Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 31 1/2 x 47 in./80 x 119.5 cm
Condition: A
Printer: Imp. Centre de Propagande des Republicains Nationaux
Reference:

Front Commun. ca. 1940.
“Posters of the [World War II] air war are divided between those with offensive and defensive themes: the strength of one’s own air power on the one hand, and the danger posed by enemy bombing on the other. Boasts of air superiority and the results of the raids are common. Other posters, issued for civilians at risk, relied less on rhetoric and concentrate rather on providing information and instruction” (Persuasive Images, p. 150). The text in the following poster–created by the intially-identified “A. G.”–couldn’t make its instructions more plain: “Here’s what awaits us tomorrow if the Popular Front disarms France.” At this point in time the Socialist/Communist Popular Front was still opposed to the war and believed that the Hitler-Stalin “nonaggression pact” would protect them. However, that was a belief on the verge of obliteration. From the summer of 1940 on, German planes repeatedly bombed Warsaw, London and much of southern England. So here, we are warned that Paris, shown below, could likewise be attacked by the Luftwafe if the French disarmament movement continued. A powerful call, warning Frenchmen not to disarm.