Background: These are photographs and captions from a weekly illustrated magazine. The date is the late January — the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. The issue makes no mention of the gravity of the situation. Rather, these photographs and their satiric captions suggest the war is still going well.
The source: Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, 28 January 1943, pp. 42-43.
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How they photograph themselves: This American photographer seems to be doing his duty somewhere in Tunisia “in a front line foxhole,” protected by a soldier with a machine gun. It can’t be all that dangerous, however, since the person who took this photograph must have been standing upright outside the foxhole. American reporting begins with a lie. |
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And here is how they look when photographed by a German: Two Americans who fell into German hands during their first engagement. |
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And this is a captured American who doesn’t seem to like the bread he is eating. |
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Too fat, too tall, or too thin: There is room in the American army for every physique. A special camp has been established in the U.S. for those who do not meet normal military requirements. Here there are overweight men, dwarfs and giants, including undernourished former tramps and the unemployed. Roosevelt could not help them before, but now they make good cannon fodder. |
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Low over the water an enemy bomber burns! Two tongues of flame are burning at the rear. The “Whitley” bomber attempted an attack on the “Arado,” visible to the left, which was scouting out the coast. It is too late! |
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Head first into the water: The plane’s fate is sealed. It trails a cloud of smoke. |
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In the drink... The victorious “Arado” circles over the cloud of smoke. |
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In North Africa, American troops present themselves to a lying general: The French General Giraud, here seen reviewing American troops, is a thoroughly dubious ally for the Anglo-American newcomers to Africa. He broke his word of honor twice within a year. After the French capitulation, he took advantage of easy conditions to escape from a German POW camp. When the Anglo-American forces invaded North Africa, he broke his word of honor to Petáin to join Europe’s enemies. |
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Destroyed by the bombs of “friends”: the large French warship “Jean Bart”: The 35,000 ton battleship is an impotent hulk in the harbor of Casablanca. With no air support, it defended the harbor for three days against the Anglo-American invaders. 500 officers and crew died, 700 were wounded. The blood guilt will forever be with the Anglo-Americans and French traitors. |
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First picture of the “Flying Fortress”: Each of these planes requires 2,000,000 man hours to build. Roosevelt hopes to win the air war with them. With typical American bravado, the plane was celebrated at its first appearance... |
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... And here it is somewhere on the continent! These huge machines are popular targets of our gunners, wherever they appear. |
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The tax bill Roosevelt sent to Congress is 249 pages! The budget is over one billion dollars, and shows an increase of 30% in military expenditures. Roosevelt orders that 96 cents of every dollar will go for military expenses or to pay interest. Only 4 cents is left for civilian purposes. |
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