A caricature of Churchill as an octopus, produced for occupied France

A scarce poster showing a crude caricature of Winston Churchill as a cigar-chomping Octopus sitting on the British Isles, his tentacles reaching down across Africa and the Middle East.. However they are bloodied, their tips having been amputated over 'Dakar', 'Mers El-Kébir', 'Lybie-Egypte', 'Somalie' & 'Syrie', with two more at the unseen 'Norwege' & 'Allemagne'. This poster, probably produced by the German propaganda bureau, preys on animosity raised by British attacks on French forces after their surrender to Germany. The British attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, intending to stop the ships falling into German hands, killed nearly 1,300 servicemen. An attempt by the British and Free French to get the Vichy forces in Dakar to join the Allies led to a full-scale battle. In Syria & Lebanon the Vichy French fought until the fall of Beirut was inevitable; of the 38,000 POWs, only 6,000 agreed to join the Free French, the rest preferring to be repatriated to enemy-controlled France. Elsewhere the Italian colonies of Libya and Somalia, two active theatres of the war, are also mentioned. First published c.1941, this example dates from c.1960.