They Talked... This Happened
The upper photograph shows a soldier embracing a woman outside a house, a woman and a man in a hat watching, under the line 'I know where he's going'. The lower panel shows a German bomber, marked with a swastika and crosses, dropping bombs. The pairing asserts that overheard talk led directly to the raid, the fear-appeal tell.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- H.M. Stationery Office (government issue); printed by Fosh & Cross, 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
- 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)
H.M. Stationery Office; printed by Fosh & Cross Ltd., c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.
Text on the object
"I KNOW WHERE HE'S GOING..." THEY TALKED.. ..THIS HAPPENED CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY FOSH & CROSS LTD., LONDON (51-7345)
