There are numerous historic photos of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill firing WW2-era weapons during inspections. However there is one that captured the eye of Third Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.
In July, 1940 Winston Churchill was inspecting the troops and armory of the coastal defence unit at Hartlepool, England. What seemed to be another routine photo of the British Prime Minister inspecting Allied weapons turned out to be the subject of anti-British Nazi propaganda.
Within weeks of the photo being taken, the Nazis were dropping leaflets depicting Churchill holding the Thompson submachine gun and the characteristic cigar in his mouth at the same time. Only the photo was embellished with a WANTED poster, it read, “WANTED! For incitement to murder.”
See the leaflet at Peter Harrington. Surviving leaflets exist carry the extended message, “This gangster, who you see in his element in the picture, incites you by his examle to participate in a form of warfare in which women, children, and ordinary civilians shall take leading parts. This absolutely criminal form of warfare which is forbidden by the Hague Convention will be punished according to military law. Save at least your families from the horrors of war!”
Winston Churchill Wanted Poster
Assumedly Churchill laughed off this WANTED poster designed by the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to change the minds of British families to turn on their motherland.
The cigar in the mouth aided by a round-clip Thompson submachine gun gave the Nazis the obvious impression of the 1920’s American gangster, such as Al Capone. They must have not been aware of Capone’s diminishing health in 1940.
Winston Churchill Inspecting Weapons
It was a known fact about Churchill that his favorite of the Thompson submachine gun was the short barrel version. There are numerous photos of Churchill inspecting weapons from the British Sten gun to the American Tommy gun.
The famous photo of Churchill inspecting the Thompson submachine gun at Hartlepool, England was part of a tour designed to improve morale. It began proceeding Churchill’s famous June 4, 1940 speech, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!”
During this tour he visited the Hartlepool coastal defense unit and it’s there that the photo taken of him inspecting the Tommy gun was destined to be part of a ridiculous Nazi anti-British propaganda.
America and her allies had not come to the aid of Britain yet at this time. The U.S. would not join the WW2 powers until the Japanese surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
For this reason Winston Churchill was the leader of the British defense, all alone in the effort to resist the growing power of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Third Reich.
Weird Posters Of Winston Churchill
The Allies were not without their own strange depictions of Churchill, such as the one the British made of him as a bulldog holding the front line.
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