“Eventually” (September 22, 1942)
by Paul Albert Plaschke (1880 – 1954)
24 x 36 in., ink and charcoal on paper
Coppola Collection
Going by the date printed on the back of this drawing, the editorial cartoon here is potentially quite poignant, from a historical perspective.
The British Commandos were formed in 1940 as a raiding force for Occupied Europe. By 1942, they were racking up successes, so the cartoon is probably an enthusiastic response to these. For instance, in March 1942, The St Nazaire Raid (Operation Chariot) was an amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire, located at the mouth of the Loire estuary. Operation Chariot is known as The Greatest Raid of All. And in early September 1942, Operation Musketoon was a raid mounted against the German-held Glomfjord power plant in Norway.
The rest of the story here comes from some secret happenings on October 18, just a month after the date of this cartoon.
On August 19, during the Dieppe Raid, a Canadian brigadier, William Wallace Southam (against explicit orders), took a copy of the assault plan ashore. Although he tried to hide it, the Germans discovered the document on the beach. Among the orders was an instruction to ‘bind prisoners.’ The German Intelligence later received reports of the bodies of German prisoners. with their hands tied, washing ashore. When this news, and the written plans, were brought to Hitler, he ordered the shackling of Canadian prisoners, which led to a reciprocating order by British and Canadian authorities for German prisoners being held in Canada.
A few months later, in early October 1942, Operation Basalt was carried out on
the isle of Sark. During the raid, five prisoners were taken. The commandos tied the prisoners’ hands. One thing led to another, and four of the five prisoners ended up dead while trying to escape. Officially-sanctioned German accounts of the time assert unequivocally that the dead soldiers were found with their hands bound, and later German military publications make many references to captured Commando instructions ordering the tying of captives’ hands behind them, and the use of a particularly painful method of knotting around the thumbs to enable efficient, coercive, single-handed control of the captive.
The cartoon could also be representing the recent (i.e., July 1942) creation of a joint US-Canadian commando unit called “The 1st Special Service Force” who ended up being called “The Black Devils.” I think it is unlikely, given that it seems they were still in training, and not public, at the time of this cartoon (and the name “Black Devils” came from German journals). See the First Special Service Force entry in wikipedia for more.
Together, these two raids are believed to have motivated Hitler, two weeks later, on October 18, to issue the Commando Order (Kommandobefehl). The order, which was executed in only 12 copies and in secret, stipulated that any Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately without trial, even if they attempted to surrender. The order also made it clear that failure to carry out these orders by any commander or officer would be considered to be an act of negligence punishable under German military law. Hitler invoked violations of the Geneva Conventions due to the alleged killing of bound German prisoners by the Allies.
The Commando Order, in part, read:
For a long time now our opponents have been employing in their conduct of the war, methods which contravene the International Convention of Geneva. The members of the so-called Commandos behave in a particularly brutal and underhanded manner; and it has been established that those units recruit criminals not only from their own country but even former convicts set free in enemy territories. From captured orders it emerges that they are instructed not only to tie up prisoners, but also to kill out-of-hand unarmed captives who they think might prove an encumbrance to them, or hinder them in successfully carrying out their aims. Orders have indeed been found in which the killing of prisoners has positively been demanded of them.
I order, therefore: From now on all men operating against German troops in so-called Commando raids in Europe or in Africa, are to be annihilated to the last man. This is to be carried out whether they be soldiers in uniform, or saboteurs, with or without arms; and whether fighting or seeking to escape; and it is equally immaterial whether they come into action from Ships and Aircraft, or whether they land by parachute. Even if these individuals on discovery make obvious their intention of giving themselves up as prisoners, no pardon is on any account to be given. On this matter a report is to be made on each case to Headquarters for the information of Higher Command.
The Commando Order was illegal, and recognized as such by the Nuremburg tribunal. The September 22, 1942 notion of a “Commando Order” to Hitler, as shown in this cartoon, is a macabre irony, given the events of October 18.