---
title: Los Grandes Cañones Hablan [The Big Guns Speak]
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-los-grandes-canones-hablan-spanish-1942/
description: A colour photograph taken from a US warship shows a gun firing across the sea, with a Spanish caption saying the battleship's guns throw tons of shrapnel
section: Collection
---

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3. Los Grandes Cañones Hablan [The Big Guns Speak]

[![Los Grandes Cañones Hablan \[The Big Guns Speak\], 1942 US poster: A colour photograph taken from a US warship shows a gun](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-ociaa-los-grandes-canones-hablan-spanish-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-ociaa-los-grandes-canones-hablan-spanish-1942.jpg)

# Los Grandes Cañones Hablan [The Big Guns Speak]

A colour photograph taken from a US warship shows a gun firing across the sea, with a Spanish caption saying the battleship's guns throw tons of shrapnel at the enemy's defences before a landing. Only the firepower is shown, and nothing of its cost or of the other side of the exchange (card-stacking).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (Spanish) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
LOS GRANDES CAÑONES HABLAN

Como preludio a la invasión por tierra, los cañones
de un acorazado estadunidense arrojan toneladas de
metralla contra las defensas del enemigo.

Publicado por el Coordinador de Asuntos Interamericanos, Wáshington, E. U. A.
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
THE BIG GUNS SPEAK

As a prelude to the invasion by land, the guns of a US battleship hurl tons of shrapnel against the enemy's defences.

Published by the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Washington, U.S.A.
```

[← Libres de Temor \[Free from Fear\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-libres-de-temor-atherton-1942/) [Héroe Norteamericano \[North American Hero\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-north-american-hero-ohare-spanish-1942/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [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.
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- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.