World War Two – Page 45 – Old Magazine Articles

Life in W.W. II Germany (Collier’s, 1943)

This Collier’s article clearly illustrated the gloom that hung over the German home front of 1943:

Nobody escapes war service in Germany. Children serve in air-raid squads; women work very hard…The black market flourishes everywhere. More fats are required, as are fruits and vegetables, for the people’s strength is declining. A report I have seen of Health Minister Conti shows that the mortality rate for some diseases rose 49 percent in 1941 – 1942.

Click here to read about the dating history of Adolf Hitler.

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U.S. Army Casualties: 1941 – 1944 (United States News, 1944)

Here are the U.S. Army casualty figures from December, 1941 through November, 1944. The provided graph points out the following major events that ushered in the larger numbers:

• The Philippine collapse

• The American landings in North Africa

• The Battle of Kasserine Pass

• The Sicily Landings

• Anzio

• D-Day

Shortly after this article appeared on the newsstands the Germans launched their winter counter-offensive in the Ardennes. The editors of this magazine anticipated the American losses for 1945 to be the highest yet.

Click here to read General Marshall’s end-of-war remarks about American casualty figures.

A G.I. Rememberance of the ETO dead…

U.S. Army Casualties: 1941 – 1944 (United States News, 1944) Read More »

– When the Home Front Became the Front Itself (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Berliners with an ear cocked to the cold east wind could hear the drums of doom: The heavy roll of Russian artillery along the Oder River. By night, flares from Soviet planes bombing the Berlin-Frankfurt highway lit up the eastern horizon.

– When the Home Front Became the Front Itself (Newsweek Magazine, 1945) Read More »

The Man Behind The WAAC Uniforms (The American Magazine, 1942)

Although the WAAC uniforms were designed by Dorthy Shavers (1893 – 1959) of Lord & Taylor, this short article credits U.S. Army Colonel L.O. Grice – who actually served more in the capacity as the Army’s artistic director who supervised the designer.

He picked everything from purses to panties for Uncle Sam’s powder-puff army…

Click here to read about the WAVE’s uniform…

The Man Behind The WAAC Uniforms (The American Magazine, 1942) Read More »

‘Cash and Carry” (Pathfinder Magazine, 1939)

Cash and carry was a diplomatic trade policy set in place by the FDR administration; it was crafted during a special session of the U.S. Congress on September 21, 1939, as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe. It replaced the Neutrality Act of 1937, by which belligerent parties would purchase only non-military goods from the United States so long as the client states in question paid in cash at the time of purchase and assumed full responsibility for transportation. The 1939 Cash and carry revision allowed for the purchasing of military arms to belligerents on the same cash-and-carry basis. The purpose of the policy was to maintain neutrality between the United States and European nations while giving aid to Britain by allowing them to buy non war materials.

Shortly after the 1940 election, British Prime Minister Churchill told FDR that Britain could no longer afford to buy military supplies under the code of cash and carry and a new agreement needed to be agreed upon. The President then persuaded Congress to swap cash-and-carry with Lend-Lease – a new piece of legislation that granted the president authority to sell, exchange, lend, or lease war materiel to any nation whose defense was vital to U.S. security.

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Highlights of the Lend-Lease Act (Newsweek Magazine, 1944)

Here is an article that was written on the third anniversary of the passage of the Lend-Lease Act and it lists the numerous munitions that were made available to the allied nations who signed the agreement:

By January, 1944, $19,986,000,000 in American aid had gone out – 14 percent of our total expenditures. To the original recipients – Britain and Greece – had been added China, Russia, Latin America, the Free French and a host of smaller nations.

A 1939 article about Lend-Lease can be read here…

Highlights of the Lend-Lease Act (Newsweek Magazine, 1944) Read More »

The Aerial Nurse Corps of America (The American Magazine, 1941)

To read the U.S. magazines and newspapers printed in 1941 is to gain an understanding as to the sixth sense many Americans had in predicting that W.W. II would soon be upon them – and this article is a fine example. One month before Pearl Harbor the editors of AMERICAN MAGAZINE ran this column about Lauretta Schimmoller (1902 – 1981) who established the Aerial Nurse Corps of America, which, at that time, was composed of over 400 volunteers:

All air-minded registered nurses, they stand ready to fly with medical aid to scenes of disaster…Now established on a nation-wide scale, ANCOA, with its 19 national chapters, has already handled more than 3,000 emergency cases.

The Aerial Nurse Corps of America (The American Magazine, 1941) Read More »

Errol Flynn on Trial (Yank Magazine, 1943)

During the war years, the boys on the front loved reading about a juicy Hollywood scandal just as much as we do today, and Errol Flynn could always be relied upon to provide at least one at any given time. The closest thing to a Hollywood tabloid that the far-flung khaki-clad Joes could ever get their hands on was Yank Magazine, the U.S. army weekly that also provided them with the news from all battlefronts.

Movie star Flynn was tried by the California courts for having gained a fair measure of carnal knowledge from two feminine California movie fans who were both under the age of 18; said knowledge was gained while on board the defendant’s yacht, The Sirocco.

More about this trial and Flynn’s other scandals can be read here…

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A Song and Dance Man on Guadalcanal (Pageant Magazine, 1952)

Four years after his stellar performance as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939), Hollywood actor and comedian Ray Bolger (1904 – 1987) was performing in many parts of the war-torn Pacific islands on a USO tour for thousands of very grateful GIs and Marines. Attached is a two page reminiscence about one particular Guadalcanal performance, the men he met and the Hell they paid in the years that followed

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Reporting D-Day (Newsweek Magazine, 1944)

Never had so many correspondents (450) poured so much copy (millions of words) into so many press associations, photo services, newspapers, magazine and radio stations (115 organizations in all). Representing the combined Allied press, some 100 reporters covered every phase of the actual battle operations. Their pooled copy started reaching the United States within four hours of General Eisenhower’s communiqué.

The first newspaper to get the scoop was The New York Daily News (circulation 2,000,999). The First radio station to announce the news was WNEW (NYC).

Click here to read about the extensive press coverage that was devoted to the death of FDR…

Reporting D-Day (Newsweek Magazine, 1944) Read More »