government poster, c. 1939-1945. US National Archives (NAID 44267167, 44-PF-433).
Text on the object
THE BATTLE for FUEL WE MUST ALL KEEP WITHIN OUR TARGET!! WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO: Work out your Fuel Target in fuel units from the chart below. Check this against last year's consumption to see how and where you must cut down. Then divide your allowance of fuel units amongst the different kinds of fuel you use. Remember the Fuel Year has already started and there's colder weather ahead - so go carefully now. NUMBER OF ROOMS | NORTHERN | MIDLANDS | SOUTHERN HOUSE ALLOWANCE IN FUEL UNITS 1: 80 / 60 / 50 2: 90 / 70 / 60 3: 110 / 90 / 70 4: 120 / 100 / 80 5: 140 / 110 / 90 6: 150 / 120 / 100 7 OR MORE: 170 / 140 / 110 YOUR PERSONAL ALLOWANCE is 15 Fuel Units per year which equals 7½ cwts. of coal or a corresponding amount of other fuels. This applies to adults and children alike. FUEL UNIT 1 FUEL UNIT EQUALS ½ Cwt. Coal or Coke 1 FUEL UNIT EQUALS 500 Cubic Feet of Gas 1 FUEL UNIT EQUALS 50 Units of Electricity 1 FUEL UNIT EQUALS 1 Gallon of Paraffin HAVE A CURFEW FOR ALL COAL FIRES- Never put on a new lump after 9 p.m ... Never use a larger gas ring than necessary ... Turn out unnecessary lights ... Have your meals in the kitchen ... Keep the boiler damped down ... Sift cinders. PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY FOSH & CROSS LTD., LONDON (51/2762)
