The Lies Machine

Lies Machine Gun (TASS Window #625)
Kukryniksy, Lebedev-Kumach, 1942

In a man to man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
Erwin Rommel

No matter the actions,
Killer Hitler can’t hide his failures,
At Rzhev and Stalingrad.
To deceive people
He invented the “Lies Machine Gun”.
Which volleys lies nonstop.
The Machine talks nonsense at full speed,
But still cannot suppress the truth
As it is the truth that bellows at river Don,
And it can be heard on Volga too.
In Africa the truth is rumbling.
The “Lies Machine Gun” fires in vain.

This is a perfect example of the WW2 propaganda poster created by Kukryniksy. The poster shows Hitler, who fires a “Lies Machine”, resembling a machine gun. The device is actually a cartoon of Joseph Goebbels – the Nazi minister of Propaganda. The poster’s verses oppose the newspapers fired by this Lies Machine Gun against the cannonade of artillery at the last battles won by the Soviets. Battles of Rzhev (January 8, 1942—March 22, 1943) were a series of offensives aimed at eliminating the threat to Moscow. They were also named "Rzhev meat grinder" for the huge losses. The Stalingrad Battle (August 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943) was the turning point of World War II in the European Theater. Stalingrad was situated on the river Volga, and the river Don was one of fighting points during its siege. Africa is mentioned as despite the commander’s talent of Erwin Rommel Germans suffered significant losses at Gazala and Tobruk there.

Still although in 1942 the situation at battlefronts improved, the war was yet to win, both in Africa and Europe.

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