World War Two – Page 6 – Old Magazine Articles

The Battle of Midway (Yank Magazine, 1943)

Written months after the battle, this is the Yank report on the naval engagement that was the turning point in the war:

The Jap had failed to get a foothold on Australia. Strategists reasoned that he would now strike east, at an outpost of the North American continent. Alaska became the No. 1 alert; bombers were flown to Midway; carriers came north and Admiral Nimitz pushed patrols far out toward the Bonins and Wake islands… A navy patrol found the enemy first, in the early hours of June 3 [1942]… Reconnaissance showed a Jap force of about 80 ships approaching Midway.

– the contest that followed proved to be the first truly decisive battle in the Pacific war.

Click here to read more about Midway.

The Battle of the Coral Sea (Newsweek & Yank Magazines, 1942 – 3)

From the 4th through the 8th of May, 1942, the Japanese and American fleets exchanged blows in their first major engagement. The Americans won, but not by much; the most important battle would take place four weeks later at Midway. But the Yanks were happy with the way it turned out nonetheless:

It was a victory all right – but it was not as decisive as it sounded, to a jubilant America. For in the north in the mandated islands the main Japanese Fleet still stood ready for action at any moment – a fleet as yet largely unscathed, a fleet that has always come back for more, a fleet that does not like the taste of defeat.

Read about the Battle of Leyte Gulf…

Halsey at Leyte Gulf (Pageant Magazine, 1960)

The Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23 – 26, 1944) was the largest naval battle in World War II – as well as the most decisive. Given the naval weaponry that exists in the digital age, it is highly unlikely that opposing navies will ever again have need to come within visible range of one another again. This article tells the history of that battle, shedding light on a few of the important naval campaigns that came before. Written sixteen years after the events by a knowledgeable author, you will gain an understanding of the thoughts that were going through Admiral Halsey’s cranium when he commanded the largest battle fleet ever assembled.

Read about the Battle of Midway…

An Interview with U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz (Yank Magazine, 1944)

Yank correspondent H.N. Oliphant interviewed Admiral Chester William Nimitz (1885 – 1966) for the August 4, 1944 issue regarding the progress in the Pacific Theater of Operations. At that time, the battle of the Marianas was being waged and it was a subject of much concern as to it’s significance.

In the Central Pacific, we have in three swift leaps advanced our sea power thousands of miles to the west of Pearl Harbor. Now our western-most bastions face the Philippines and undoubtedly worry the man on the street in Tokyo concerning the immediate safety of his own skin.

Click here to read about Admiral Mischer…

Click here to read a unique story about the Battle of the Sula Straits…

‘We Can Win On Both Oceans” (The American Magazine, 1942)

Frank Knox was FDR’s Secretary of the Navy between 1940 through 1944. Arm and arm with his lieutenant, Under Secretary James Forrestal, the two men made good on the Two-Ocean Navy Bill passed by Congress during the summer of 1940:

I am proud of this Navy of ours. Every American has a right to be proud of it, to know that it is, up to now, the greatest navy in history. But we cannot afford to be complacent about it. It is still not the navy that our country needs and that our fighting men in the ships deserve.

The Greatest Sea Battle (Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

Patching together the reports of four different war correspondents, the editors at Collier’s were able to create a genuine page-turner narrating the American naval victory that took place off the coast of the Philippines during the Fall of 1944.

Secretary of the Navy Forrestal summed up the results as ‘One of the great naval victories of the war that will go down, along with Midway and Guadalcanal sea battles as one of the great, shattering blows struck against Japanese sea power. The Japanese fleet was indeed beaten, routed and broken.’

The Navy Tells It (PM Tabloid, 1942)

One year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the Navy released its report to the press with updates on all the various repairs that were put into effect.

A Busy Year for the FBI (PM Tabloid, 1942)

The FBI had been tangling Axis spies throughout the mid-to-late Thirties, but with the December 8, 1941, declaration of war the FBI was emboldened with far greater powers. This explains why Director Hoover exclaimed that his agency had just completed the busiest year in its history.

The German Resistance (Coronet Magazine, 1941)

The Free German Movement is vigorously gnawing away at the very roots of Naziism with teeth filed to needle sharpness. Our organizations are fighting Hitler, at home or in South America with his own weapons. We have consolidated earlier gains against Hitler with important new gains.

So wrote Dr. Otto Strasser (1897 – 1974) who oversaw the Free German Movement, the Black Front and other Nazi resistance organizations. He must have been pretty effective, the Nazis put a half-million dollar price on his head.

Under-Age Workers Step-Up (PM Tabloid, 1942)

The National Youth Administration (NYA) was established in 1935 as one of FDR’s many alphabet agencies created to alleviate the sting of the Great Depression; it was tasked with providing work and education for young Americans between the ages of 16 through 25. By the time World War II kicked -in, many in Congress felt it was time to do away with the organization, but as this article spells out, NYA members could now be put to work in the defense plants.

Click here to read about the travails of young adults during the Great Depression.