1945 – Page 20 – Old Magazine Articles

VE-Day in the U.S. of A.
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

A report from Boston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St Louis and Springfield (Mass.) as to how VE-Day was celebrated (or not) in these cities:

To get an over-all view of VE-day in America, YANK asked civilian newspapermen and staff writers in various parts of the country to send an eye-witness reports. From these OPs the reports were much the same. Dallas was quiet, Des Moines was sober, Seattle was calm, Boston was staid.

Big Trouble in Little Cuba
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

The attached article is about the controversial Cuban President Ramón Grau San Martin (1887 – 1969) and his struggle with the radical elements within Cuba. This COLLIER’S MAGAZINE piece will give you an understanding that the roots of communism on that Caribbean island have a longer history than you might have supposed; when it first appeared on the newsstands in 1945, Fidel Castro (1926 – 1916) was a still a law student.

In 2011 Castro confessed in an interview with an American reporter that the Cuban model [of Communism] had not been successful.

Yamashita Sentenced to Death
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1945)

The article posted herein lists the aleged crimes of General Tomoyuki Yamishita of the Imperial Japanese Army. The article also states the results of his sentencing, death by hanging. Two weeks after the trial he received a stay of execution by the United States Supreme Court.

Hindsight
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Nobody tried to deny it. The Germans had achieved perhaps the most valuable of military advantages – surprise. How did they do it? [In these two articles] Allied officers gave some obvious reasons, but critics guessed at some that were less obvious.

German and Italian P.o.W.s in America
(United States News, 1945)

By the end of 1944 the P.o.W. population within the U.S. stood somewhere in the neighborhood of 340,000 and was growing at a rate between 25,000 to 30,000 each month. The vast majority of them (300,000) were from the German Army and 51,000 were Italians:

There are reports that these prisoners often are pampered, that they are getting cigarettes when American civilians cannot get them, that they are being served in their camps by American soldiers, that they are often not working at a time when war workers are scarce. The general complaint is that the 46,000 American prisoners in Germany are not faring as well as 3000,000 Germans in this country.

Read about the escaped German POWs who the FBI never found…

‘Nuts”
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Here is the NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE account of the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945). The article opens with a thorough explanation of General McAuliffe’s famous response to the German officers who came in search of an American surrender.

Kind Words from Field Marshall Montgomery
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

As the Battle of the Bulge reached its conclusion and the Germans resumed their retreat, British General Bernard Law Montgomery (1887 – 1976) held a press conference in which he praised the fighting abilities and the leadership skills of all those Americans who resisted the German onslaught in the Ardennes:

But when all is said and done, I shall always feel that Rundstedt was really beaten by the good fighting qualities of the American soldier…

‘Outmaneuvered”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1945)

Here is a short column that lists the impact that the American counterattack wrought upon the German forces as a result of their winter offensive during the Battle of the Bulge – no explanation was given as to how this information was attained.

The Future of Democracy in China
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek stepped up to the plate and answered nine questions that were put to him by COLLIER’S editor Henry La Cossitt, concerning the future of democracy in China.

The Future of Democracy in China
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek stepped up to the plate and answered nine questions that were put to him by COLLIER’S editor Henry La Cossitt, concerning the future of democracy in China.

The Nice Jewish Boy and the Nazi
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

I have always said that there are no good Jews, but that boy proved me wrong.

-so spake the Nazi king-pin Julius Streicher (1885 – 1946) upon being confronted by the goodness of one American serviceman who went out of his way to be kind and identified himself as a Jew.

This small piece is an excerpt from a longer article; to read the entire magazine article, click here.

Julius Streicher had an IQ that measured 106 – click here to read about the IQs of the other lunatics in Nazi leadership…

Click here to read about the inmate rebellions that took place at Auschwitz, Sobibor and Triblinka.

American Families Hear of Their PoW Sons
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Repatriating The Axis PoWs
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

For the 417,034 Axis prisoners of war in this country, the War Department last week had word that repatriation was in sight. The 362,170 Germans and 49,784 Italians definitely would be home by early Spring; the 5,080 Japanese, as soon as General of the Army MacArthur was ready to receive them.

The Wonderful World of the Panzerfaust
(Volkischer Beobacher, 1945)

Although the attached cartoon illustrations from Volkischer Beobacher depicts a German soldier using a Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon, the intended readership was actually the old men and under-age boys who made up the out-gunned and under-manned Volkssturm militia units at the close of the war. The panzerfaust (tank fist) has been characterized as the first expendable anti-tank RPG. Also included in this file is the U.S. Army study concerning this weapon.

When YANK Closed It’s Doors
(Maptalk, 1945)

When the flaks had all said their bit and the Japanese and Germans had all signed on the dotted line, YANK MAGAZINE did what everybody else was doing – they demobilized. When YANK published their last issue numerous magazine and newspaper editors were pretty choked-up about it and they wrote columns about how sad they all were to see it go; this one appeared in another U.S. Army rag.

More on this magazine can be read HERE…

Read about the time when THE STARS & STRIPES ceased printing…

Winding Down
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

The Battle of the Ardennes was practically over. The salient which once poked 52 miles into Belgium from the German frontier had been ground down to a nub by last week…. The German retreated slowly and in good order. In the sleet and fog of the Ardennes they pulled back their armor and other vehicles while their artillery and infantrymen put up stiff rearguard actions.

Dreading the Winter
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

When this article was published the war was over and Paris had experienced her second German-free autumn – but life was still difficult in the city. Coal was still rationed, the lines in the shops were long and the average French child was drastically underweight. NEWSWEEK dispatched two gumshoe reporters to get the full picture for the folks at home (where, happily, rationing had ended the the previous August).

The AWOL GIs in the Black Market of Paris
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

Attached is a four page article that reported on the deserters of the U.S. Army who organized themselves into Chicago-style gangs in post-occupied Paris, replete with gun-molls, hideouts, fencing contacts and all the trimmings of a third-rate-blood-and-thunder detective story.