Hitler will send no warning - so always carry your gas mask
Two hands stretch open a civilian gas mask above large red type naming Hitler as the source of an unannounced attack. The tell for fear-appeal is the named threat, the warning that none will be given, and the instruction to carry the mask at all times.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Home Security (printed for HMSO by J. Weiner 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
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Security and surveillance, Health
- 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)
UK Ministry of Home Security / HMSO, printed by J. Weiner Ltd. National Archives (NARA), 44-PF-217.
Text on the object
Hitler will send no warning - so always carry your gas mask ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME SECURITY PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY J. WEINER LTD. LONDON W.C.1. 51-643
