World War Two

Find old World War 2 articles here. We have great newspaper articles from wwii check them out today!

No Combat Pay for Combat Medics (Yank Magazine, 1944)

The World War II pay raise that was granted to U.S. Army combat infantrymen in the summer of 1944 did not extend to the front-line medic for reasons involving the Geneva Convention Rules of War. This triggered a number of infantrymen to write kind words regarding the medics while at the same time condemning the Geneva restrictions:

…I’ve seen the medics in action and I take my hat off to them. Most of them have more guts then us guys with the rifles…I’ve seen them dash into cross-fire that would cut a man to ribbons to help a guy who was in bad shape. I say give them all the credit they deserve.

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Suffering A W.W. II Head Wound (’47 Magazine, 1947)

When Joe Martin received a shrapnel wound to the head it affected that region of his brain that processes language. He spent a good deal of time in military hospitals trying to regain his lost ability to communicate, as he articulated clearly in the attached article:

He then held up a pencil in front of me and asked, ‘Joe, what is this?’

I heard myself reply, ‘A paddle’.

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The Parchuting Sheep of the Italian Army (Click Magazine, 1938)

This is a highly amusing collection of photos depicting the seldom remembered Para-Sheep of the Italian Army during their adventures in Ethiopia. It would seem that Italian grunts simply would not stomach canned food the way other infantrymen were able to do and so it was decided that sheep would be individually rigged with parachutes and tossed out of planes, where they would be butchered and cooked by the Mussolini’s men below. The accompanying paragraph explains that even a bull had been air-dropped from the same purpose.
Take a look.

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Inadequacies in Combat Training (Yank Magazine, 1945)

Training for combat, according to veterans in Italy, should be a hell of a lot more realistic and a hell of a lot more thorough.

‘They oughta learn them guys’ is that favorite beef you hear from combat veterans when they talk about replacements who have just joined their outfits…the average replacement doesn’t know enough about the weapons an infantryman uses. ‘He usually knows enough about one or two weapons…but he should know them all. He may know how to use and take care of the M1 or carbine, but if you need a BARman or machine-gunner quick, you’re up a creek.’


Statistical data concerning the U.S. Army casualties in June and July of 1944 can be read in this article.

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Germany’s Dictated Peace Terms for the World (Omnibooks Digest, 1942)

During the opening months of 1941 Nazi Germany was positively drunk with power; their army seemed able to march wherever it chose and all of Europe was trembling. Foreign correspondent for the Hearst papers, H.R. Knickerbocker (1898 – 1949), pointed out that on April 29, 1941 the Axis forces had printed, what he termed, a trial balloon on the pages of The Japan Times Advertiser that clearly indicated the peace terms that were acceptable to them.

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P.O.W. Camp for the S.S. Women (Yank Magazine, 1945)

Among the many dubious legacies of the Second World War is a growing cult of males who have tended to feel that the German women of the SS are worthy of their attention (Kate Winslet’s appearance in the 2008 movie, The Reader didn’t help). This article (and the accompanying photographs) make it quite clear that no one would have found these men more pathetic than the G.I. guards of Prisoner of War Enclosure 334, who were charged with the task of lording over these Teutonic gorgons and who, to the man, found these women to be wildly unattractive.

The girls who served in Adolf’s army are a sorry, slovenly looking lot. In a P.O.W. camp near Florence they spill their gripes to G.I guards.

Click here to read about a member of Hitler’s SS in captivity.

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VJ-Day in Washington, D.C. (Yank Magazine, 1945)

When World War Two finally reached it’s end, the small, quiet and usually well-behaved city of Washington, D.C. gave a big sigh of relief, forgot about Robert’s Rules of Order for the day and shrieked with joy:


One officer, standing in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House, waved a fifth of Rye at arms length, repeatedly inviting passers-by to have a drink on the European Theater of Operations.


Click here if you would like to read an article about 1940s fabric rationing and the home front fashions.

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