1944

Articles from 1944

The Mettle of Americans
(Click Magazine, 1944)

Following his tour of the war fronts, U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902 – 1985) put pen to paper in an attempt to express his admiration for the brave and selfless acts that Americans were performing all over the globe:

If asked to say what impressed me on my recent trip to the war theater, my answer would be: the heroic qualities displayed by our American boys. My most lasting impressions were gained in the field and in the hospitals around the globe. It is there that one sees the kind of boy America produces.


Additional praise for the American fighting man can be read here…

U.S. Army Mobile Hospitals of World War Two
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

The American military personnel who are wounded while fighting the terrorists in both Iraq and Afghanistan are today the beneficiaries of a field hospital system that was developed long ago in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The mobile hospitals developed by the U.S. Army Medical Corps has evolved into a unique life-saving force that has not simply relied on a trained staff but also a fast and well-fueled transportation system. This Yank Magazine article will give the reader a good look at how the medics and doctors had to work during the second War to End All Wars:

A portable surgical hospital is a medical unit of four doctors and generally 32 enlisted men. They’re supposed to work directly behind the line of battle and patch up casualties so they can be removed to an evacuation hospital. Sometimes part of the portable hospital personnel have to be removed, too.

Conscientious Objectors
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

Whatever became of the conscientious objectors?
Some of the men who registered as ‘conchies’ with their local selective service boards have been deferred because they are working in essential jobs. About 6,890 conchies have been interned and assigned to Civilian Public Service camps in the States. A handful, just 47, live and work in camps on Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the only places outside the continental limits of the States where they may serve. By act of Congress, conscientious objectors may not be sent to foreign lands, but Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, although overseas, are territories of the U.S.


Click here to read about the British conscientious objectors of World War I.



We have an article that pertains to the Korean War draft-dodgers but it also explains the popular methods used by the W.W. II draft-evaders, as well.


To read an article about American draft dodgers of W.W. II, click here.

Social Groups Within the Internment Camps
(U.S. Government, 1943-45)

A list provided by the War Relocation Authority of the seven groups that maintained ties and created various social and educational activities for the interned Japanese-Americans spanning the years 1943 through 1945. The Y.W.C.A., the Boy Scouts and the American Red Cross are just three of the seven organizations.

For years prior to W.W. II and the creation of the Japanese-American internment camps, the people of the United States had been steadily spoon fed hundreds articles detailing why they should be weary of the Japanese presence in North America; if you would like to read one that was printed as late as 1939, click here.

Albert Ganzenmüller
(New Masses, 1944)

Obergrupenfuehrer Albert Ganzenmüller (1905 – 1996) was responsible for running the German rail roads. This not only involved delivering troops and ordinance to the various fronts but also deporting Jews, Poles, Croats and Slovenes to assorted death camps:

Ganzenmüller’s special contribution to these migrations was his invention of the railroad-car gas chamber to exterminate Jews.

‘Confessions of a Nazi Officer”
(New Masses, 1944)

Lieutenant K. F. Brandes of the German Army was killed on October 24 [1944] on the right bank of the Dnieper. A diary was found on him. I have seen many diaries of German officers and soldiers… It was written by a clever and educated man. Brandes was a Fascist. He calls the conquest of Europe the ‘German Spring’. Like his colleagues he came to Russia for ‘lebensraum’… But as distinct from other Hitlerites, Brandes saw the limit of his dreams. He faithfully described the disintegration of the German Army, showed the meanness of the men who are still ruling Germany. I will cite the most interesting excerpts from his diary.

The SS Prisoner at the U.S. Army Field Hospital
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

This tight little essay, titled The German, serves to illustrate a small piece of life in a very big war. Written with a sense of melancholy by a winsome American medical orderly posted to a hospital not too far behind the front lines, it explains how he slowly got to know one of his German patients, a member of the SS, and how secretive and generally unpleasant he seemed to be.


Click here to read an article about the women of the SS in captivity.

The 9th Air Force on D-Day
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

An eye-witness account of the U.S. Army Ninth Air Force A-20 bombers as they made their runs on D-Day:

There was no time to lose on this mission. Hitler’s armies might well be driving over those crossroads toward the beachheads at this minute. This was not just an ordinary mission. It was the beginning of a mission that some day might end all combat missions.

‘There’s London.’ Rafalow announced, over the intercom.
I glanced down. The acres of buildings looked quiet and peaceful.
You’d almost think there wasn’t a war on.’
A few minutes later his voice came over the intercom again, but this time it was high-pitched with excitement. We were over the English Channel where it was quite obvious there was a war on.
‘By God, look at the ships!’ he yelled.

D-Day-Plus-One
(Yank Magazine, 1944)

D-Day for my outfit was a long, dull 24-hour wait. We spent the whole day marooned in the middle of the English Channel, sunbathing, sleeping and watching the action miles away on the shore through binoculars. We could hear the quick roars and see the greenish-white flashes of light as Allied Battleships and cruisers shelled the pillboxes and other German installations on the beach.

On D-plus-one we took off for shore. Four Messerschmidtts dove down to strafe the landing crafts as we headed in, but a Navy gunner drove them off with a beautiful burst of ack-ack…

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