---
title: British Women Help to Destroy German Planes
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-british-women-help-to-destroy-german-planes-1939/
description: A colour photograph shows women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service in steel helmets working a large anti-aircraft instrument.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. British Women Help to Destroy German Planes

[![British Women Help to Destroy German Planes, 1939 UK poster: A colour photograph shows women of the Auxiliary Territorial](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-british-women-help-to-destroy-german-planes-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-british-women-help-to-destroy-german-planes-1939.jpg)

# British Women Help to Destroy German Planes

A colour photograph shows women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service in steel helmets working a large anti-aircraft instrument, with a Union Jack 'For Freedom' emblem. The tell is the emblem and slogan 'For Freedom' standing in for any stated aim, and the unquantified claim of responsibility for 'many Axis aircraft'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

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

```
BRITISH WOMEN HELP TO
DESTROY GERMAN PLANES

THE WOMEN of Britain's Auxiliary Territorial Service have already been directly responsible for the destruction of many Axis aircraft. These women do everything except actually firing the guns; they find the range, judge the speed and give the order to fire! They release men for front line Army duties.

FOR FREEDOM
GPD/ED7/1
```

[← British Women Guard the Home Front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-british-women-guard-the-home-front-1939/) [Buses Give Way to Tanks - Pleasure Travellers Must Give Way to War Workers! Avoid Rush Hours →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-buses-give-way-to-tanks-1939/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)