Japanese WW2 propaganda posters - Translation needed

[BonsaiBanzai]

Hi everyone!

First of all, Id like to say that I know that the war still can be a somewhat sensitive subject with the Japanese. I respect that. However I collect WW2 propaganda posters and I have in my possession four Japanese that are just beautiful but I have no idea what they say.

Can anyone please give it a try and translate? I would be very greatful.

PS. If anyone want a high quality copy of any of these just let me know. I can scan them and get them printed as high quality posters at my buddies printing company at a low cost.

[KyleGoetz]

The last one is Chinese (the other three are Japanese, though). I'm actually getting a bit of an eyeache right now, so I'm not going to attempt right now. I will say that they are pretty difficult for me to understand despite being a fairly advanced reader. The first one basically has only one word that even shows up in my dictionary!

That being said, I read the first one as "the tragic successful attack on ~ City" where I'm not sure what 斯瓦 is, but Wikipedia-Japanese doesn't seem to show it as being a city! Maybe it's a city in another country, and the Japanese have successfully attacked them?

The second is talking about the fire brigade being able to respond when there's poisonous gas, but I can't give you the precise translation now because of aforementioned eyeache.

The third I can't understand just looking. I will need a dictionary for all the terms I do not know (are they location names? I've no idea!).

The fourth, while it's Chinense, I can tell you it says something about "the entire world" because that's what 全世界 means (the first three hanzi in the poster).

There are many more talented people here on JF that may be willing to help. I'll come take another crack at it in 12–24 hours if no one else has helped.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

The last one is Chinese (the other three are Japanese, though). I'm actually getting a bit of an eyeache right now, so I'm not going to attempt right now. I will say that they are pretty difficult for me to understand despite being a fairly advanced reader. The first one basically has only one word that even shows up in my dictionary!

You`ll have more luck if you step back for a second and notice that they are read right to left. 斯瓦 is wrong - it is 瓦斯. Gas.

A quick and dirty translation.

1 is 都市瓦斯攻撃の惨害 - The ravages of a gas attack on a city.

Second; 都市空襲の脅威 - The threat of an air raid on a city.
油断すると消防隊の力も及ばぬ数千ヶ所の發火（発火） とともに毒ガスが来る。
　If we aren`t careful, several thousand fires - far surpassing the abilities of the fire brigade - will come along with poisonous gas.

Third; 燒夷弾の脅威 - The threat of the incendiary bomb (fire bombing).
関東大震災、僅か百ヶ所の火元で帝都は燒野原。敵機一 台でも燒夷弾五千箇。
In the Great Kanto Earthquake, only a hundred original fires were enough to turn the city into a burnt field. One enemy plane can carry 5000 fire bombs.

They`re likely to get people to follow black outs, etc, to avoid being bombed. Not much of what I`d call true "propaganda".

The last is Chinese, so can`t help you there.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

You`ll have more luck if you step back for a second and notice that they are read right to left.

Japan, I hate you so much.

And now I feel a lot better. Haha, I went from recognizing zero words to about 80%. And I should have noticed this from the very obvious 脅威 at the "start" of the second poster. Thanks, nyororin!

[BonsaiBanzai]

Great!

Some real knowledge to be found here in this forum =)

Thanks a lot

[p47koji]

Hi, BonsaiBanzai. I was wondering if you would like to share the photos of your posters in a group on a website called "flickr.com"?... along with the kind translations offered here?

Thank you.