We Clear the Way: The Corps of Engineers
Army Corps of Engineers poster: a giant helmeted soldier with a sledgehammer on one shoulder and a bayoneted rifle in his hand stands over a river crossing where a half-track drives onto a pontoon bridge under shell bursts. The headline reads 'We Clear the Way'. The oversized figure lends heroic scale to the corps' work.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army, War Department (Corps of Engineers); artist Schlaikjer; printer Brown & Bigelow
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Army, War Department (Corps of Engineers). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-74 (NAID 513535).
Text on the object
WE CLEAR THE WAY THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS UNITED STATES ARMY [signature:] SCHLAIKJER 1942 [imprint:] © WAR DEPARTMENT, U. S. A. [imprint:] BROWN & BIGELOW, ST. PAUL, MINN. PRINTED IN U. S. A.
