World War Two – Page 5 – Old Magazine Articles

More About the Seabees
(All Hands Magazine, 1945)

“From the start the naval Construction Battalions were unusual outfits, mostly because of the men in them and because theirs was a new kind of warfare… Every Seabee found himself doubling in various trades. It was thus the construction men developed their most important tools – improvisation, ingenuity and guts. Often parts, materials and equipment had to be manufactured on the spot in shops hastily thrown together from salvaged enemy materials and tools… But as the Seabee organization grew (from an original force of 3,300 to a peak of 247,155, of which 83 percent were overseas) and its activities increased, the battalions picked up plenty of know-how, enabling them to smooth out and speed up operations.”

An American Tank in Tunisia
(American Magazine, 1943)

Here is first-person account of life in an M3 Stuart tank fighting in Tunisia:

“We were ordered to hold, and hold we did. But we took a terrible shellacking. We dodged around, spitting at the Germans with our little 37mm gun. Every now and then one of their heavy tank shells or high-velocity 88s would hit one of our light tanks and smash it. The wounded would crawl out, and those who could walk would carry or drag those who couldn’t… In the afternoon, when we were finally ordered to withdraw, we had only 9 of 18 tanks left, and some of those were damaged. We took what wounded we could into the tanks and held them in our arms.”

The Seabees
(Pageant Magazine, 1944)

In another article on this site, these words were quoted from the captured dispatches of a Japanese general writing to his superiors:

“[The Yank] is a wizard at handling machinery and he can build airfields, roads and advance bases with uncanny speed.”

– he was, of course, referring to the famous Construction Battalions (Seabees) of the U.S. Navy. This article will tell you all about them.

The Seabees
(Pageant Magazine, 1944)

In another article on this site, these words were quoted from the captured dispatches of a Japanese general writing to his superiors:

“[The Yank] is a wizard at handling machinery and he can build airfields, roads and advance bases with uncanny speed.”

– he was, of course, referring to the famous Construction Battalions (Seabees) of the U.S. Navy. This article will tell you all about them.

Un-Prepared for the First Six Months
(All Hands Magazine, 1945)

Looking back from a point four months after VJ-Day, this anonymous journalist recalled the first six months of the Second World War, and how ill-prepared the U.S. Navy was to take on the two-ocean war.

Un-Prepared for the First Six Months
(All Hands Magazine, 1945)

Sailors Who Served on Both Seas
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

Assorted well-campaigned swab-jockeys lounge-about and discuss their various experiences on both oceans.

Click here to read the observations of a general who fought both the Germans and Japanese.

Black-Owned Businesses and the War Effort
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

Eight months before the American entry to the war, FDR’s Commerce Department Office turned its attention to the thousands of Black-owned businesses throughout the country in order to help maximize their profits and bring them into the wartime economy.

The Battle for the North Atlantic
(All Hands, 1945)

Throughout the course of World War II, there were three admirals who commanded to U.S. Atlantic Fleet: King, Ingersoll and Ingram. It was Admiral Jonas Ingram (1887 – 1952) who wrote the attached article about battle for the Atlantic:

“The Atlantic Fleet’s record speaks for itself. Since the declaration of war we have escorted 16,760 ships across the Atlantic. Of these, less than a score were sunk in convoy…We know definitely that we sunk 126 U-boats…”

Click here to read a related article.