Production lines are battle lines! is a 1942 poster issued by the Division of Information of the War Production Board and the Office of Emergency Management. Ches Cobb of the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization designed and contributed it, with a W.P.A. Southern California Art Project credit (NAID 515247).
What the sheet prints
There are no people in this design. Gun barrels cut across the sheet on a diagonal, a factory tower rises behind them, and red bursts break over a stepped block. The palette is black, brown, grey and red. The five-word headline is set in big outlined letters, and the credits run along the foot in small type.
PRODUCTION LINES are BATTLE LINES!
POSTER ISSUED BY DIVISION OF INFORMATION OF W.P.B. AND O.E.M.
MATERIALS COURTESY AERO TOOL CO, BURBANK, CALIF.. DESIGNED, CONTRIBUTED BY CHES COBB OF THE HOLLYWOOD WRITER'S MOBILIZATION.. ... ..W.P.A. SO. CALIF. ART PROJECT
Who made it
The credit line is unusually crowded, and it is the most informative part of the sheet. Three kinds of contributor appear. The issuing offices are federal: the War Production Board's information division and the Office of Emergency Management. The design is credited as contributed by Ches Cobb of the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization. A private firm, Aero Tool Co. of Burbank, supplied materials, and the W.P.A.'s Southern California art project is credited at the end.
That mix shows how a 1942 poster could be a government product built partly from volunteered labor and corporate donations. Neither the number of copies printed nor the places they hung is recorded.
How to read it
The slogan turns a metaphor into an identity: the worker at the lathe is told he is already at the front. As a call to work hard, it is ordinary. As a claim, it is only partly true. A machinist at a lathe was still a civilian; a soldier on a battle line was under military orders and military law. The poster erases that difference, and it is worth keeping in view.
For the year's wider poster program, see the Office of War Information index and the OWI domestic branch study. The FRAME study of the Writers' War Board covers another body of writers that worked alongside wartime publicity offices.
Sources
- FRAME object record, Production lines are battle lines!, 1942. War Production Board and Office of Emergency Management, Division of Information; designed by Ches Cobb. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, 44-PA-1582, NAID 515247, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026.
