1939.07.29 “The Stargazers See an Omen in the Comet”
by Max P. Milians (1907-2005)
11 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Milians signed his cartoons with nine zeros (“millions”) as an underline. His work was syndicated across America from the 1930s up until the 1970s.

The 35P/Herschel–Rigollet is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 155 years. The quasi-mystic and mythic stories of a comet that was easily visible with field glasses, in late July of 1939, is combined here with the emerging trouble in Europe.

A sense of destiny is a clear part of the dictatorial spirit. They are not only sure they are on the right side of history; they are fated to be history, fulfilling a master plan and its duty.

In January 1936, Mussolini told a German envoy of how Nazi Germany and fascist Italy shared “a common destiny.” Mussolini described them as the ‘axis’ around which Europe would revolve.

The Pact of Steel (May 1939, also recorded as the “Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy”) was the formalization of the military and political alliance between Italy and Germany.

There is another full drawing on the back of this (see elsewhere), that comes from the same time period.

1939.07 “No Wonder They Hate Dictators”
by Max P. Milians (1907-2005)
11 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Milians signed his cartoons with nine zeros (“millions”) as an underline. His work was syndicated across America from the 1930s up until the 1970s.

A schoolboy’s remorse during the action of land-grabbing, power-mad dictators: you cannot keep up with your geography lessons because these guys keep redrawing the maps.

In the lead-up to WW2, the German-Italian alliance started moving their pieces around on the chessboard. Danzig and Czechoslovakia starting in March, Italian threats against Greece and the invasion and appropriation of Albania in April.

This piece was probably not published. It is located on the backside of a July 1939 drawing commemorating the fate and destiny of the alliance between Hitler and Mussolini.

1943.03.11 “African Dodger”
by Norbert B. Quinn (1902-1987)
8 x 11 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Born in Medford, MA, and educated at Boston College High School (1920) followed by taking classes at the Museum of Fine Arts school, Quinn was an artist for the Boston Globe for many years. He retired to Maine in 1967.

The campaign of 1943 opened strongly for the German army. Profiting from that temporarily favorable turn, Rommel was set up to utilize his central position between the two converging Allied armies to strike and cripple them separately and successively. If he could neutralize the First Army, he would have both hands free to tackle the Eighth Army, which had become thinned out as its lines of supply had lengthened.

The US, which included a French division, was confident, but at the end of January the Panzers overwhelmed the French garrison before American support could arrive. On Valentine’s Day, 1943, Rommel’s forces made a strong hit on the American forces and destroyed more than 100 tanks. Three days later, the German’s captured a set of American airfields. The tables started to turn thanks to some reserve strength on the side of the Allies, and Rommel broke off his attacks on February 22 and started to withdraw.

On March 6, when Rommel attacked again, his chance of striking with a superior force had vanished. The Allied reinforcements had nearly quadrupled their strength, and Rommel’s attack was brought to a standstill. And by March 17, 1943, the Allied offensive initiated a strong and coordinated attack, now under Patton’s direction.

1941.12.08 “The Pacific Dragon Shows Its Teeth”
unattributed
11 x 13 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

A series of events led to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility that each nation’s military forces planned for in the 1920s, though real tension did not begin until the 1931 invasion of Manchuria by Japan.

Over the next decade, Japan expanded slowly into China, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese war in 1937. In 1940 Japan invaded French Indochina in an effort to embargo all imports into China, including war supplies purchased from the U.S. This move prompted the United States to embargo all oil exports, leading the Imperial Japanese Navy to estimate it had less than two years of bunker oil remaining and to support the existing plans to seize oil resources in the Dutch East Indies.

The Philippines, at that time an American protectorate, were also a Japanese target. The Japanese military concluded an invasion of the Philippines would provoke an American military response. Rather than seize and fortify the islands, and wait for the inevitable U.S. counterattack, Japan’s military leaders instead decided on the preventive Pearl Harbor attack, which they assumed would negate the American forces needed for the liberation and reconquest of the islands.

Later that same day [December 8th local time], the Japanese indeed launched their invasion of the Philippines.

1940.09.14 “Noise Terror Planes Descending on Confused Troop Columns”
by Norbert B. Quinn (1902-1987)
10 x 16 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Born in Medford, MA, and educated at Boston College High School (1920) followed by taking classes at the Museum of Fine Arts school, Quinn was an artist for the Boston Globe for many years. He retired to Maine in 1967.

Regardless of the topic, this is a really lovely piece of ink and wash art.

Probably the most iconic German aircraft during WWII, the Stuka dive bomber became the symbol of a string of successful campaigns in the early stages of the war.

The Wehrmacht seemed unstoppable in 1939, when Stukas swarmed the sky above Poland.

What specifically made these planes horrific were the two horns attached to the wings which produced a screeching sound once the aircraft was inbound for a strike. As the Stuka descended from the sky to drop its deadly load, the scream which accompanied it had a devastating effect on the morale of anyone who was on the ground.

The haunting horns were dubbed the “Jericho trumpets” by the Germans, who relied on the psychological effect of the noise to give them an edge against their opponents.

It was all for a propaganda effect.

The only problem with the Jericho Trumpets was that they affected the aerodynamics of the planes, causing enough drag to slow the plane down by 20 miles per hour and making them easier targets for defenders. Eventually, the sirens would be scrapped, and whistles were placed on the bombs to create the same psychological effect.