DESCRIPTION: Scarce German propaganda poster from World War II produced by the Wehrmacht Propaganda Service following the fall of Singapore in February 1942. Once considered the “Gibraltar of the East,” Singapore’s swift collapse to Japanese forces was seized upon by German propagandists to ridicule Britain’s waning imperial power and the failure of Allied defenses in Asia.
Titled “Singapura em poder dos japoneses,” the poster presents four scenes of Japanese troops advancing through jungle terrain, tanks on the move, and aircraft strafing the island’s airfields. At the center, a map dramatizes the Allied supply routes to Singapore being severed—depicted with a pair of scissors—and highlights captured British and American bases throughout the South China Sea, the Philippines, and Malaya, symbolizing the Axis narrative of unstoppable Japanese expansion.
Only two examples of this poster are found in WorldCat.
At bottom: "A castello forte britanico na Grande Asia foi desbarratado Churchill e Roosevelt tambem ali perderam a jogo" reflecting the magnitude and impact of the defeat.
Verso with Portuguese text related to Singapore and details of the conflict in Asia.
The Wehrmacht Propaganda Troops, or WPr, were the German Army’s official propaganda service during World War II, created in 1938 under the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. Led by General Hasso von Wedel, the organization coordinated with Joseph Goebbels’s Propaganda Ministry but operated within the military hierarchy. Its front-line propaganda companies, known as Propagandakompanien, accompanied combat units and produced photographs, film, and written accounts for the official Wehrmacht communiqués and magazines like Signal.
Signal was a glossy, multilingual magazine published by the Wehrmacht Propaganda Troops from 1940 to 1945, designed to showcase Germany’s military power and cultural vitality to occupied and neutral nations. Distributed in more than 30 languages, it combined striking photojournalism with idealized portrayals of the war to promote a polished, persuasive image of the Nazi regime abroad.
[Singapora, Singapura, Singapour]
PUBLICATION DATE: 1942
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Singapore
BODY OF WATER: Singapore Strait
CONDITION: Good.
Clean. One horizontal split at the left fold repaired archivally from the verso with no loss. Somewhat age toned.
COLORING: Process color.
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 23
" x
16 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 130
PRICE: $450
ADD TO CART
|