Wanted for Incitement to Murder: Winston S. Churchill

Feb 1, 2012 | History, Military, Naval & Aviation

Churchill Wanted for Incitement to Murder

Wanted for Incitement to Murder: Nazi propaganda leaflet of Churchill with a Thompson sub-machine gun.

One of the most famous propaganda images of the Second World War, this photo of Winston Churchill with a Thompson sub-machine gun, or Tommy gun, was taken while the Prime Minister was inspecting a coastal defence unit at Hartlepool in July 1940. But Churchill’s resemblance to a stereotypical American mobster wasn’t lost on the Nazis, who began dropping these propaganda leaflets over Britain within weeks of the photo being taken. These leaflets are very delicate, making original copies extremely uncommon.

Churchill Wanted for Incitement to Murder propaganda leaflet

Verso of the Churchill propaganda leaflet.

 

Share this article



Our Latest Catalogue

This spring we bring you a seasonal selection of items fresh to our shelves including spectacular scientific and archaeological discoveries, colourful modern art, political posters, rousing war speeches, and much more.

Recent Articles

Drawn Together – The Synergy Between Writer and Artist

Drawn Together – The Synergy Between Writer and Artist

​Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland opens with an arresting illustration of the White Rabbit and the first thought from Alice is “what is the use of a book… without pictures or conversations?” It’s a great joke as Lewis Carroll shows us his book will have both pictures...

Printing and the Mind of (Wo)man

Printing and the Mind of (Wo)man

The historic catalogue Printing and the Mind of Man, or PMM as it is usually abbreviated, was first published in 1967. Its origins lie in two exhibitions: the first, held at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 1940, and the second, held at IPEX in London in 1963....