---
title: We Have the Men, We Have the Tanks, To Move Them We Must Have Jerricans
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-we-have-the-men-tanks-jerricans-1939/
description: Three stacked photographs show infantry, a tank and a field of jerricans beside a lorry, with the fuel cans given the largest type.
section: Collection
---

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3. We Have the Men, We Have the Tanks, To Move Them We Must Have

[![We Have the Men, We Have the Tanks, To Move Them We Must Have Jerricans, 1939 UK poster: Three stacked photographs show](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-we-have-the-men-tanks-jerricans-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-we-have-the-men-tanks-jerricans-1939.jpg)

# We Have the Men, We Have the Tanks, To Move Them We Must Have Jerricans

Three stacked photographs show infantry, a tank and a field of jerricans beside a lorry, with the fuel cans given the largest type. The tell for transfer is the sequence: the weight of the first two lines, men and tanks, is carried onto the third, so a returned fuel can is framed as the missing link of the army.

## 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

```
We have the
MEN
We have the
TANKS
To move them we must have
JERRICANS

MINISTRY OF SUPPLY No 78
```

[← Watch Your Tyre Pressure](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-watch-your-tyre-pressure-1939/) [We Must Get an Even Quicker Turnround →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-we-must-get-an-even-quicker-turnround-1939/)

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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)
- [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)