The trouble with this bloody hobby is that it’s just too easy to pick away at the siderails and going squirreling off into the forest. Primarily I collect Axis infantry weapons but when you have been going as long as I have then you start getting to the end of the list. Just recently I bought my first US infantry firearm, this perfect 1937 date M1903. Look upon my works ye mighty and despair.
Because I am getting to the end of the German small arms I decided to grow my US & British groups. Luckily this one came past me as it kind of fits in with both countries. This rifle, made by the Stevens subsidiary of the Savage Arms Company was intended for supply to the British through the Lend-Lease program. It’s dated 1943.
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbour, American capitalism and racist jingoism met and fell in love. Their offspring was a flood of dime-store tat that was fed to the public in an ultimately successful attempt to stir feeling enough that they were prepared to spend whatever it took to defeat the Empire of Japan. Here is an example from my collection of a postcard printed for that purpose.
Here’s a second variation on the sheet music for that classic agi-prop song, “We’re gonna have to slap the Dirty Little Jap”. The other one I have is here, and the record is here. The lengths the US Government had to go to get the US people fired up for war were pretty extreme at times and resorted to gross caricature and racism in most cases.
This is a metal example of an M69 Training Grenade. These are reusable simulants of the M67 Fragmentation Grenade. This has the M228 Training Igniter Fuse fitted. Usually these baseball bodies are painted blue to indicate training use. The raw state of this one makes me think it’s a factory diversion.
A little big of home-front propaganda. Probably American due to spelling. Late war and part of the dime store effort to make a penny while appearing to support the war effort.
Drafted in February, 1944, this printed version of Eisenhower’s order of the Day for June 6th, 1944, was distributed to all 175,000 members of the Allied Expeditionary Force. This one came from the estate of a Birchall group I picked up. I have the President Roosevelt version here.
Nice simple pickup last weekend at the local antique fair. This is a souvenir belt put together from a Prussian infantry belt and the tunic buttons from a wide range of Allied and German units. This example has a predominance of Canadian buttons so I am guessing that it was Canadian in origin. The rest are French, Australian, New Zealand, German and one single U.S. General Service button. You see these in all sorts of configurations, some on Allied belts, some with cap badges and other oddments. The legend is that these were put together from souvenirs taken from dead bodies but that sounds overly complex to me and likely nonsense. More likely most of the buttons were swapped at rear area camps between bored soldiers making up a souvenir. The U.S. button suggests a late war job, 1917-19. The Empire buttons make sense as often these units found themselves together in the line. The Canadian Regiments are from different divisions so that’s why I think this is a rear area put together. Still, a great belt, in fine condition and worth it just for the buttons and belt IMHO.
Interesting bit of shyte here. This is a ticket for the visitors gallery for the 379th session of the Nuremburg Military Tribunal (NMT). This session falls within the 7th trial, the Hostages Trial, which ran from 8th July 1947 until 19th February 1948. The defendants were mostly higher commanders of the Wehrmacht accused of atrocities against civilians in the Balkans and Greece.
The ticket holder was a man named Constantine Brown who served in B-24’s in the USAAF until the end of the war when he was seconded to provide Greek-English language translation. He later served in the CIA and upon his return to the US became a policeman.
From his obituary… “BROWN–Constantine. 1927-2014. Constantine Brown passed away on October 22, 2014. His friends and family will miss his enthusiasm and active life style. In 1923, his parents and sister escaped from the forced exchange of Greek and Turkish populations, and came to New York City. He was born in Manhattan’s “Hell’s Kitchen” where his mother struggled to bring up her fatherless children while working at the Greek Orthodox church nearby. He enlisted in the New York State Guard when a teen-ager. During World War II, he joined the Air Force Cadet Program to become a flight engineer on B-24 bombers. His fluency with the Greek language was used by the C.I.A. When the war ended, he completed high school and earned a B.A. from Columbia University while working full-time with the New York City Housing Authority Police. From 1954, he rose through the ranks of the Housing Authority Police which merged with the New York City Police Department. He married Olga Boondas, a professor of social work at Columbia University. His beloved wife and daughter, Themis, pre-deceased him. Constantine was an active member of several organizations, including the Captains’ Endowment Association–NYPD, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Fraternal Order of Police, and St. Paul’s Society, NYPD. Olga and Constantine inaugurated the Themis Anastasia Brown Endowment Fund at the Morgan Library and Museum 21 years ago. He was in the process of instituting a chair for Classical and Byzantine Studies at Queens College in NYC, and provide support for the Orphanage under the aegis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.”
Another simple bit of propaganda, mocking the Fuhrer. Looking at the material that propagandists used to attack the Germans, it focused mostly on Adolf Hitler. He was characterised as being a carpet biter, portrayed as a monkey or a rat or, as in this example, there was a toilet joke in there somewhere. This looks mid-war American, unofficial and designed for the home front. Let’s say it together, Fuck Hitler.
Visitors to this site will have noted, perhaps, my rather retro-racist love for WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda. A common theme to this kitsch is the invitation to “Slap Japs”. It was pretty widespread to use this kind of disparagement of the enemy to build morale on the homefront. This birthday card, dating from 1943, is an example of this theme. Other examples are here and here, oh and here and here.
Well it doesn’t get much more dull than this. This small spool contains the tripwire used to set up the Stockmine 43 and Bouncing Betty mines as booby traps. The wire comes in two colours, desert yellow and temperate green. This one is marked YBW for the manufacturer. These spools are almost identical to those used by the U.S.Army during WW2 and postwar. The difference is in how the spool core is turned and on the code marking.
In the great tradition of “a serviceman and his backpay are soon parted” we bring you tiny novelty underwear. As the demobilisation of the US Forces got underway from September 1945 these troops, soldiers, sailors and airmen were shipped through a small number of West Coast ports on their way back through the system and ultimately home to civilian life. Along the way enterprising merchants attempted to siphon as much of the serviceman’s demob pay as possible and this little item is just one example of the methods they used. I find it kinda interesting because beyond the obvious puns being used here, it also plays to the fear of the cuckold and the “Dear John” letter that servicemen endured.
Man this stuff just cracks me up. It’s a cardboard doll from, I would guess, the USA around 1943. The legs and one arm are articulated and if you hold the noose and pull the string, well Adolf just goes nutzi! Honestly, fuck Hitler.
Cheaply made and pressed out in their millions these little lapel badges helped fuel the American people in their struggle against the Axis. This example is labelled “Wanted for Murder, Adolf Schicklgruber alias ‘Hitler'”. This is a reference to Adolf’s grandmother Maria Schicklgruber who gave birth to Alois, Hitler’s father out of wedlock. Apparently Americans found Schicklgruber to be a more comical surname than Hitler. It also suggested Hitler was a bastard by proxy.
This is the holster that I just sourced for my 1944 Walther P38 pictured below. By 1944 they had pretty much stopped making hard shell holsters (they do exist). Instead they supplied the pistol with a breakaway style holster as here. Folks call them a soft shell holster but that is incorrect.
This example is stamped bla 1944 and has the waffenamt WaA159. BLA is the code for the manufacturer E.G.Leuner GMBH in Bautzen. Interestingly the holster is also personalised to the U.S. Army soldier who captured it (or won it in a card game). Inside the flap is the name Henry J. Lavrich and his ASN 33688587. A quick googling reveals that Henry came from Pennsylvania, enlisted in 1943 and served in the 2nd Armoured Division in Europe. He passed away in 2011. An additional modification on this example is the cutting away of the upper, underneath the flap. This is common in these holsters and I expect it was an act by the user to make the holster easier to draw from.
The holster also contains a e/359 stamped magazine which is the correct magazine for this pistol.
This is the second version of this novelty that I have. Content wise it is very similar to this one here. However there are minor differences, in the front and rear pages and small verbiage deltas. This one is not attributed to the Robbins Novelty Company but it is so similar that it’s either theirs or a knock-off.
More home front nonsense here. This plate topper (designed to be mounted above the rear number plate of a private car) comes out of the States and perfectly captures the three axis stooges theme of mid-war anti-axis personality propaganda. A good solid yellow bucktooth Tojo, followed by Hitler and the giant-chinned Mussolini. These are just about impossible to find anymore. They didn’t have reflective paint like we do now so the paint contains ground glass to make it shine under light at night.
I love these home front items. They represent a great view into the social zeitgeist that existed or had to be manufactured in the middle of the largest war we have ever seen. They range in execution from the cheesy comedy to toxic racism. It really does show how hard they had to work to generate the hatred necessary for a democracy to defeat militarism. This particular one is a novelty representation of Adolf’s last testament. It was manufactured by the prolific D J Robbins Novelty Company of NY in 1943.
This is a great example of the mid-war propaganda coming out of the U.S. home front. It’s a card designed to be mailed in the accompanying envelope. It uses a bit of misdirection in the delivery of the joke as initially you are led to believe that Hitler will be squashed under the heel of a boot. Instead he’s in the shitter and obviously not too happy about it. Made by the D J Robbins Novelty Company of NY in 1943. Charming.
Advertisement for these novelty cards. These were intended as “ticket lifters” and sold through convenience stores and barbershops.
This booklet, dating from 1946, is a facsimile of the surrender documents signed on the USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay, on the 2nd September 1945. These were produced by the National Archives in the US for distribution to institutions and individuals in education. I have the German ones here.
This is the 12th of April 1945 edition of “Nachrichten Für Die Truppe”. This was a German language newspaper craeted by the Allies and dropped by bomber over the troop lines. It combined real news about Allied successes with unverifiable gossip about the Nazi leadership. Classed as grey propaganda since the Allies never owned up to producing it and the German soldier was under no doubts about who did write it. It was very popular with German soldiers. The newspaper was produced from April 1944 until the end of the war. Interestingly enough the Germans themselves printed their versions of this in order to combat it.
This is an example of the S.H.A.E.F. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) The Daily Organ of Supreme Headquarters newsletter from April 13th 1945. In the Summer of 1944 the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF, under General Eisenhower, took over the propaganda campaign against Germany. This newsletter was produced from April until July 1945. The newsletter was dropped from converted bombers and was produced in 4 languages (1 per page), English, German, French and Polish. It was classified as white propaganda as it contained factual information about Allied successes as well as survival and civilian advice for displaced populations.
This bit of ephemera fell out of the back of an old cigarette card album belonging to a US soldier from the ETO. From what I gather, this facsimile letter was provided to every US Army serviceman who left the U.S. for deployment in either the Pacific or Europe/Med. The text reads
To Members of the United States Army Expeditionary Forces:
You are a soldier of the United States Army.
You have embarked for distant places where the war is being fought.
Upon the outcome depends the freedom of your lives: the freedom of the lives of those you love – your fellow citizens – your people.
Never were the enemies of freedom more tyrannical, more arrogant, more brutal.
Yours is a God-fearing, proud, courageous people, which, throughout its history, has put its freedom under God before all other purposes.
We who stay at home have our duties to perform – duties owed in many parts to you. You will be supported by the whole force and power of this Nation. The victory you will will be a victory of all the people – common to them all.
You bear with you the hope, the confidence, the gratitude and the prayers of your family, your fellow citizens, and your President —
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The arrival of the US in the First World War was accompanied by a rash of the usual cheesy propaganda items. This one, a sheet of toilet paper with Kaiser Wilhelm’s face printed on it, was typical of the tone many of these items adopted. Bloody funny still and Bill’s been dead for 90 years.
Kiwi Medals 