World War Two – Page 12 – Old Magazine Articles

The Jeep
(Coronet & Yank Magazines, 1945)

When General Marshall listed the numerous advantages that the U.S. Army enjoyed during the war (you can read it here), he included on his list the Willys Jeep. The Jeep and the Two and Half-Ton truck, he believed, contributed mightily to the mobility of American Forces in most theaters. The two articles attached herein go into some detail about the strengths of the Jeep, but concentrated primarily on the improvements made in the vehicle as Jeep prepared for its launch in the civilian market place.

Tommy Gun
(Coronet Magazine, 1945)

“Soldiers respect for this weapon traces to two things. It fires .45 caliber slugs as a cyclical rate of 600 to 700 per minute. An enemy struck by a carbine or riffle bullet can keep coming – as Japs have shown. A man struck by a Tommy Gun slug is stopped dead in his tracks. A burst of fire can cut a man in two.”

Tommy Gun
(Coronet Magazine, 1945)

The Reporter was a WAAC
(Newsweek Magazine, 1943)

Newsweek reporter Vera Clay was not slow in accepting the U.S. Army’s invitation to don the khaki uniform and learn what goes into the training of a WAAC. In the company of fourteen other women reporters, she took the train to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and for the next six days, the group began to learn about all things WAAC.

The Government Film Business During WW II
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1944)

“Government movies are now having their greatest boom in history. The boom is tied to the war, but many capital observers believe that it will continue into the post war era, and that the large-scale production of films by the Government telling the people what’s what and how to do it is here to stay.”

Weeding-Out the Nuts from the Draft Pool
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

As America was gearing up to fight another world war, the brass caps were reminded how incapable they were at identifying and isolating the mental incompetents during the last war, and they swore this war would be different. Numerous military and civilian psychiatrists were convened, and it was concluded that of the millions of men called, at least 15 percent would likely be off-their-rockers.

Weeding-Out the Nuts from the Draft Pool
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

The Coast Guard Fired the First Shot
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“Philadelphia Coast Guardsmen yesterday observed the surrender of Germany by recalling that their branch of service fired the first American shot in the war against Germany, capturing the first enemy ship and taking the first Nazi prisoner… It was in September, 1941, that the Coast Guard cutter Northland captured the Norwegian freighter Busko, loaded with equipment for a German weather station to be established in Greenland.”

The Coast Guard Fired the First Shot
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

Increased U-Boat Activity
(PM Tabloid, 1943)

“Informed London sources said Saturday that the number of U-boats operating against Allied shipping is increasing despite the improved defense record of the last six months.”

First Election Planned for Post-Fascist Japan
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“The Japanese Cabinet decided yesterday a general election will be held January 20 to 31 [1946], and the Tokyo newspaper Yomuri Hochi urged ‘spontaneous and vigorous action’ toward forming a democratic government.”

Wanting the Japanese Cabinet to know who was in charge, General MacArthur moved the date up to December seventeenth [1945]. It was the first time Japanese women had ever voted.

Doenitz’ Aid Warns of Hardships
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“No one must be under any illusions about the severity of the terms to be imposed upon the German people by our enemies.”

VJ-Day + 11 Years
(Collier’s Magazine, 1956)

“The new Japan is fermenting a mash of new ideas and old customs. It is mixing political democracy with feudal loyalties, free enterprise with giant monopolies, and several shades of Marxism with a hankering for the good old days. The nation that once meekly did what a handful of leaders told it to do is now outspokenly divided on every major issue… For seven Occupation years the Japanese had no choice of sides. We ran the country and fed them slabs of democracy sandwiched between $2,500,000,000 worth of relief and rehabilitation. Japan enjoyed our help and even digested a good deal of the democracy. But when the Occupation lid came off in 1952 it revealed a country weary of being told what to do, curious to taste the forbidden fruit behind the bamboo curtain and relishing its authority over the foreigners who had been giving it orders for so long.”

Misery in Berlin
(PM Tabloid, 1943)

Here is an eyewitness account of the bleak lives lead by Berliners during the summer of 1943:

“The food situation in Berlin is horrible. At the [Grand Hotel Esplanade] there was no choice on the menu. You either ate what was there or went hungry… There was no bread or butter served at the hotel… The people of Berlin were unfriendly and distant. Although I could not speak their language, I could sense their fear of bombing and disgust with the war. They seemed to be mechanical men, robots, just following daily routine.”

In 1941 Hitler ordered the home front to send as much warm clothing as they could spare to the army on the Russian front – you can read about it here

So, You Want to Be a Guerrilla?
(Coronet Magazine, 1942)

This article was written during a time when guerrilla armies seemed to be popping up all over the globe, and, no doubt, many men and women must have been asking themselves, “What if it happens here? Could I fight?” And with that, out stepped Bert “Yank” Levy (1897 – 1965), a well-seasoned man of war who wrote a mass market paperback for the English speaking world: Guerrilla Warfare (Amazon). Attached are a few pages from his book.

So, You Want to Be a Guerrilla?
(Coronet Magazine, 1942)

Cocky Montgomery
(Collier’s Magazine, 1943)

NULL

Returning Nisei Targeted by Racists
(PM Tabloid, 1945)

“It is reported by WRA (War Relocation Authority) that between January 2 and April 22, there have been 16 shooting incidents in California. Nobody was hit. It is clearly terroristic activity aimed at frightening Nisei who have the temerity to come home and try to earn a living from their farms again”.

Dance at Tule Lake.