---
title: I Need Bones for Explosives
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-i-need-bones-for-explosives-1939/
description: A sailor in a cap marked HMS points out of the frame beside barbed wire, under the headline 'I need BONES for explosives'.
section: Collection
---

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3. I Need Bones for Explosives

[![I Need Bones for Explosives, 1939 UK poster: A sailor in a cap marked HMS points out of the frame beside barbed wire, under](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-i-need-bones-for-explosives-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-i-need-bones-for-explosives-1939.jpg)

# I Need Bones for Explosives

A sailor in a cap marked HMS points out of the frame beside barbed wire, under the headline 'I need BONES for explosives'; the panel below lists salvage uses from explosives and lubricating oil to glue. The uniformed sailor lends the Navy's standing to a request for household kitchen waste (transfer), and the panel states the practical uses.

## 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

```
I need
BONES
FOR EXPLOSIVES

PUT OUT YOUR BONES FOR SALVAGE
to make Explosives · Lubricating Oil · Fire-
resisting Paint · Animal Feed · Fertiliser
Aircraft · Camouflage Materials · Glue etc.

[imprint:] PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY J. WEINER LTD., LONDON, W.C.1. 51-3746
[at right:] M.O.S.S&R. 125
```

[← How to Tackle a Fire Bomb](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-how-to-tackle-a-fire-bomb-1939/) [I Need Your Scrap Metal →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-i-need-your-scrap-metal-salvage-1939/)

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- [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)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [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)
