Together poster

Iconic war poster

This iconic British poster from the Second World War (1939-45) includes a New Zealand soldier in a lemon squeezer hat marching alongside servicemen from the Commonwealth Armed Forces, including soldiers from India, East Africa, South Africa, a Canadian airman, an Australian soldier, and a British Royal Navy sailor. Such images of strength through unity were a common theme in Allied posters during the war.

Thousands sent for window displays

The British Ministry of Information sent thousands of copies of this poster to Allied countries for public displays. At least 1,200 versions of this poster were sent to New Zealand's Director of Publicity, J T Paul. He was responsible for organising continuous morale-boosting window displays of posters and photographs in shops and businesses throughout the country to, as he wrote in 1944, 'give people an opportunity of seeing varied aspects of the Allied war effort' (letter to L G Armstrong, 5 December 1944, EA 1, 84/12/12, part 7, Archives New Zealand).

The poster came in three different sizes, this being the largest (only 100 of this size were sent to New Zealand). It would have been a well-known image during the war.