the admiralty regrets to announce

The repository of one JF Ptak has demonstrated itself time and time again to be a wealth of forgotten ephemera whose detail informs phenomena of greater weight and circumstance, and this pamphlet issued by Nazi Germany in 1941 that was meant to dissuade France from siding with the United Kingdom is no exception.
The standard salutation for bad news coming out of the British navy was “the Admiralty regrets to announce” and was appropriated for this piece of propaganda to demonstrate to its target audience (all in French except for the title) that the UK was unable to meet its own logistics needs in peace time—told through maps and charts, and much less during times of conflict and privation. Find out more about this particular instrument of psychological warfare at the link up top and explore more antiquarian treasures at the book shop.