World War Two – Page 29 – Old Magazine Articles

The Japanese Did Not Like The Germans (Collier’s Magazine, 1943)

A ranking member of of the German embassy staff in Tokyo told me a few weeks before Pearl Harbor, ‘If Japan goes to war against America and Britain, our days will be numbered here, too. Japan will wage a race war in which we Germans will be regarded as enemies along with the rest of the white race. It is only a matter of time. They intend to conquer all of us, but they are smart enough not to tackle all of us at once.’

Imperial Japan had a great many reasons to dislike their Nazi ally and most of them were far more legitimate than this one. All of them are are laid out in the attached article.

The Beachmaster (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

One of the most familiar human sounds in any Central Pacific operation is a rasping, oath-throwing voice with a rich Scandinavian accent which booms out over the loudspeaker on the invasion beaches. The voice threatens, gives orders with no reservations, pleads and intimidates. It is the voice of a Navy captain, Carl E. (Squeaky) Anderson, the force, or senior, beachmaster – the man who unloads the ships and keeps the supplies (all 64,000 tons) rolling in.

Iwo Jima, he says, is the worst beach he’s ever had anything to do with.

Marshall’s Strategic Concept (Yank Magazine, 1945)

An excerpt from General Marshall’s introductory essay to his 1945 Biennial Report for U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson concerning the progress and general status of the American Army through the period beginning on July 31, 1943 through June 30, 1945.

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

The Liberation of Allied POWs in China (PM Tabloid, 1945)

Click here to read more about W.W. II prisoners of war… What was this evening tabloid PM – click here

Tokyo POWs Liberated (PM Tabloid, 1945)

Click here to read more about W.W. II prisoners of war… What was this evening tabloid PM – click here

Hitler Prepares to Visit Paris (PM Tabloid, 1940)

The man who once peddled cleaning fluids on the crooked back streets of Vienna, today was preparing to march as conqueror into Paris beneath the arch built to commemorate the triumphs of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Lounges for WAACs and WAVES (Pic Magazine, 1943)

All thanks to the efforts of a private donor, three lounges were built explicitly for the women volunteers of the WACs and WAVES. Furnished with vanities, hair dryers, magazines and ping-pong tables; they must have been a big hit – they look very much like the sets of a Fred Astaire movie.

Click here to read about the U.S.O. entertainers…

The Execution of French Traitors (Collier’s Magazine, 1944)

The apathetic France of 1939 is dead. Collier’s correspondent, journeying across southern France, found high hope of unity and determination to punish all collaborationists. France, he feels, is reborn.

Women Working for the War (The American Magazine, 1942)

Here is an account by one reporter of his visit to an American aircraft factory early in the war. His article concerns the novelty of female laborers:

We climbed to a catwalk in the rafters and looked down on one of the most fascinating factories on earth. It was gay as a flower garden. Women in bright blouses and slacks were everywhere, doing everything. Blondes and brunettes and redheads and – well , middle-aged ones. Mostly pretty. And every one eagerly intent upon her job.

No Work, No Nooky (Collier’s Magazine, 1943)

In an effort to put an end to worker absenteeism at defense plants, a fetching welder at the Albina Engine & Machine Works shipyard (Portland, Oregon), Jeannine Christiansen unhatched a sure-footed scheme to do just that. Recognizing that (most) men don’t find life worth living without rubbing noses with the females of the species, Miss Christiansen instituted the NO WORK NO WOO movement (I think you can guess what Woo means). The attached report states that it was effective and spread to other factories along the West Coast.