“Another Break in the Jap Line” (June 1945)
by AW Mackenzie (1895-1972)
12 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Alexander W Mackenzie was a student of Van Dearing Perrine and attended the Art Students League about 1915. He started as a freelance cartoonist in 1941 and in May 1945, he attended the first United Nations Conference on International Organizations in San Francisco as a political cartoonist for the New York Post newspaper. His cartoons appeared daily on the editorial pages of the New York Post, Newsday and in the New York Daily.

The drawing is undated.

The Battle of Okinawa (Operation Iceberg) was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The 82-day battle lasted from April 1 until June 22, 1945. The Allies were planning to use Kadena Air Base on the large island of Okinawa as a base for Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, 340 miles away.