Put It There

During the Second World War there was a strong push on the home front throughout Allied nations to stress the importance of factory workers, whether they worked on ships, munitions, or food. This British poster continues that theme. The poster depicts a handshake between one arm labeled 'SHIPYARD WORKER', from the left, and 'ROYAL NAVY' from the right. Between the two hands, trapped within the handshake is a Kriegsmarine u-boat, anthropomorphised as a shark. The poster shows visually how the teamwork between shipyard wokers and the Royal Navy will 'catch' the u-boats. The title in the lower centre in blue 'put it there', is a play on this phrase: it explores the duality of two people putting their differences aside with a handshake and also putting the u-boat 'there' - i.e. out of the water and out of action.