World War II through Cartoons
Aditya Khemka, Class of 2018
‘Only the dead have seen the end of war.’ - Plato
The intention of this article is to chronicle the theatres of World War II, and the events on which the outcome of the war hinged. In an age when the television had still not taken over, newspaper reigned supreme. News consumption for the common man hinged on the printed word. These are some of the iconic cartoons from that era: cartoons which have set the hieroglyphic narrative for a generation, depicting events that now have entire books dedicated to it.
This shall be in two parts. This part shall cover the World War from the 1933 to the bombing of Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941.
- Hitler Comes to Power
World War II, some say, was scripted on March 5, 1933, when Adolf Hitler, then Chancellor of the fragile Weimar Republic, overthrew President Hindenburg, then passing the ironically named ‘Enabling Act’, which effectively disabled all powers of the Parliament and the Constitution. The League of Nations was reduced to a joke with the withdrawal of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The rusty wheels of history creaked into life, and very soon the world was hurtling towards its second full-blown and full-blooded war of the century. The optimists say it was the world’s belief in appeasement and peace that led it to ignore the clear and present danger; the pessimists say it was stoicism. The realists sigh and vouch to remain silent and grave.
2. Anschluss, Annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany
If the unwillingness of Britain and France to repel the growing Nazi power was left in any doubt after their policy of ‘Non-Intervention’ in Franco’s Spanish Civil War, it was quite clearly exposed and exploited by Hitler in the final acts before the declaration of war. In a blatant violation of the Versailles Treaty, which had imposed severe restrictions on Germany, Hitler not only militarised the fertile Rhine region, but also proceeded to ‘unify’ (read: annex) the independent state of Austria with Germany, adding 8 million worth of productivity to its empire. This was popularly known as the Anschluss. The Allies looked on passively and ‘condemned’ the act, while Hitler’s demands grew. In pursuit of a Greater Germany, Hitler demanded the annexation of Sudetenland, then part of Czechoslovakia, into Germany. The Allies and the Axis powers met at Munich, and agreed that Sudetenland should be given away by the Czechs or they would be fighting a lone war (Nobody asked the Czechs, of course). Chamberlain landed at Croydon airport, brandishing a piece of paper with Hitler’s signature, claiming ‘peace in our time.’ But all this was to change not a month later, when the Germans broke up Czechoslovakia, establishing a ‘protectorate’ over the lands. Britain capitulated and readied itself for war. But a cruel shock awaited them still, as the two moustached men of Europe, Hitler and Stalin, signed the Non-Aggression pact, thereby violating the Anti-Comintern Pact. ‘Never trust a man with a moustache,’ I say. 7 days later, the Nazis marched into Poland, making their intentions as clear as day. Thankfully, the British realised it not a moment too soon, officially declaring war, with France following suit. The First World War had been the war to end all wars, but I guess some people never learn. And so began the 6 years of intense warfare, with civilians being flung into the frontlines, for the first time in world history.
3. Blitzkrieg Strikes
Blitzkrieg, literally meaning Lightning War, was one of the most successful battle strategies of the Germans, allowing them to capture Paris within a year after the declaration of war. In the process, Denmark was invaded (they were so surprised that they did not even offer resistance), and so was Belgium and Netherlands. The French belief in the strength of the Maginot Line and their dependency on defensive strategies was shattered as the Germans broke through easily through the weak points left on the Belgian border. Meanwhile, the Red Army marched through Poland and invaded Finland. The British, searching for a means to stop the German-Soviet advance in Scandinavia, had landed troops in Norway, thus bringing war to a neutral country. The Norwegians surrendered on June 3, and the Germans marched into Paris on June 14. Meanwhile, Churchill came to the helm of the British ship, promising nothing but ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat.’ Yes, that of a million others. Italy repealed its Non-Belligerency, and declared war on Britain and France. Mussolini (definitely a stickler for Roman history), invaded Greece and Egypt in December 1940, thus marking the opening of the North Africa theatre of World War 2. The US Congress amended its Neutrality pact to supply France and Britain with weapons, but effectively, 1940 left Britain as the lone defender against the Soviet-Nazi aggression. The RAF and the Luftwaffe exchanged blows, not on each other, but on each other’s cities. The gates to the invasion of Britain were now open.
4. Dunkirk
Some liked to portray Dunkirk as a major defeat for the British, which indeed, it was, but some say it exemplified the spirit of the British people in times of adversity. Here’s a basic run through of the events. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had been sent to France a year earlier to plug the gap in the Maginot line. But due to the German blitzkrieg and the failed counter-offensives of the BEF, it was now stuck in a narrow zone near the port of Dunkirk, with two great German armies under Gerard von Rundstedt flanking them. With reinforcements existing only on paper and the odds stacked against him, Churchill took his first major decision, pressing into service all naval vehicles on the English coast into service for the evacuation of the 170,000 troops stuck at Dunkirk. The Germans were closing in fast, threatening to cut off all means of evacuation. Then came the hotly debated ‘Halt Order’, which ordered the German advance to halt and consolidate at Dunkirk, providing ample opportunity for the British to be evacuated. Herein came the axiom that Hitler would ignore so devastatingly later on, live to fight another day. But the losses for the British were massive. They left behind enough material on the beach to equip eight to ten divisions, but on their homeland they had enough to equip only two such divisions. The shortage of troop transport was so desperate that engineers were commissioned to repair and make usable scrap vehicles and buses (these were used even in the North Africa campaign of 1942). The result was that the Swastika flew over the bombed port of Dunkirk, and Hitler stood there, moustache all savvy, binoculars in the hand, looking over the English Channel towards the prized land of the lone survivor of the Nazi blitzkrieg, Great Britain.
5. The Battle of Britain
The German spearhead shattered all that came in its path, but the land forces were not the sole spearheads. Hermann Goering’s Luftwaffe was at its devastating best all throughout, forcing cities into submission, carrying out air raids on London and other British Cities. Britain, readying itself for an invasion, could only watch on, helplessly, as the size of the RAF depleted and odds racked up against them. But if Hitler had thought that the invasion of Britain would be a mere formality, he was in for a nice bit of a shock. The Battle for Britain was surely one of the most famous battles in all of WWII, and one which changed the fate of the crippled Allies. The Reichstag and the Fuhrer knew that in order to invade the British Isles by sea, they had first to cripple the RAF and remove it from the equation. Goering, confident that his Luftwaffe could see off the highly depleted forces of the RAF easily, launched huge airborne assaults trying to draw out the RAF and bomb their airports. But in a period spanning one and a half month, it was the Luftwaffe who was scrambling for cover under the demonic and possessed gallantry of the pilots of Fighter Command, RAF. Goering sent in squadron after squadron of Junkers and Heinkels, but the score kept racking up against him. Indeed, the daily score of planes shot down against planes lost was posted throughout Britain like that of a Test Match for the benefit of the British public to watch while sipping tea (The British never can overcome their eccentricity, can they?). Under the able leadership of Keith Park, Fighter Command shot down wave after wave of Luftwaffe squadrons, with highly disproportionate losses of their own. Churchill was so moved by the gallantry of the British pilots that he was unable to talk to anyone that night, saying that he never had been so moved. The Battle of Britain ended with the RAF victorious, and Hitler’s ambitious plans for the invasion of Britain postponed indefinitely and stored away somewhere. But he should not have taken any measures to preserve plans for the invasion of Britain, for what happened next changed the course of history.
6. Operation Barbarossa
I told you; never trust a man with a moustache. And that too, a toothbrush of a moustache. At 11:15 AM on June 22, 1941, over 3 million German troops and 3 highly mechanized armies invaded the Russian frontier with an armoured fist, with Operation Barbarossa being Hitler’s attempt to eradicate Bolshevism from the face of the earth. Hitler was confident of an early victory, quoting ‘We have only to kick in the door and the whole structure will fall,’ and to some extent, he was quite right. Within a year, the Nazis had laid siege on the city of Leningrad, they were knocking on Moscow’s door, and had gone upto Kharkov on the southern frontier. This decision, quoted by some as what led to the downfall of the Nazis, was brought about with the aim of capturing the oil-rich Soviet territory. But, quite ironically, what was deemed to be the ‘greatest war operation ever seen by man’ was brought to a standstill by nature, as the harsh Russian winter set in. The German supply lines, stretched to the limit, could not cater to the frontlines with the equipment required for a winter campaign, and hence the German offensive lost momentum. They dug in, awaiting the lifting of the snow. They were never able to witness it.
7. Pearl Harbor
If the Germans committed a grave error by attacking Russia, the Japanese did so in their surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, for which, it was quoted ‘We have done nothing more than awaken a sleeping giant.’ On 7 December, 1941, christened the Day of Infamy, Japanese fighters swooped down on US navy ships harboured at Pearl Harbour, Honolulu, to bring war to the American continent. The US Pacific Fleet met its demise, with 2403 troops killed, 4 battleships sunk, 19 warships crippled, and countless fighters destroyed. Not only did the Japanese establish their aerial supremacy, they showed their Naval supremacy that very day, with coordinated attacks on Allied holdings in Phillippines, Marshall Islands and Malaya. As a grim-faced Roosevelt signed the Declaration of War, a patriotic fervour shook the nation, with thousands queuing to enlist in the US army. But as the German Blitzkrieg changed the face of Europe, the Japanese steamroller changed the face of the Pacific theatre. Singapore fell to Japan in what has come to be known as the greatest defeat of the British Empire. The war was now global, with 4 theaters: the Europe, North Africa, the Pacific and the Arctic. The US began their long push backwards, the Germans dug in in Russia, and the British invaded North Africa and Greece. This cartoon is from the archival vaults of the happiest place in the world, when Walt Disney was engaged in propaganda for the US government.
The second part of this article shall come out next week (17th April). Cartoons for the article are taken from Mark Bryant’s book “World War 2 in Cartoons.” The Edict would like to make a call for more such pieces from the social science departments at Ashoka.
Aditya Khemka is in his final semester at Ashoka University. He has added the coveted tag of ‘Oxon’ to his current tag of ‘Ashokan’. He has been accepted to pursue Financial Economics at Oxford University. When he’s not thinking of money, he reads about History, Strategy and Political Economy. To that end he’s engaged in board game and video game simulations as well.
