Articles from 1943
Proceed at once to the coast of Japan
Sometimes it is difficult to repress an impulse to whoop with delight, and this was one of them. This was the moment we had lived for, the moment every submariner dreams about… We were ready. War was our trade… Now we were playing for keeps. We were eager to get at it.
Click here to read about the rise of naval aviation.
‘We Raid The Coast of Japan” (American Magazine, 1943) Read More »
Written months after the battle, this is the Yank report on the naval engagement that was the turning point in the war:
The Jap had failed to get a foothold on Australia. Strategists reasoned that he would now strike east, at an outpost of the North American continent. Alaska became the No. 1 alert; bombers were flown to Midway; carriers came north and Admiral Nimitz pushed patrols far out toward the Bonins and Wake islands… A navy patrol found the enemy first, in the early hours of June 3 [1942]… Reconnaissance showed a Jap force of about 80 ships approaching Midway.
– the contest that followed proved to be the first truly decisive battle in the Pacific war.
Click here to read more about Midway.
The Battle of Midway (Yank Magazine, 1943) Read More »
Robert Capa’s (1913 – 1954) images of the American thrust through Tunisia.
Robert Capa in Tunisia (Collier’s Magazine, 1943) Read More »
While speaking at the 141st anniversary of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Chief of Staff General George Marshall gave a great big shout out to three American generals. Pointing out that all of them were graduates of West Point (as he was) the general could not help but conclude that the Axis didn’t have a chance.
Victory is Assured (PM Tabloid, 1943) Read More »
If you’re one of those types who tend to feel that Americans aren’t as smart as they used to be, this is the article for you: attached is a collection of quotes generated by eight home front dullards who were asked the question:
Do you know what you are fighting?
They all understood that their nation had just finished it’s second year fighting something called Fascism but were hard-pressed to put a thoughtful definition to the term:
A Kansas cattle raiser defined Fascism as ‘…the belief in a big industrial enterprise. Anyone who thinks that way is Fascist-minded.
Additionally, it is fun to see the pictures of all the assorted noobs who made such ridiculous statements.
Absolute, Total Morons on the Home Front (Collier’s Magazine, 1943) Read More »
The candy-makers of the nation are not having a such a sweet time of it, for, like most other manufacturers, they are bothered by scarcities of labor and materials and so must cut corners and find substitutes.
The article goes on to point out that the sugar that was available was largely devoted to military personnel (18 pounds a year); as a result of this candy rationing, movie-goers were introduced to popcorn as a substitute (you can read about that here).
Sugar Rationing Hits The Candy Industry (Pathfinder Magazine, 1943) Read More »
After suffering eleven years of the squalor brought on by the Great Depression, many Americans were in shock to find their pockets fully lined with cash and their days spent in gainful employment when W.W. II came along (in 1943, the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 1.9%). The bars and restaurants that were situated around defense plants found that for the first time in years they were fully booked with paying customers. This article points out that this new economic boom on the home front was not without complications: absenteeism. As more factory workers discovered the joy of compensated labor, the more frequent they would skip work – which was seen as a nuisance for an industrial nation at war.
Many workers, not just youngsters, are making more money than they ever made before in their lives.
Results of the Economic Boom On The Home Front (United States News, 1943) Read More »
This article was written by Max Hill, who was serving as the Tokyo bureau chief for the Associated Press at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. The column consists of his observations as to how the Japanese home front operated during his seven month incarceration.
Click here to read about the Japanese home front during the early period of the Sino-Japanese War.
Click here to read about the W.W. II German home front.
The Japanese Home Front (American Magazine, 1943) Read More »
This 1943 article by the noted American sociologist, Willard Waller (1899 – 1945), reported on the impact that W.W. II was having on the American educational system. Waller pointed out that during the course of 1942-43 school year, as many as 189,000 teachers had left their classrooms in order to work in defense plants. The author argued four distinct points that would halt the mass exodus – among them was the cry that salaries of teachers must be raised to the point where they match favorably with industry.
‘Revolt in the Classroom (The Saturday Review, 1943) Read More »
The top man in Negro music climbed on the bandwagon when he and his band played a hot spot called the Kentucky Club. That was twenty years ago, in New York City’s Harlem. This year, Duke Ellington (1899 – 1974) made another debut, at Carnegie Hall, goal of the great in music…Piano lessons bored Ellington when he was six years old. He never learned to play conventionally, but he was only a youngster when his flare for improvisation reaped attention and landed him a job in a Washington theater…one by one, his compositions hit the jackpot: ‘Mood Indigo’, ‘Sophisticated Lady’, ‘Ebony Rhapsody’, ‘Solitude’, ‘Caravan’.
Ellington calls his work Negro Music, avoids the terms ‘jazz’ or ‘swing’.
Duke Ellington: Twenty Years in the Spotlight (Click Magazine, 1943) Read More »
