1944 – Page 11 – Old Magazine Articles

Dr. Walter Gross and the Office of Racial Policy
(Collier’s Magazine, 1944)

Although he may not be very well known outside Germany, few men rank higher in the Nazi regime than Doctor Walter Gross (1904 – 1945). As head of the Office of Racial Policy, he is Adolf Hitler’s expert on breeding, riding herd on the biological urge, and even deciding what children may be brought into the world.

Written by George Creel (1876 – 1953), this single page article outlines how this quack doctor was responsible for the enslavement of women sex slaves who were pressed into submission from all the conquered nations of Europe.

Gross killed himself at the end of the war.

Click here to read about the origins of Fascist thought…

The DUKWs of W.W. II
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

The American Army’s amphibious vehicles called the DUKWs (Ducks) were first manufactured by General Motors in 1942 and were issued to both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. 2,000 were shipped to the British, over five hundred found their way to the Australian military and 535 were passed along to the Soviet Army. They have earned their sea legs a thousand times over and have even ventured across the English Channel.

The attached YANK MAGAZINE article was one of the first articles to have ever been written about them, and quite ironically plays-down the revolutionary nature of the invention:

Japs realize the value of the DUCKs. They once issued a communique saying their bombers sank ‘one 5,000-ton ship and one amphibious truck.

America’s Oldest Soft Drink
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1944)

Anticipating Germany’s Collapse
(United States News, 1944)

Taking into consideration the state of Germany’s military forces on land, air and sea, as well as the fragile state of the German populace after three years of steady bombardment, this 1944 NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE article concluded that Germany’s end was nigh – really, really nigh:

Thus on the face of it, Germany’s situation is desperate. She is encircled by powerful nations that are allied against her. Her chance of creating dissension to split those allies is gone. She is being beaten on every front and in every phase of the fighting. Her last chance to win has disappeared.

Germany would fight on for another sixteen months.

‘About the Russians in Normandy”
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

About the Russians in Normandy…and they weren’t much help to Adolf, either. Here are two stories, one of which tells how Russians, captured and forced to fight for the enemy, turned the tables on Jerry; the other which tells what happened when the Americans liberated Russian prisoners from a concentration camp.

Home Front Concerns
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1944)

Here are two home front articles regarding the rationing of labor, food and steel; 1944 orders on clothing production are also touched upon.

Riding The Fox-Hole Circuit
(Newsweek Magazine, 1944)

Together [these entertainers] constitute the vast composite known as USO-Camp Shows, Inc. Organized in November, 1941 as this war’s answer to the last one’s mistakes (too little which came too late to too few), Camp Shows see to it that as much entertainment as possible reaches as many soldiers as possible – in contrast to the fact that the last war produced only an Elsie Janis (You can read about her here)… The money to run Camp Shows comes from the National War Fund; the authority to use its services rests with the Army and Navy.

Interview with a Home Front War Worker
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

It would seem that a good many World War II servicemen believed that they were missing out on all that home front glamour that had kicked-in as a result of the full-employment and booming economic prosperity of wartime America; and so Yank correspondent Al Hine was quickly dispatched to Turtle Creek, Pa. to pen this small article about Frank Hanly, an average guy in a average war plant. He works hard, rests and plays like we used to and he isn’t getting rich.

The truth is this army reporter was instructed to report on the blander side of home front living – the facts were far brighter; there was money to be made and fun to be had and you can click here to read about it…

The Sole Surviving Son Rule and ”Saving Private Ryan”
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

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 Army Rangers in Tunisia and Italy
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

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…

Rest from Battle
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

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…

Barbers & Hair Stylists Called On The Carpet
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1944)

By the end of 1944 Congressional heads all turned when it was brought to their attention that the fees charged by hairstylists and barbers had soared 25% above the 1941 levels. New Dealers sought to burden the trade with a price freeze.

The Population of the Internment Camps
(U.S. Government, 1944)

The attached table lists the average Japanese-American internment camp population as counted between the months of January to June of 1944. All ten camps were considered in the study.

Mine-Detecting Dogs
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

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.

The Battle for Aachen
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

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.

African-Americans, FDR, and the 1944 Election
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

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…

Verdun, 1944
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

The contested forts of Verdun (Battle of Verdun, 1916), Fort Douamont, Fort Souville and Fort Vaux, were little more than storage sheds to the American army of World War Two; and during the four years of German occupation, the forts played a similar roll for the German army as well. This is a neat article that briefly touches on the importance of these structures during the previous war and what kind of flotsam and jetsam the GIs were able to find as they wandered about the forts (like a W.W. I skeleton). Of particular interest was a wall that was covered with the names of various combatants from all sides and from both wars:

The American names are big and black and seem to blot out the others. One of them says:

Austin White, Chicago, Ill., 1918 and 1944.

This is the last time I want to write my name here.

Click here to read more magazine articles about the African-American efforts during the First World War.

The Doodlebug Tank?
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

That crack team of linguists who loaf-about our Los Angeles offices here at OldMagazineArticles.com have assured us that the Doodlebug was not the name assigned by the Nazi engineers for this minute, remote-control tank that made it’s appearance on the Anzio beachhead in 1944, but rather a NICKNAME that was authored by the stalwart G.I.s who opposed it. The gizmo packed with explosives in order to destroy Allied tanks.

Click here to read about the Patton Tank in the Korean War…