---
title: 'Headache for Hitler: It Takes More Than 12 Tons of Coal to Make This Torpedo'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-headache-for-hitler-12-tons-of-coal-torpedo-1942/
description: A photograph of a torpedo being swung aboard a naval vessel, watched by officers and ratings, sits under the headline 'Headache for Hitler' and the claim
section: Collection
---

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3. Headache for Hitler: It Takes More Than 12 Tons of Coal to Make This

[![Headache for Hitler: It Takes More Than 12 Tons of Coal to Make This Torpedo, 1942 UK poster: A photograph of a torpedo being](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-headache-for-hitler-12-tons-of-coal-torpedo-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-headache-for-hitler-12-tons-of-coal-torpedo-1942.jpg)

# Headache for Hitler: It Takes More Than 12 Tons of Coal to Make This Torpedo

A photograph of a torpedo being swung aboard a naval vessel, watched by officers and ratings, sits under the headline 'Headache for Hitler' and the claim that it takes more than 12 tons of coal to make one. The tell is transfer: the coal supply is linked to sinking enemy ships through the speech balloon 'You raise 'em, we'll sink 'em', which sets the sailors' words as a pledge to the miner.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
HEADACHE FOR HITLER
IT TAKES MORE THAN
12 TONS of COAL
TO MAKE THIS TORPEDO

YOU RAISE 'EM
WE'LL SINK 'EM

ISSUED BY MINISTRY OF FUEL & POWER A.2.3
PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY MULTI MACHINE PLATES LTD. LONDON E.C.4. 51-3348
```

[← Fence or guard all openings](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-fence-or-guard-all-openings-keely-1942/) [The Man Who Wasted Gas! Don't Be Fuel-ish →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-man-who-wasted-gas-dont-be-fuel-ish-1942/)

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- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
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- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [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)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)