“Invasion Plans” (March, 1942)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)
16 x 21 in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily Newsand the Washington Postfrom 1936-38. He joined the Newark Newsas an editorial cartoonist and his cartoons were distributed to more than 700 daily newspapers by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was an active member of the National Cartoonists Society, serving as its president and vice-president. In 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1963 he was awarded “Best Editorial Cartoon” by the National Cartoonist Society, and in 1973 he received their Silver T-Square Award. Crawford retired in 1977.

On June 22, 1941, one year to the day after the fall of France, Hitler launched his attack on Russia in Operation Barbarossa. A fake build-up and saber-rattling at England was a deception and a way to surprise Stalin, and by mid-July the Nazis were within 200 miles of Moscow. On a few months later, the Japanese would attack the US at Pearl Harbor.

A severe rainy season slowed down the Germans that fall, and a severe winter for which they were ill-equipped held them in place. Unlike Napoleon in the face of a Soviet winter, who retreated, the Germans were ordered to stay, and probably only made the hardship worse.

The signs and expectations were there, then, for what would happen in the spring.

It was not until July 1942 that Hitler resumed his push to the east, into the upper middle-eastern oilfields of Baku, and towards the pipelines of Stalingrad in August.