Britain - Spearhead of Attack
A pictorial map shows British factories, farms and convoys on the left and burning German, French and Italian cities and ports on the right, with a panel text on RAF and Navy operations. It shows only Allied strikes and output, with no losses (card-stacking), under a title that casts Britain as the attacker (glittering-generalities).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- British Information Services, New York; artist F. Donald Blake
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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)
British Information Services, New York; artist F. Donald Blake. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 44266312 (44-PF-114).
Text on the object
BRITAIN - SPEARHEAD OF ATTACK SUPPLIES TO RUSSIA TO LOFOTEN AND VAAGSO SUPPLIES AND TROOPS TO AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST, INDIA, PERSIA, AUSTRALIA, ETC., ETC. BOMBER COMMAND | FIGHTER COMMAND | COASTAL COMMAND | COMBINED OPERATIONS | M.T. BOATS | THE ROYAL NAVY Night and day the bombers of the R.A.F. strike deep into the enemy's war machine . . . Almost daily R.A.F. fighters sweep over enemy occupied territory to strafe communications and strategic targets . . . Coastal Command aircraft strike at U-boats and their bases, stalk and destroy enemy coastwise convoys, sow minefields in enemy waters . . . Combined Operations swoop with sudden and devastating effect, keeping a whole German army on the defensive . . . Coastal forces attack supply ships and their escorts . . . The Royal Navy maintains its blockade stranglehold on the continent while assuring to Britain a ceaseless and gigantic flow of supplies which will give irresistible power to the Spearhead of Attack when the time comes to strike. [map labels include FOOD, SHIPS, GUNS, TANKS, AIRCRAFT, COAL, ELECTRIC POWER, LONDON and the names of bombed cities and works] F. DONALD BLAKE British Information Services 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York City
