Articles from Yank Magazine
By posting this notice that appeared in a 1944 issue of YANK, we had hoped to play a useful roll by bringing to an end some of the bar room arguments and late-night dorm bickerings that came about as a result of the unlikely story line that was presented in the movie, Saving Private Ryan (Paramount Pictures, 1998).
The Sole Surviving Son Rule and ”Saving Private Ryan” (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
A compelling collection of World War II combat stories involving the 1st, 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions. Numerous Army Rangers were interviewed for this article and it is an informative read which starts with the formation of the unit taking place just seven months after the U.S. declaration of war (December 8, 1941) and their earliest deployments in North Africa and Italy.
The original outfit, the 1st Ranger Battalion, was activated in Northern Ireland on June 19, 1942, with 600 men selected from more than 2,000 soldiers who had volunteered. Their training was in Scotland, and they had more casualties there than they had on their first African landing. The British Commandos were their instructors.
Read about the hand-to-hand combat training for the Ranger Battalions here…
The Army Rangers in Tunisia and Italy (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
A 1944 YANK article tells the tale about a quiet little spot behind the front line where American GIs were able to enjoy 24 hours of peace before being returned to the meat-grinder:
Sergeant Carmine Daniello, of Brooklyn, New York, smoked a big cigar during the afternoon…he was taking it easy in his own way. He didn’t want to sleep just now. He said, ‘Just sitting around like this is all I want right now.’On the other side of the river it had been so bad…
CLICK HERE… to read one man’s account of his struggle with shell shock…
Rest from Battle (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
Two months after the Fascists cried uncle and raised their white flag, this article went to press that was filled with two pages-worth of previously classified information as to the important roll that British and American radar played in winning the war. It was 1945 articles like this in which the world finally learned why the German submarine blockade of Britain proved to be so unsuccessful, why the London blitz was such a devastating blow to the Luftwaffe and how the Allied navies succeeded in getting so many convoys across the North Atlantic.
Radar and the Allied Victory (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »
YANK correspondent, Sergeant Ed Cunningham, filed this report concerning all that he saw during the earliest stages of the German counter-attack in Bastogne; some Americans were leaving, some were staying, new ones were arriving – and all the while the Belgian townsfolk watched in confusion and hoped for the best.
Scenes from Bastogne (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »
An interesting article, written with a sense of embarrassment regarding the injustice done to the Japanese-Americans, and published a few weeks shy of VJ-Day. The article reports on how the former internment camp families were faring after they were released from their incarceration. 55,000 Japanese-Americans chose to remain in the camps rather than walk freely among their old neighbors; one man, Takeyoshi Arikawa, a former produce dealer, remarked:
I would like to take my people back home, but there are too many people in Los Angeles who would resent our return. These are troubled times for America. Why should I cause the country any more trouble?
Important references are made concerning those families who had lost their young men serving in the famed 442 Regimental Combat Team: a U.S. Army unit composed entirely of Nisei that was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for it’s fortitude displayed in Italy, France and Germany.
‘The Nisei Problem” (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »
…On, on, on it went into the night and the next night as the biggest city in the world went its way toward picking up the biggest hangover in its history. It was a hangover few would ever regret.
Click here if you would like to read an article about the VE Day celebrations in Europe.
Click here if you would like to read about the VE Day celebrations in the United States.
VJ Day in New York City (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »
A short paragraph about the M-Dogs of the American Army during the Second World War and how they were trained to locate both plastic and metallic mines during the course of the war.
An additional paragraph can be read about the Hollywood starlet who volunteered her dog for military service, only to be informed that the pooch had given the last full measure on behalf of democracy and a grateful nation.
Click here to read an article about re-educating the captured German boys of the war.
Mine-Detecting Dogs (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
An eye-witness account of the first major American battle to be fought on German ground during World War II. Aachen, the Westernmost city in Germany was defended by some 44,000 men of the Wehrmacht as well as assorted elements of the First SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division which combined to offer a stubborn defense that lasted nineteen days. This article, written by Bill Davidson, who witnessed the most vicious kind of street combat, believed that the battle for Aachen was simply a re-staging of the battle of Stalingrad and he supports this point throughout the article:
Godfrey Blunden,the Australian war correspondent, was here in Aachen…he was immediately struck by the similarity between the two battles. ‘There is is the same house-to-house and room-to-room fighting, the same combat techniques, the same type of German defense.’
Years later, historian Stephen Ambrose remarked that the Battle of Aachen was unnecessary.
The Battle for Aachen (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
A segment from a longer article regarding the 1944 presidential election and the widespread disillusionment held by many Black voters regarding the failings of FDR and his administration:
…the Negro vote, about two million strong, is shifting back into the Republican column.
The report is largely based upon the observations of one HARPER’S MAGAZINE correspondent named Earl Brown.
The group that advised FDR on all matters involving the African-American community was popularly known as the Black Brain Trust…
African-Americans, FDR, and the 1944 Election (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
