No Spares - No 'Ammo
A cartoon soldier in shorts and a steel helmet shouts and points a thumb at a smoking, broken-down lorry, with a spare wheel and ammunition boxes on the ground. The slogan likens vehicles without spares to guns without ammunition; the tell is the ordinary, exasperated cartoon 'Tommy' who speaks in the reader's own idiom ('Ammo).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Supply; artist David Langdon; printed for H.M. Stationery Office by H. Manly & Son Ltd.
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Science and technology
- 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)
Ministry of Supply, c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44 (NARA ID 44266819).
Text on the object
NO SPARES - NO 'AMMO Vehicles without spares are like guns without ammunition DAVID LANGDON MINISTRY OF SUPPLY No 97. Printed for H.M.Stationery Office by H. Manly & Son Ltd. London. N.
